OEM Roof Rack Install

Just installed my roof rack. I got it from Toyota for about $300. Installation went pretty smoothly. A couple screws game me some difficulty. They felt like they were going in cross threaded, eventually going in straight. Also, the rack on the right side wouldn't line up with the holes in bracket, despite using a awl to manipulate it into position.

I manged to not have a gap on the driver side like some have complained about, without bending the left bracket. I'm curious if the reason for the gap is the yellow clip being installed on the bracket instead of the rack. The clip slides sideways into a slot on the roof rack. So if your clip was installed in the bracket first, it would not be able to connect to the roof rack properly with downward pressure. It would actually push the rack up.



I took it to the car wash and didn't find any leaks yet. Hope it stays that way. I did use some marine/auto sealer in the holes prior to putting the screws in.

 

Did you buy OEM rack direct from dealer?

 

My local dealer sells the rack for 295 and charges 270 bucks for install!

 

Yes. Check your dealers website. They might have a sale on parts or a coupon. It's not too difficult of an install. I would definitely recommend saving the $270 and doing it yourself.

 

What dealer did you buy the rack from? I live close to your area.

 

Got mine installed, similar issues as Arthur Vandelay

Slight gaps on both sides at the front that I couldn't get any tighter.

As always, thanks to all the great info on this site.





I only had adhesive on the very back curved surface of the original plastic strips, same area that rack uses tape.

 

What is the part number for the OEM roof rack?

 

$352 PT278-35170 Roof Rack (Double CAB), 1 Pack, Black

PT278-35170

 

I’m about to get a roof rack as well for my Tacoma. Are there any other brands/sets up y’all recommended other than the OEM one? Also, is there any other way to increase the max load more than the 100lbs?

 

No way to increase the load. Look into the prinsu racks..pricey but badass.

 

The instruction sheet (pdf) link is no longer available. Does anyone have a new link?
EDIT: I found a link for the 3rd Gen roof rack installation instructions:
https://www.toyotapartsdeal.com/installation/my12 tacoma roof rack-ppo issa.pdf
It states for 2012+ so it may be handy for anyone.

I was able to get the rack on without any issues. The package didn't contain the rubber washers, but I used silicon around the holes as a sealant. Also the rack fits snug and I didn't have to do any bending of brackets or anything. I'm wondering if this could be related to OEM part vs Chinese or perhaps the latest version (PT278-35170).

I'll post pics, shortly. Looks great!

 

What's the difference between the

$377 PT278-35130 Roof Rack

PT278-35130,

$345 PT278-35140 Roof Rack

PT278-35140, and the

$352 PT278-35170 Roof Rack (Double CAB), 1 Pack, Black

PT278-35170?

Depending on which website I look it, either they fit or they don't.

 

Installed mine, might have paid the dealer to deal with this poor Toyota quality. The weld nut plates were welded so far off center from the holes on the roof sheet metal that I had to use a die grinder to open it up.

Then, once that was done, the holes in the rack brackets wouldn’t align, so I had to mill them into slots to even come close to bolting up.

One trick I found with the yellow clip is that I had much better luck installing it once I used 2 zip ties to hold the clip in place on the underside of the roof rack, this helped me maneuver it into place and align the other center and rear mounting holes without the clip sliding out of the rack slot.
Overall I had no gaps and no leaks. Very happy with the look and can’t wait to use them!

 

I haven’t looked up those other part numbers but I’m willing to bet there is no difference. They didn’t make these for the single or extended cabs so maybe it has to do with the different years they were released. Bottomline is that the roof racks for a 2nd gen will fit on a 3rd gen.

 

Update on my rack... take in account that this is the 2017 3rd gen, but there wasn't a post for my model.

The rack looks great and operates wonderfully! However, I wish I had gone through the dealer for the install as the left side leaks into the B pillar. I'd heard about issues with the A pillar and water, but I'm getting water in the seat belt compartment. I'll have to take off the rack and try to seal it up better. Had I gone through the dealer, they would be dealing with everything. My mistake.

Here's some pictures for reference on the look.

 

So I just installed the OEM rack on my 1 day old 2019 TRD Off Road Double Cab today without instructions (watched 2 YouTube videos...didn’t find instructions til now) and overall it went fine. One bolt took a little work to align, but eventually was fine once I loosened the rest and pushed the rack more to align.

The plastic molding of the rack appears to fit snug against the truck roof, but I never broke off the sides of those front channel tabs noted in the actual instructions since I didn’t know about that step and now I’m wondering if I need to. Does anyone think I need to break those side tabs if it is fitting fine? I’m assuming no. The YouTube videos I watched didn’t do it.

Also, the very front rubber that fits in the channel in front of the rack on one side sits about 1/8” back from the windshield rubber (other side is touching). Does anyone think this will cause an issue? I’m thinking water is meant to run down the side of the windshield from the top. I took the rack and bracket back off to see if I could pull it forward, but it won’t go anymore forward. I almost screwed myself with that yellow insert, but managed to reuse it.

Lastly, I only used the foam washers and now have some concerns of future leaks after reading the thread. Are the leaks easy to spot? I hate to have an ongoing leak that isn’t noticeable until something is damaged. Is it worth taking off and putting silicone around the hole? The instructions don’t mention a silicone.

 

You will find the leak when you go to put on your seatbelt after it rained :-(

When you pull off the rack to install the Silicone, you'll notice how/why the setup is kind of complete shite. The foam-rubber washers get squished and are basically garbage. (I'm a little jaded, if it's not obvious - I can't believe *this* is the best Toyota could do.)

Anyhow - my 2017 leaked after the dealer tried several times to fix it. On my 2019, I installed the rack myself and used some silicone and I am hoping for the best!

Good luck

 

Oh boy, picking up an oem rack from a ‘16 tomorrow. Hopefully I don’t run into this many problems. Great write ups and fixes at least.

 

Well, just pulled off my black weatherstrips to find that the body shop I went to to fix my rusted roof took the front bracket off of the front driver side and used a bunch of grey putty to keep it down all throughout. Hope that's not a big deal otherwise I'm screwed.

 

Thanks for the info, was looking to replace my original (but broken) roof rack.