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Hey All,
Well I bit the bullet and bought the Tigerz11 Rack and awning combo deal they have going at the moment ($599)
I ummed and ahhh'd because I wanted the HD box Rhino racks and alloy tray, but even second hand (with some great offers from fellow PP'ers) I could still get this rack and awning for the same price.
So, in the interest of sharing information for everyone else, here are my impressions purely just regarding the install and general appearance (it has only been on the car for about an hour), I'll post back with new impressions.
At this point I would also like to say a BIG thank you to mjrandom for 1. Buying my rails to help me get treasury to approve the new rack and 2. taking 4 hours out of your Friday afternoon to come and help me install it. Which leads me to point number .....
1. It is at least a 2 person job, we had three, thanks mjrandom jnr :-)
2. When the Engrish destructions state "Use the LARGE PAPER SPACER" they mean, "use the SMALL RUBBER WASHER" That had us stumped for a bit
3. mjrandom had a great idea to fill the mounting points and surrounds with silicon, GOOD IDEA, because....
4. The rubber "seals" are purely cosmetic, and are barely that, they do not line up and sit in the gutters well at all. I know someone else has mentioned, the Tigerz11 rack and mounting kit really is just a generic everything, the 120 kits must just be differences in the height of the front/middle/back feet for the rack to sit level on the prado's curved roof.
5. Do not attempt this job if you do not have a 10 and 12mm rachet spanner (unless you have the hands of a midget, a midget child, a midget child with smaller then average hands, oh and knuckles made of steel)
6. I'm going to swap out all the mounting hardware with stainless, and nylock nuts, I have a feeling that when the going gets ro-corogated-ugh, I'm going to hear the sound of jingling on my roof, and it's not going to be santa. There are a total of 18bolts to mount the feet to the rack, I know some of these I will never see again if I don't get some nylocks up there.
7. Despite what Tigerz11 sales staff assured me, there is absolutely NO awning mounting hardware included in this combo, or in the awning box/bag. Thankfully mjrandom had exactly 6 bolts with nuts and washers that were an exact fit in the side rail runner of the awning so we could just drill holes straight into the (5 mins old) rack. Nothing a bit of cold gal won't fix. (It was good that my wife was baking brownies at this time, I don't think she would have liked seeing me start to perforate the brand new rack before we had even put anything, other then mjrandom jnr, in it) We did enjoy the brownies though.
8. It is pretty clear that this is a classic example of you get what you pay for. I went into this purchase well aware and expecting parts of this rack to be 'cheap'. BUT when you look at the cost of the alternatives, I do think that this is great value for money, as long as don't expect the champagne at beer prices.
The awning is great, it was an item on our 'wish' list, not the 'essentials' list. I feel already that it is going to be a very well used piece of kit. The vinyl bag already has some little tears in it and the zip is really really chunky and difficult, the rest of it looks virtually identical to other brands I looked at. A note on this, I went the 2mtrs (along the car) x 2.5mtrs out from the car. I think if i would do this again, I would go the 2.5mtrs x 2 mtrs out. Proportionatley i think it would suit the prado better, and, the 2 mtrs along the car just seems a little short once it is erected. (Let the comments roll in...)
Anyway, we didn't bother with step by step photos (kudos to those who do, it must add hours to your installs!) but here is the finished product:
With the awning out:
So all in all happy with the purchase on the current deal. I'll update this when we get out and drive it especially on the highway etc.
Once again, massive thanks to mjrandom and mjrandom jnr, not only for helping, but for some great chats and a cold beer on a friday afternoon working on the 4by, what else would you want to be doing?
Well I bit the bullet and bought the Tigerz11 Rack and awning combo deal they have going at the moment ($599)
I ummed and ahhh'd because I wanted the HD box Rhino racks and alloy tray, but even second hand (with some great offers from fellow PP'ers) I could still get this rack and awning for the same price.
So, in the interest of sharing information for everyone else, here are my impressions purely just regarding the install and general appearance (it has only been on the car for about an hour), I'll post back with new impressions.
At this point I would also like to say a BIG thank you to mjrandom for 1. Buying my rails to help me get treasury to approve the new rack and 2. taking 4 hours out of your Friday afternoon to come and help me install it. Which leads me to point number .....
1. It is at least a 2 person job, we had three, thanks mjrandom jnr :-)
2. When the Engrish destructions state "Use the LARGE PAPER SPACER" they mean, "use the SMALL RUBBER WASHER" That had us stumped for a bit
3. mjrandom had a great idea to fill the mounting points and surrounds with silicon, GOOD IDEA, because....
4. The rubber "seals" are purely cosmetic, and are barely that, they do not line up and sit in the gutters well at all. I know someone else has mentioned, the Tigerz11 rack and mounting kit really is just a generic everything, the 120 kits must just be differences in the height of the front/middle/back feet for the rack to sit level on the prado's curved roof.
5. Do not attempt this job if you do not have a 10 and 12mm rachet spanner (unless you have the hands of a midget, a midget child, a midget child with smaller then average hands, oh and knuckles made of steel)
6. I'm going to swap out all the mounting hardware with stainless, and nylock nuts, I have a feeling that when the going gets ro-corogated-ugh, I'm going to hear the sound of jingling on my roof, and it's not going to be santa. There are a total of 18bolts to mount the feet to the rack, I know some of these I will never see again if I don't get some nylocks up there.
7. Despite what Tigerz11 sales staff assured me, there is absolutely NO awning mounting hardware included in this combo, or in the awning box/bag. Thankfully mjrandom had exactly 6 bolts with nuts and washers that were an exact fit in the side rail runner of the awning so we could just drill holes straight into the (5 mins old) rack. Nothing a bit of cold gal won't fix. (It was good that my wife was baking brownies at this time, I don't think she would have liked seeing me start to perforate the brand new rack before we had even put anything, other then mjrandom jnr, in it) We did enjoy the brownies though.
8. It is pretty clear that this is a classic example of you get what you pay for. I went into this purchase well aware and expecting parts of this rack to be 'cheap'. BUT when you look at the cost of the alternatives, I do think that this is great value for money, as long as don't expect the champagne at beer prices.
The awning is great, it was an item on our 'wish' list, not the 'essentials' list. I feel already that it is going to be a very well used piece of kit. The vinyl bag already has some little tears in it and the zip is really really chunky and difficult, the rest of it looks virtually identical to other brands I looked at. A note on this, I went the 2mtrs (along the car) x 2.5mtrs out from the car. I think if i would do this again, I would go the 2.5mtrs x 2 mtrs out. Proportionatley i think it would suit the prado better, and, the 2 mtrs along the car just seems a little short once it is erected. (Let the comments roll in...)
Anyway, we didn't bother with step by step photos (kudos to those who do, it must add hours to your installs!) but here is the finished product:
With the awning out:
So all in all happy with the purchase on the current deal. I'll update this when we get out and drive it especially on the highway etc.
Once again, massive thanks to mjrandom and mjrandom jnr, not only for helping, but for some great chats and a cold beer on a friday afternoon working on the 4by, what else would you want to be doing?
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