Advisory: Baja Racks

[K9trainer]

Maybe they should just copy the original mount, its already sized to carry the load, and has the correct bottom mount plate sized for it to sit on.

 

[Peakbagger]

Yikes

Thanks so much for sharing this information. I finally got my rack through the group buy and had just mounted it up. Will definitely be holding off on getting a roof top tent until this gets resolved. Hope they work something out for the damage to your roof!

 

[el_kab0ng]

Let me fill in your logic, engineering and mathematical gaps and help your "thinking" process. I will let [MENTION=66316]1engineer[/MENTION] explain the difference between static and dynamic weight ratings to you if self initiated Google or the free clues below don't fill that gap for you first. From Baja's website "Load Capacity: Dynamic (while driving) 300Lb (136 kg); Static 600Lb (272 kg)". Load capacities of the rack do not include the 80lbs of the rack itself. Although I have tried several times to occupy the tent while I drive (free hint on the word "dynamic"), I have not been able to succeed. Thus the dynamic state of the setup is approximately 160lbs at best with the bedding and whatnot inside the closed tent. When were parked and occupying the tent (free hint on the word "static") the load on the rack is at most 460lbs with people and personal affects.

The factory rack rating has nothing to do with the rating of the roof, which no one publicly knows that I have been able to find.

Specifications can be found here: Baja Rack: racks_list_inside

I must have missed where you listed the exact BR you have installed. Other baskets don't differentiate between static and dynamic loads on their website, so it's hard to nail down exactly what the limits are. In any event, looks like you got it sorted out, so that's all that really matters.

 

[tommygunn5645]

I had the exact same thing happen about 7 months ago. The vehicle was about 1 month old at the time so I wasn't real happy about it. I contacted Baja rack at the time and they were as helpful as they could be. Not too much they can do as the damage has already been done. They sent me out new mounting hardware but I ended up just keeping the old mounts up there. I had a paintless dent repair guy look at it and he said "why bother", so I said screw it and don't worry about it anymore. Now I will throw any thing up there, heaviest load so far was an entire elk. If you have a baby elephant you can put it in my rack, whats it going to do, dent my roof? This was a result of the mounting brackets being out of spec. When I first mounted them the plate that the rack sits on was not parallel to the ground, as you tighten the rack to the mounts it caused the little wing portion of the mounts to dig into the roof. While they might be hard to get a hold of at times Baja Rack seems to have good customer service. They actually called me at home last Friday thinking I was the OP of this thread trying to solve this issue (my name is Keith also). I am pretty easy going when it comes to my vehicles but I can see where some people might come unglued over this issue.

 

[sroodtuo]

I had the exact same thing happen about 7 months ago. The vehicle was about 1 month old at the time so I wasn't real happy about it. I contacted Baja rack at the time and they were as helpful as they could be. Not too much they can do as the damage has already been done. They sent me out new mounting hardware but I ended up just keeping the old mounts up there. I had a paintless dent repair guy look at it and he said "why bother", so I said screw it and don't worry about it anymore. Now I will throw any thing up there, heaviest load so far was an entire elk. If you have a baby elephant you can put it in my rack, whats it going to do, dent my roof? This was a result of the mounting brackets being out of spec. When I first mounted them the plate that the rack sits on was not parallel to the ground, as you tighten the rack to the mounts it caused the little wing portion of the mounts to dig into the roof. While they might be hard to get a hold of at times Baja Rack seems to have good customer service. They actually called me at home last Friday thinking I was the OP of this thread trying to solve this issue (my name is Keith also). I am pretty easy going when it comes to my vehicles but I can see where some people might come unglued over this issue.

So you're saying that Baja Racks has been aware of this issue for months? That ain't good...

 

[Keith_PDX]

Which is interesting as they told me that they just found out about this a couple of weeks ago and haven't even made the revised feet yet. Either there's a misunderstanding/interpretation issue or something isn't right or accurate with how the situation is being portrayed.....

 

[Ike64]

Let me know if anything comes of Baja knowing about this.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[NCNewGuy]

I got in on the group buy earlier this year. Due to a crazy busy home life since the rack arrived in March, I haven't yet installed it.

Based on this thread, I sent an email to BajaRack yesterday afternoon asking about either a return or new mounting brackets. I received this reply a few hours later:

Hello Steverson,

Thank you for reaching out to us, we will send you a new set of brackets as soon as they are available, please confirm your shipping address and if you have any questions please contact me directly.

Kind Regards

Sergio Murillo

So it looks like BR is trying to do the right thing in my case, at least.

Sorry to all whose rigs are dented.

 

[Swede71]

just emailed Sergio as well asking if he will be sending replacement fee for the 2 racks I had purchased and just received last week.

 

[Keith_PDX]

New Brackets.....

 

[BradBrad619]

New Brackets.....

So is the width of the lower mounting surface narrower than before? Curious to know what exactly changed.

 

[Simpleman74]

New Brackets.....

is that BAJAs design or something you created?

 

[Keith_PDX]

The top of the bracket is the same, so is the height. Its just that the bottom of the bracket fully sits in the channel now and perfectly fits in the void left that the lack of the factory rails/cover creates. See my original post with the picture of the aluminum and that will tell you the size.

That is straight from Baja.

 

[JSparky]

I'd love to hear the rationale behind their original design.

 

[wild_turkey]

Shim Dimensions

For anyone who may want to do a temporary fix until the new feet are manufactured, I followed [MENTION=123786]Keith_PDX[/MENTION] lead and bought some aluminum flat bar from Home Depot for $6.

Stock: 3/4" wide x 1/8" thick

Length: I cut to 4" lengths because I didn't want to get cute with it...leaves plenty of margin before the rubber gaskets.

Hole Spacing: 2 1/4" center-to-center

Hole Diameter: 1/2" (Used a punch and stepped up my drill bit sizes)

I originally bought 1" flat stock and realized it was too wide to fit inside the lower part of the channel where the tubes are.

It took about 3 hrs. An hour to measure and fab the plates, 1.5 hrs to clean and prep, 30 mins to seal and install.

The real pain was trying to clean out all of the sealant I had used around the tubes. I tried working from each corner without taking off the whole rack since I was by myself. This probably added an hour of time, so recommend grabbing a buddy and remove the entire rack.

I was pretty pissed off to be doing this in the first place since we all try to do our installs right the first time, but I figured it was the best way to mitigate the situation until Baja Rack gets their act together. They must be working their emails in LIFO order, because I emailed Sergio last Friday and haven't heard a peep. It seems others who ask to return the product are getting a faster response.

I only used 1/8" thick and it seems to eat up the gap. part of the foot sits above the roof when torqued down and the other half barely rests on the roof. Should keep from getting pressure dents in the roof (I already had minor ones after the initial install), but I will find out this weekend.

Hope this helps...results may vary!

 

[coversion]

I would recommend calling until you talk to Sergio, or at least someone who knows what's going on and can send you the new brackets.

I have never gotten a response from a blind email to BR, including when I was trying to give them money.

They are much more responsive over the phone. Squeaky wheel, I suppose.

.

 

[tigger]

So I talked to someone from Baja today at the Overland Expo (I believe it was Sergio).
He stated that if you want replacement feet, send them an email with your address and they will start shipping them in about 2 weeks.

He said the issue was caused by wear in the tooling, meaning earlier ones shouldn't have an issue, but they will replace them for anyone who wants.

He seemed pretty upset that this issue happened, and is doing what he can to rectify the issue.

 

[phx4rnr]

So I talked to someone from Baja today at the Overland Expo (I believe it was Sergio).
He stated that if you want replacement feet, send them an email with your address and they will start shipping them in about 2 weeks.

He said the issue was caused by wear in the tooling, meaning earlier ones shouldn't have an issue, but they will replace them for anyone who wants.

He seemed pretty upset that this issue happened, and is doing what he can to the rectify issue.

I talked to him today out there as well. E-mail sent.

 

[BajaRack]

Mounting Bracket Issue

To all of our Gen 5 (2010-2016) 4Runner customers - we are conducting a mounting bracket recall.
If you bought a BajaRack roof rack for your 5th Gen 4Runner in the last 2 years, please send to [email protected] the following information:

Customer Name (Purchaser)
Purchase Date
Place of Purchase
Rack Model Number (e.g: BR-TY4RG5-0)
Shipping Address
Telephone Number
Email Address

Thank you and our apologies for any inconvenience.

Sergio Murillo

BajaRack
2275 Michael Faraday Drive Suite 6
San Diego, CA 92154
Phone: (760) 621-0171
Fax: (760) 539-9960
Nextel: 125*172789*1
e-mail: [email protected]
web site: Baja Rack: Home

 

[weeeee]

[MENTION=136976]elusive01[/MENTION]