Prinsu Access Cab Install

Hopefully, @zscott doesn't mind me posting this here, but @james Daniel and myself thought it would help a few other Access Cab owners when it comes to do their install. Since we could not find a good "how-to", James and I decided to take really good pictures and document the install of his Access Rac and Top Rack. I'll be updating this thread with better pictures since we both have them on our phones and I need to organize them and add the text. As everyone knows (or should know by this point), access cabs do not have factory mounting locations in the roof rails where double cabs already have these provisions. Zach did a great job of packaging everything together and included rivnuts and a small install tool as well as all hardware for the install itself. The first thing we did was to assemble the rack using only a front and rear crossbar just to get a basic idea of the footprint to be created by the rack itself. We then removed the drip rail weatherstripping to see what we had to work with and placed the rack gently on top of the truck to see where it best lined up with the body lines and not interfere with anything. As you can see here, the rack's mounting holes line up perfectly with the drip rail on the truck. The drip rails themselves (on the truck) get wider towards the front of the truck by about 1.5" and the mounting holes in the rack (shown below) are slotted to accommodate this so they are straight and do not bow outward.




We lined the roof with masking tape so we could keep track of our measurements and make sure everything was squared and lined up. We decided that the best placement was to put the forward most mounting hole at 7 1/8" away from the windshield weatherstripping. The pilot hole is already drilled in this picture, but you get the idea. We marked the location of the rest of the holes along the masking tape before we removed the rack so that nothing was left to chance of not lining up perfectly.

Placing the first mounting hole at this distance (7 1/8") put the front of the fairing here for reference:




And the rearmost crossbar here:
(James has a topper on his truck and we wanted to make sure there was no interference if he ever decided to remove it.)


Then comes the fun part! (It's not yours until you drill into it.) We used a center punch to make sure that the drillbits didn't walk on us and placed our holes dead-center in the drip rail. Start with a small bit just to get the hole started and then we used a uni-bit (or step-bit) to enlarge the hole. Be extremely careful during this process as we found out that the side curtain airbags and associated wiring for them and your dome light will be behind where you are drilling. We failed to get a picture but one of the airbags could actually be seen right up against the sheet metal behind our hole. Proceed with caution. That being said here's a good place to put a disclaimer: It's not anyone's fault but your own if you fuck up your truck, cut an airbag or drill through some wiring. Didn't your momma ever teach you not to listen to strangers?


Once all the holes were drilled, we installed the rivnuts using the tool provided by Zach (picture will be uploaded shortly). One thing to note here is that the install bolts are not grade 8 hardware so if you start to feel tension when installing the rivnuts, don't keep torqueing them down as you risk breaking the bolt off inside the rivnut itself or damaging the threads of your freshly installed rivnut. We learned this the hard way.

The rivnuts only need a relatively small amount of clamping force to be installed correctly so they don't spin inside the hole you drilled. You're not installing suspension parts afterall so I can't give you torque specs. Just use the German scale: Güd-en-tite! You can clearly see it here that we silicone the holed prior to inserting the rivnuts for installation. It made for sticky hands, but happy to report no water penetration after several days of hard rain. If you get some silicone on the truck be sure to clean it off ASAP before it dries, otherwise it's a PITA to get off. We used glass cleaner and microfiber towels because it's what we had on hand.


Here are the spacers provided with the rack next to each hole and installed rivnut. They're a lot beefier than what I thought they were going to be and will handle the weight of two TW members on top of a freshly installed Prinsu rack. You're in the home stretch now and have passed the hard part. Everything else should bolt right up without any fuss.


Finished mounts inside the tracks:





(More pics incoming- stay tuned)....
Here's the finished product so I don't leave you guys hanging.

 

reserved

 

Thanks a ton for this. Waiting for my rack and eager to get right to install. This will be helpful.

 

No leaking. And the truck has been through some hard rain and washed several times. We had some touch up paint on hand, but found it unecessary since all the holes were sealed from the elements with silicone.

 

I am planning on removing the head liner when I do mine, am gonna install some Dynamat when it's out. Did you remove yours? How hard was it to remove and reinstall the weather stripping? Did you punch round holes in the stripping for the spacers? It scares the crap out of me just thinking about drilling the roof. Thanks for this thread.

 

No problem. We didn't remove the headliner for this install. There is actually enough of a gap between the roof and headliner where you don't really have to fear punching through the headliner when you drill the roof. Still, you should go slow and use a unibit to limit your depth. I did drop my headliner in my own truck to sound deaden and insulate the roof. A tedious project for sure, but well worth it for my purposes. You can find that info here:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/heat-reduction-in-dark-tacomas.394469/

As far as the weather stripping on the roof, it just pulls right out. It is held on by small clips at the front of the cab and double sided tape at the back. We started to cut holes to reinstall it, but the truck's owner (@james Daniel ) and I decided to hold off for a later date. I think he continued to punch the holes so he can add insight to that part of the project. You don't really need it back on the truck as it serves no purpose other than aesthetics on the truck. The rack hides the exposed channel and you won't miss it either way. Take a look a the regular Prinsu thread. Some members used a punch to make the holes and reinstall it. It looks really cool when done that way, but was more work that it was worth for us.

Don't worry about drilling. That first step is scary, but you'll get over it really quick once you realize how awesome your truck will look with the new rack!
Good luck!

 

Thanks. May have some other questions later on.

 

Post them up. This site is here for us to help each other and share what we have learned and experienced. The community is full of useful info.

 

Never dealt with a nicer bunch of people.

 

Awesome for us access cab's!!

 

How deep did you go for drilling? Just the exact depth of the rivnuts?

 

The sheet metal is actually kind of thin in the channel so you don't have to go that deep. It's actually where two panels are spot welded together so you're only drilling through the thickness of any body panel twice. I'd say it's less that 1/8 of an inch (probably closer to 3/32). It's surprisingly thin. Makes you wonder how it will hold your rack and anything you put on it, but the area is braced with angled steel from underneath. I found that out when I dropped my headliner to sound-deaden/insulate the roof.

 

Oh gotcha, so you're just barely getting through some thin sheet metal and then the rivet nut goes a good bit deeper? How far below that sheet metal is the headliner/anything you could potentially destroy?

 

For the front mounting holes, you should be aware that your wiring harness for your dome lights/map lights is routed nearby, for the other two, the airbags are scary close, but if you go slow and check your depth you'll be ok. Use a drill stop or a uni-bit. A regular drill bit runs the chance of catching the sheet metal and being pulled way further than you'd be comfortable with. The headliner is far enough away where I wouldn't worry about it as long as you go slow and check your depth. I'm being repetitive to emphasize how important this is.

 

Haven't gotten my rack yet. Can someone please post some closeup pictures of the rivnuts and the installation tool? They feel pretty secure when there in?

 

Start small and work your way up. We used a unibit and once we found the right size, we wrapped the bit in masking tape to provide a visual stop so we didn't go any bigger. I think the finished hole was 3/8"? I'm guessing because I don't remember, but you'll know when the rivnuts can slide in without too much effort.

 

Just ordered mine and and super grateful for this to reference. Thanks guys

 

Just got mine last week. Waiting for a cool day, to freakin hot to do it now.

 

Great write up, i will be doing this to my access cab in the near future and will use this as a reference