Installed my Gamiviti Rack about 2 months ago and so far, I am really happy with it. For me, I still really like the look of a tubular steel rack and thus avoided the flat style aluminum racks. Too, I wanted to preserve my sunroof and also have the ability to mount Yakiama cross bars over the rack for my other outdoor activities; cycling, skiing, kayaking, etc... I wanted to use my own cross bars as they are 66" and extend out beyond the footprint of the vehicle. I found Gamiviti Racks on the Land Cruiser forum IH8MUD as he has been building LC racks for sometime now. The LC folks seemed to not only like the rack, but working with the builder as well. I reached out to Tim Gamiviti and he had in fact done a 4th and 5th gen in the past. We worked together for a bit and came up with design that fit my needs. I have 6 towers (4 using the factory mounting points) and after running it for a few weeks without drilling the roof, I did opt to drill the roof given my desire to have it as secure as possible with my anticipated loads and uses. I do have an LED mounted on the rack which is hidden behind the fairing. The fairing is able to flip up to reveal the LEDs and I have run it up at 55mph without any issues. The way that the LED sits in the rack, no light is reflected on to my hood as it is instead deflected by the lower expo bar. Over Memorial Day I took it down to the desert of Sourthern Utah and Northern AZ for a 5 night off road trip. It's was loaded down with close to 200lbs of gear and I hammered it on everything from rock crawling on Elephant Hill to washboard roads in Valley of the Gods. It took the beating without any hiccups; even when I rubbed my awning up against a rock wall in Devils Pocket. The only real complaints I have are:
1. It uses standard instead of metric hardware. 1st world problem.
2. There is not a ton of aftermarket products to secure gear as there is for Frontrunner, Gobi, etc.. He does make an awning bracket which I really like. It's a hitch receiver style and allows me to mount and remove the awning in less than 90 seconds; I do lock it. I have been able to securely and neatly organize all of my gear, Rotopax, hi-lift, axe/shovel, using other manufactures bracket's, or fabricating my own backing plate support for Rotopax using aluminum from Home Depot. I have also used eye-bolts. Quick fists would work as well but I wanted something a bit more permanent. I think if I were to use quick fists I would use the Quick Fist extension brackets from Crazy Beaver as they seem super strong. I may have used these before getting other aftermarket brackets but I did not know they existed at the time.
I will get more pictures of the towers and such when able. Here are some pics of it.
); 1982 Jeep CJ-7; 2014 Trail 4Runner
Linear Mode
