Installed Rhino Rack RTS Tracks (And Some Other Goodies)

Took the plunge and installed Rhino Rack RTS Track's (which mount in the roof ditch), a bed rack and stiffeners from TW Overland. I thought I would post this since I have not seen too many out there install the Rhino Rack tracks on the Tacoma's.

RTS Track: http://www.rhinorack.ca/en-ca/produ...lt600-trackmount-black-2-bar-roof-rack_ja8957

Here are the tracks installed with one bar installed (waiting on hardware for the second):


Installation of the roof tracks was a terrifying prospect as it required me to drill 8 holes in my roof. I did a lot of research on the safest/smartest way to do this in order to avoid drilling into something I didn't want to, leaks and eventually having my roof rot away.

After identifying the factory threaded mounts I needed to mount the track, I cut the seals directly over these points, and worked on fitting the tracks, which took a bit of effort due to the manufacturing tolerances on the location of the factory mount points. I ended up having to file two of the screw points on the tracks so that everything lined up. Once the tracks were where they needed to be and temporarily screwed down, I marked where I needed to drill my holes, removed the track and went about drilling. I used a drill stop to ensure that I did not drill past 3/16".

I had to drill a bit deeper on a couple of the holes, but managed to drill through without causing any damage. Where I drilled did not appear to have anything between the hole and headliner which was somewhat of a surprise. In the end, I had 8 3/16" holes in the roof of my truck.


Once the holes were drilled, I cleaned them up and applied a couple of coats of zinc rich/cold galvanizing paint to protect the metal.


Once the paint was dry, I used a generous amount of marine grade silicone sealant in the factory threaded mount cavity's and Butyl patches on all of the holes to seal them up. There is also foam tape on the bottom of the tracks that I am sure help seal things. Once the track was screwed down, 8 pop rivets are used to help secure the tracks. The rivets add strength to the track and helped conform the track to the shape of the ditch.


Once the track was secure, I cut the ditch trim to accommodate the tracks and installed the provided end caps.

As terrifying as it was to install the tracks, it was fairly straight forward and I am very happy with the end result!


I will be putting a pair of Rhino Rack's heavy duty cross bars on to mount an ARB awning, a Road Shower and eventually a couple of cases. Unfortunately, I was not shipped all of the right parts, so I was unable to put it all together.

Very happy to report that after sitting outside in rain for 12+ hours, I have no leaks! I count that as a win.

The bed rack and bed stiffeners are from a local shop, TW Overland (https://twoverland.com/). I am pretty happy with the product and was happy to find something locally. Both products are powder coated steel.


And finally, installed a pair of bed stiffeners from TW Overland. I am really happy with this stiffeners as they let me keep the factory bed d-rings and look pretty good in my opinion.

 

Nice write up.
Looks good!

 

Thanks!

 

Nice write-up! Thank you!
I have been looking at these for some time. If you get a chance, could you measure from the front of the ditch strip near the windshield back to where the first bar can be located at it's most forward possible position?

 

It’s about 11 5/8” to where you can mount the front tower. With the tolerances being what they are for the factory mount points, that could vary a small amount. The total usable length of the track is 43”.

Hope that helps!

 

Awesome! Thank you. I like having a good spread when carrying touring kayaks. Just want to compare it to my current Thule set. I like the track so much better than the wrap around door frame mounts of Thule and Yakima.

 

No problem. You would be surprised how sturdy this setup is. I also don’t think it’s too difficult to use the Thule accessories on the bars.

 

Looks great. I'd be curious to see the final product when all the parts come in.

I'm a bit torn between the rhino and prinsu type racks. The Rhino bars seem more functional for me but drilling the roof seemed risky.

Thanks for putting this out there. I will probably go this route.

 

Prinsu FTW. No drilling. Uses the factory holes and is super easy to setup. GF tightening it all down lol.

 

Looks good. You are a braver man than me! I don’t have the stomach to drill holes in my roof haha.

 

I am really happy with how the rack worked out. Took it for a 8400km trip to the Arctic Ocean, no leaks, rattles and the whole setup stayed solid. Mounted a Road Shower, ARB awning, and a borrowed roof basket. Its a bit noisy which makes sense as I went with the square bars and they sit a couple of inches above the roof, but when I don't need a roof rack, takes about 10 minutes to get the whole setup off.
I play to eventually get the Pioneer Platform from Rhino Rack, just wasn't in the budget this year.

 

It was the most terrifying thing I have ever done to a vehicle... That being said, I am confident that I treated the holes correctly to avoid rust and despite driving through some pretty torrential downpours lately, not a single leak!

 

I went with the rhino rack and now I'm convinced it's the way to go.
The prinsu style look sweet but the bara are more functional for me. The tracks make it super adjustable and rock solid.
Each bar has a TNut groove so you can add and awning, spare tire mount, jack...

Sweet rig, Alta. I'd imagine that was a hell of a trip.

 

Did you go to Tuk? I did the drive from Whitehorse to Tuktoyaktuk in February 2018.

 

We did! Was an awesome trip. Really liked Whitehorse too.

 

Looks great, but I don't have the stones to drill it like that.

 

I've got the same Rhino Rack tracks but haven't had the courage to install yet. How did you make sure the rivets won't leak through their centres???

 

Hey op, are you still here? Curious how these are holding up for you.

 

I recently bought the same tracks and will be installing them soon. The rivets that came with my tracks are a sealed blind rivet. It's a closed end on the mandrel side so the mandrel won't eventually fall through and create a hole like a traditional blind rivet. Google waterproof rivet.

Looks like he was active on the 10th. Hopefully he will be back. I'm curios as well.

 

I actually already bought it and installed it over the weekend. @Sig45 convinced me they were worth the money. Also siliconed all the holes even though the directions dont say to do so. I washed truck right after and went real heavy on the roof with the water hose. No leaks!