factory roof rack remove and swap for Prinsu

Hey there. Has anyone removed a factory roof rack to install a Prinsu? Just wondering if the Prinsu lines up with the current factory gaps/spaces in the weatherstripping that the OEM rack utilizes, or if there is a lot of missing weatherstripping after we remove the factory rack. Hope this makes sense? Thx.

*edit* I found a thread after searching the internet. It didn't come up when I searched the forums. Sorry about that.

 

Curious to know the same.

Tried an OEM roof rack and immediately got rid of it upon finding out how bad it was. Had no idea, didn't expect it. Shame, considering how aerodynamic it is, with fold away bars.
But, kept the weather stripping in storage, intact.

Might go Sherpa, because supposedly from what I've read on here:
-Prinsu is weak and has bad instructions
-Sherpa looks good and is strong
-every other rack besides these looks ugly

for the above racks, I hear during install you have to mark the weather stripping/drip mouldings and then trim sections out of them to make room for where the rack bolts down

I know after taking mine off I will probably have to glue new clips (already have) back into the right positions of the roof, at least in the front. Back ones might still be on the truck.
I think it's the front ones that get chiseled off to mount the OE plastic toys-r-us rack

 

The weatherstripping that is used with the OEM rack cannot be used with the Prinsu. You need the original roof moldings that are used without the rack, then cut that to fit with the Prinsu.

When I removed my OEM rack and installed a Prinsu I just left the molding off entirely. Not ideal but it doesn't look that bad because you just don't notice it very easily. It wasn't worth the $200 extra for me to buy new roof moldings. That said, I did just find a set here on TW which I bought but I'm going to keep them in tact for when I remove the Prinsu rather than cutting them. I may spray a little Plasti-Dip on the rear of the cab where the molding rolls over the top of the cab and down the back wall. That's pretty much the only area where you can obviously see the molding is missing. If I paint that black then it'll be really tough to notice something is missing.

 

@TacoTuesday1 here is the link I found after my original post. Since I can't figure out how to delete my original post, I'll just share this so maybe it is easier to find in the future. This is a person here on Tacoma World sharing how he did the swap:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/removing-oem-roof-rack-to-install-a-prinsu-rack.734637/

@clenkeit Thanks for the info- our truck started with OEM weatherstripping, and we added the OEM roof rack after the fact- so I don't know what the heck is up there now, or what they trimmed to install the OEM rack last year. A local off-road custom shop did the work since we had a light bar to wire up too.

 

Check out the Martin Offroad rack... love mine and it fits perfect. Great price too. An alternative to cutting your weather stripping. I took a piece of 1/2" pipe and sharpened the edge with a grinder. Set my weather strip on a piece of wood and used the pipe and a hammer as a punch like you would leather. Worked swell

 

No issues here with going with Prinsu, even with lack of install instructions(pretty self explanatory by looking at it.)
https://truckbrigade.com/blogs/buyers-guide/which-roof-rack-is-the-best

 

How do you remove it? Its been years since I installed my OEM one

 

Another vote for the martin rack, it's more reasonably priced than other ones and still great quality.