08-28-2019, 10:42 PM
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#1
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Installed Victory 4X4 Roof Rack - Full Length Aluminum
Hey Forum,
Decided to post this thread in case anyone down the line was curious about this particular roof rack. I have an 05 Sport V8 and it was time to change out the stock silver colored rails for a proper rack.
What were my options: Base prices plus shipping/tax.
1) LFD - $800.19
2) Gobi - $1,595
3) Prinsu - $1,129.25
4) Victory - $809.10
Here is why I PERSONALLY went with Victory for my application. Everyone makes a great product/rack but it all depends on everyone's application, budget, and personal style.
1) For the LFD, I was actually going to go with this initially. The price is the best out of the group and they have specials from time to time. In Texas I wouldn't get charged tax and the shipping isn't bad at $55. But ultimately I decided to go with something else because I wanted something bigger. The LFD seems to be a little shorter in length when looking at the rack from the rear to the front doors and it seems to be thinner in width than other racks. I think it's because their brackets seem to be offset inwards from the roof lines of the 4th gen so it makes the rack thinner in width. At least that's my conclusion, I could be wrong. Also, I believe they only come in steel for the 4th gen with maybe the option to get aluminum crossbars. But only the crossbars, the rest is steel. Which may be good for some. For me, I wanted as light as possible. I think the total weight is around 80lbs.
2) I know so many people that are very happy with Gobi racks, and they look really cool. But for ME, I couldn't justify paying that much for a rack. I would rather take the extra money and apply it to other stuff for my build (fridge, tent, etc). Also, these racks seem to be the largest in height. And I wasn't sure how bad that would translate to noise or MPG decline. These are also steel, cited as 80lbs in their spec sheet.
3) Based off looks, I really liked the Prinsu. They are all aluminum so saves on weight, although their site says its 75lbs. Not sure if that's an error but 5lbs less for aluminum compared to steel doesn't really make sense. The rack itself is $899 but they charge extra for the light bar cutouts and the fairing noise reducing trim. So total comes to $934.99 before shipping and tax. The thing that really turned me off was paying $194.26 for shipping. Call me cheap but if another company is offering free shipping, I'd rather take advantage of that obviously. Lastly, from my understanding this whole rack including the brackets are aluminum. More on that in next paragraph.
4) That brought me to Victory. The design is very similar to Prinsu in appearance. I liked all the products Victory is pumping out for the 4th gens, there's a thread on here for that. From time to time, they have deals so I tried taking advantage of one for the July 4th 15% off promo, but I just missed that. Regardless, they were nice enough to offer me 10% still off my order. So $899.00 went down to $809.10 Plus, shipping was free and no tax so that's awesome. The weight is 49 lbs which makes a lot more sense since this is an aluminum rack, lowest weight of the bunch. But one of the main reasons I chose this over the similar Prinsu besides the price was because Victory's brackets are steel whereas the Prinsu brackets are aluminum. At least that's what I understood from my research, I think I may have called Prinsu directly to ask. I wanted more strength in the brackets for rigidity purposes and more aluminum in the rack for weight purposes. For disclaimer purposes, I did pay an extra $45 for black nuts and bolts so it brought my total to $849.60 ($899+$45 = $944-10%). I did think that was a pretty ridiculous price for the black nuts and bolts, especially considering that they still send you the regular stainless steel hardware as well, which was very confusing during assembly.
I ordered the rack on July 23rd and it shipped out August 15th which was quick. I remember people in the past would wait 3 months for their Gobis, not sure if that's still the case, hopefully not. The rack came well packaged and everything looked very quality and all the cuts were nice.
I will say this, VICTORY IF YOU ARE READING THIS, YOU REALLY NEED TO UPDATE YOUR INSTALL GUIDES. Message me and I will be happy to give you feedback. What should have taken me 2 hours ended up taking 2 days. And I've rebuilt motors in the past, so I'd like to think I'm pretty mechanically inclined. I called them for troubleshooting and spoke to a guy named Chris. He was very nice and even allowed me to text and send him pictures after business hours to try and get me taken care of. Very good customer service.
Here's the stock rails and their removal:
After driving to Target, I realized I forgot my trim removal tool on the roof. Thankfully it didn't go anywhere
And this is how it looks mounted up:
All in all, I'm pretty happy. I wanted a low profile rack for decreased wind resistance. A light rack because who wants extra weight. And one that was reasonably priced. As of now, I have noticed no difference in noise which is amazing. I hope that doesn't change. If it does, I'll update the thread. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask, thank you for reading.
Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk
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2005 T4R Sport V8 4WD
Last edited by nick_rabbo; 08-28-2019 at 10:45 PM.
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08-28-2019, 11:27 PM
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#2
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Junior Member
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Join Date: Jun 2018
Location: Fort Irwin, CA
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Thats a really nice looking rack! Love the lightbar cutout!
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08-28-2019, 11:36 PM
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#3
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Member
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Join Date: Jun 2016
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PowerpointPro
Thats a really nice looking rack! Love the lightbar cutout!
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Yes, thank you. I should have the light bar by the end of this week. I ordered a dual control/dual color white and amber 38" from ExtremeLED. Can't wait to mount it up to fill that cutout and to test it out long term. I really wanted the dual color look. Had an option for a remote control that gives it strobe function so that should be fun too lol.
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2005 T4R Sport V8 4WD
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08-29-2019, 02:55 AM
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#4
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looks amazing. i love the low profile of it. looks to be a lot more functional then the OEM roof rack. Im happy you answered one of my questions about the wind noise but how it is for MPG and power?
I put a basket on top of my 2006 sport 4Runner and the MPG dropped by avout 1.5-2 mpg and when going up slight inclines it has to down shift. Did you notice any of that?
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08-29-2019, 09:57 AM
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#5
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Join Date: Dec 2018
Location: NC
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Real Name: Michael
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Join Date: Dec 2018
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nick_rabbo
Hey Forum,
Decided to post this thread in case anyone down the line was curious about this particular roof rack. I have an 05 Sport V8 and it was time to change out the stock silver colored rails for a proper rack.
What were my options: Base prices plus shipping/tax.
1) LFD - $800.19
2) Gobi - $1,595
3) Prinsu - $1,129.25
4) Victory - $809.10
Here is why I PERSONALLY went with Victory for my application. Everyone makes a great product/rack but it all depends on everyone's application, budget, and personal style.
1) For the LFD, I was actually going to go with this initially. The price is the best out of the group and they have specials from time to time. In Texas I wouldn't get charged tax and the shipping isn't bad at $55. But ultimately I decided to go with something else because I wanted something bigger. The LFD seems to be a little shorter in length when looking at the rack from the rear to the front doors and it seems to be thinner in width than other racks. I think it's because their brackets seem to be offset inwards from the roof lines of the 4th gen so it makes the rack thinner in width. At least that's my conclusion, I could be wrong. Also, I believe they only come in steel for the 4th gen with maybe the option to get aluminum crossbars. But only the crossbars, the rest is steel. Which may be good for some. For me, I wanted as light as possible. I think the total weight is around 80lbs.
2) I know so many people that are very happy with Gobi racks, and they look really cool. But for ME, I couldn't justify paying that much for a rack. I would rather take the extra money and apply it to other stuff for my build (fridge, tent, etc). Also, these racks seem to be the largest in height. And I wasn't sure how bad that would translate to noise or MPG decline. These are also steel, cited as 80lbs in their spec sheet.
3) Based off looks, I really liked the Prinsu. They are all aluminum so saves on weight, although their site says its 75lbs. Not sure if that's an error but 5lbs less for aluminum compared to steel doesn't really make sense. The rack itself is $899 but they charge extra for the light bar cutouts and the fairing noise reducing trim. So total comes to $934.99 before shipping and tax. The thing that really turned me off was paying $194.26 for shipping. Call me cheap but if another company is offering free shipping, I'd rather take advantage of that obviously. Lastly, from my understanding this whole rack including the brackets are aluminum. More on that in next paragraph.
4) That brought me to Victory. The design is very similar to Prinsu in appearance. I liked all the products Victory is pumping out for the 4th gens, there's a thread on here for that. From time to time, they have deals so I tried taking advantage of one for the July 4th 15% off promo, but I just missed that. Regardless, they were nice enough to offer me 10% still off my order. So $899.00 went down to $809.10 Plus, shipping was free and no tax so that's awesome. The weight is 49 lbs which makes a lot more sense since this is an aluminum rack, lowest weight of the bunch. But one of the main reasons I chose this over the similar Prinsu besides the price was because Victory's brackets are steel whereas the Prinsu brackets are aluminum. At least that's what I understood from my research, I think I may have called Prinsu directly to ask. I wanted more strength in the brackets for rigidity purposes and more aluminum in the rack for weight purposes. For disclaimer purposes, I did pay an extra $45 for black nuts and bolts so it brought my total to $849.60 ($899+$45 = $944-10%). I did think that was a pretty ridiculous price for the black nuts and bolts, especially considering that they still send you the regular stainless steel hardware as well, which was very confusing during assembly.
I ordered the rack on July 23rd and it shipped out August 15th which was quick. I remember people in the past would wait 3 months for their Gobis, not sure if that's still the case, hopefully not. The rack came well packaged and everything looked very quality and all the cuts were nice.
I will say this, VICTORY IF YOU ARE READING THIS, YOU REALLY NEED TO UPDATE YOUR INSTALL GUIDES. Message me and I will be happy to give you feedback. What should have taken me 2 hours ended up taking 2 days. And I've rebuilt motors in the past, so I'd like to think I'm pretty mechanically inclined. I called them for troubleshooting and spoke to a guy named Chris. He was very nice and even allowed me to text and send him pictures after business hours to try and get me taken care of. Very good customer service.
Here's the stock rails and their removal:
After driving to Target, I realized I forgot my trim removal tool on the roof. Thankfully it didn't go anywhere
And this is how it looks mounted up:
All in all, I'm pretty happy. I wanted a low profile rack for decreased wind resistance. A light rack because who wants extra weight. And one that was reasonably priced. As of now, I have noticed no difference in noise which is amazing. I hope that doesn't change. If it does, I'll update the thread. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask, thank you for reading.
Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk
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Your photos look really good. Great looking rig and rack too!
__________________
Titanium Metallic 2006 Limited 4WD V8 | Doug Thorley "Premium" Long Tubes/Modded Ypipe | Magnaflow dual in/dual out | True Dual Exhaust | Fr: 5100/885/SPC R: Icon 2"/2nd gen links | 285/75R17 G003s | Sherpa Princeton | Baja Designs | 5th Gen Brakes | Everything else is in the Build Thread
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08-29-2019, 09:59 PM
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#6
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Member
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Join Date: Jun 2016
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pahaf91
looks amazing. i love the low profile of it. looks to be a lot more functional then the OEM roof rack. Im happy you answered one of my questions about the wind noise but how it is for MPG and power?
I put a basket on top of my 2006 sport 4Runner and the MPG dropped by avout 1.5-2 mpg and when going up slight inclines it has to down shift. Did you notice any of that?
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Yeah I really do like the sleek look of it too. As far as MPG, so far I haven't really noticed any difference. My MPGs suffered when I put the small spacer lift and larger tires but nothing more with the rack. But I will definitely update if I see a change the more I use it. And no, no weird downshifting. Is your basket really heavy or something? That's pretty wild that it has to downshift now when it didn't before.
Quote:
Originally Posted by That_Titanium_4RNR
Your photos look really good. Great looking rig and rack too!
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Thank you, I appreciate it. I got some exciting things for it already and some more already being shipped. Happy to finally start the process of building it.
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2005 T4R Sport V8 4WD
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08-30-2019, 11:01 AM
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#7
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Greenville, SC
Age: 44
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Senior Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Greenville, SC
Age: 44
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Real Name: Mike
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Really dig the rack and the price as well.
I like the use of the T-slot bars.
Quick question though. I had a big fail this summer with the wife's MY19 when we went to travel and put our Yakima box on the roof. Her crossrails are much closer to the roof skin than my Sport MY07 is and we couldn't use the box due to the clamps not having enough clearance with the body. I know not exactly apples to apples, but about how much clearance is there from the roof skin to the bottom of the bar, and what are the WxD dimensions of the bar?
Thanks!
__________________
SOLD2007 4Runner Sport Edition V6 4X4 - Natural White - Perf: Doug Thorley Long Tube Headers | 4.56 Gears ARB Front / TrueTrac Rear Off Road: Fr: Bilstein 6112 w/1/2" Toytec Spacer / Rr: MT ICON Long Travel | JBA UCAs | VTX Rogue 17x8.5 -10 | GY Duratrac 285/70R17 | Rear Diff Breather Mod | 1" Toytec Body Lift | Custom Cut Axle Joints ICE: Auto Pumpkin 10.1" Android | 3.5" Tweeter Mod Exterior: Quad Bi-Xenon HID Retrofit
2019 4Runner Limited 4x4 - MGM - Hers | Ironman4x4 FCP's & UCA | Fuel Rebel 20x9+1 | GY Duratrac 275/60R20 | Victory 4x4 FLRR
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08-30-2019, 02:12 PM
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#8
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Member
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Join Date: Jun 2016
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike07SE
Really dig the rack and the price as well.
I like the use of the T-slot bars.
Quick question though. I had a big fail this summer with the wife's MY19 when we went to travel and put our Yakima box on the roof. Her crossrails are much closer to the roof skin than my Sport MY07 is and we couldn't use the box due to the clamps not having enough clearance with the body. I know not exactly apples to apples, but about how much clearance is there from the roof skin to the bottom of the bar, and what are the WxD dimensions of the bar?
Thanks!
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So the bars have dimensions of 47"x2"x1".
And it's hard to say about the clearance cause it looks like the roof has a slight hump to it. The most clearance seems to be towards the doors or the edges of the roof.
Near sunroof edge of roof about 2 3/4":
Near sunroof near middle of roof about 1 3/4":
Behind front seats edge of roof about 1 3/4":
Behind front seats middle of roof about 1":
As you can see, the middle of the roof lengthwise and widthwise, you'll have least amount of space between bottom of bars and the roof. Although, I also have the rack on the lowest setting. If I want, I can get some more clearance by raising the rack and retightening on the brackets. I would say that might net another 1/2" all around. Here you can see how I have the rack on the lower setting closest to the roof:
Hope this helps.
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08-31-2019, 08:28 PM
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#9
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Senior Member
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Greenville, SC
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Greenville, SC
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Real Name: Mike
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nick_rabbo
So the bars have dimensions of 47"x2"x1".
And it's hard to say about the clearance cause it looks like the roof has a slight hump to it. The most clearance seems to be towards the doors or the edges of the roof.
Near sunroof edge of roof about 2 3/4":
Near sunroof near middle of roof about 1 3/4":
Behind front seats edge of roof about 1 3/4":
Behind front seats middle of roof about 1":
As you can see, the middle of the roof lengthwise and widthwise, you'll have least amount of space between bottom of bars and the roof. Although, I also have the rack on the lowest setting. If I want, I can get some more clearance by raising the rack and retightening on the brackets. I would say that might net another 1/2" all around. Here you can see how I have the rack on the lower setting closest to the roof:
Hope this helps.
Sent from my ONEPLUS A5000 using Tapatalk
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That was awesome. Thanks so much for taking the time to do that!!!
Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
__________________
SOLD2007 4Runner Sport Edition V6 4X4 - Natural White - Perf: Doug Thorley Long Tube Headers | 4.56 Gears ARB Front / TrueTrac Rear Off Road: Fr: Bilstein 6112 w/1/2" Toytec Spacer / Rr: MT ICON Long Travel | JBA UCAs | VTX Rogue 17x8.5 -10 | GY Duratrac 285/70R17 | Rear Diff Breather Mod | 1" Toytec Body Lift | Custom Cut Axle Joints ICE: Auto Pumpkin 10.1" Android | 3.5" Tweeter Mod Exterior: Quad Bi-Xenon HID Retrofit
2019 4Runner Limited 4x4 - MGM - Hers | Ironman4x4 FCP's & UCA | Fuel Rebel 20x9+1 | GY Duratrac 275/60R20 | Victory 4x4 FLRR
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09-01-2019, 11:31 AM
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#10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mike07SE
That was awesome. Thanks so much for taking the time to do that!!!
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No problem, my pleasure.
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09-02-2019, 11:25 PM
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#11
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Glad I ran across your thread. I initially was going to get a Prinsu rack, then I saw a new one by rockymtn/sherpa co. but their price completed used to be less than Prinsu and now its almost more for a finished rack. The finish on the fairing looks the best out of all the ones I've seen. I'll probably go with this one for sure... hopefully the price doesn't go up in the next few months.
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1999 2.7 5MT - SOLD // 2007 V8 4WD - Gone
2011 FJ 4WD - to new beginnings
// 4G V8 // 3G 2.7 5MT // Model 3 // IS300 5MT // FD RX7 //
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09-04-2019, 12:46 AM
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#12
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Nice rack and write up! good looking pics.
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'08 Limited V8 Supercharged: URD // Doug Thorley // Rotora // Titanium Works // JAUS // Toytec // Bilstein // Fuel Shok // Nitto // Icon // Hefty Fabworks // RCI // CBI // Shrockworks // Baja Designs // Auxbeam // Fiberwerx // Addco
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09-04-2019, 11:33 AM
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#13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tv4184
Glad I ran across your thread. I initially was going to get a Prinsu rack, then I saw a new one by rockymtn/sherpa co. but their price completed used to be less than Prinsu and now its almost more for a finished rack. The finish on the fairing looks the best out of all the ones I've seen. I'll probably go with this one for sure... hopefully the price doesn't go up in the next few months.
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No problem. Yeah I just priced out the Sherpa rack, which looks really nice as well, but it came out to be $1,077 shipped. That's almost $300 more that could be used for a light bar
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2005 T4R Sport V8 4WD
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09-04-2019, 11:33 AM
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#14
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Satori
Nice rack and write up! good looking pics.
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Thank you for reading
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09-04-2019, 01:09 PM
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#15
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Another question. I see that the fairing cutout is intended for a single row LED, do you see any potential reason why a dual row curved bar wouldn't work? Another alternative I see doing is using one of front bars to mount an LED with the T-slots. You think that would work too?
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SOLD2007 4Runner Sport Edition V6 4X4 - Natural White - Perf: Doug Thorley Long Tube Headers | 4.56 Gears ARB Front / TrueTrac Rear Off Road: Fr: Bilstein 6112 w/1/2" Toytec Spacer / Rr: MT ICON Long Travel | JBA UCAs | VTX Rogue 17x8.5 -10 | GY Duratrac 285/70R17 | Rear Diff Breather Mod | 1" Toytec Body Lift | Custom Cut Axle Joints ICE: Auto Pumpkin 10.1" Android | 3.5" Tweeter Mod Exterior: Quad Bi-Xenon HID Retrofit
2019 4Runner Limited 4x4 - MGM - Hers | Ironman4x4 FCP's & UCA | Fuel Rebel 20x9+1 | GY Duratrac 275/60R20 | Victory 4x4 FLRR
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