How to mount awning without a roof rack?

On my Discovery 2 I used bracket from Rhino roof bars. I attached them to the stock longitudinal bar at the front with a steel strip and home made bracket.

At the back I glued a 100x100MM piece of Nylon breadboard to the roof approx. 200MM from the edge of the roof. I drilled the breadboard and fitted stainless bolts into it ( upside down before gluing) and glued it to the roof with Sikaflex and painted it roof colour. I fashioned a steel strap between the Rhino brackets and the breadboard which attaches to the protruding stainless bolts.

I drilled a hole in the Rhino brackets at the desired height and the awning channel attaches to the Rhino brackets with bolts and washers.

On a 105 you have some captive nuts under the rubber strip on the roof . IMHO, locate the captive nuts which are designed for a roof rack and make up straps from them to roof bar brackets of your choice , but Rhino roof bar ends are good and have a flat on top with provision for a nut and bolt.
Mine have done the GRR without a problem. To stop the awning swinging on rough roads I have simply used a bit of double sided Velcro belt wrapped around the bracket.
Regards Philip A

Hi Ben,

You are unlikely to find something available through normal retail outlets, I've never seen anything like what you're after and I had a 105 series Landcruiser for many years. I recommend you get in touch with a steel fabricator to get a custom system made up for your requirements using the mounting points on the roof of the cruiser - there's three points available under the plastic strip. The 105 doesn't have old style gutters anyway.

Failing that, some roof bars (rather than the roof rack) would be a simple alternative and still less drag than a full roof rack. Rhino has them and the brackets to fit awnings as well.

Good luck with the project.

Cheers

Rob K

Would not expect a roof rack fitted to a 105 would make a huge amount of difference to the fuel consumption. The 'cruiser is not known for it's aerodynamic qualities anyway and having the 4.2 engine it should hardly notice the difference.
My 105 has an after market turbo and when fully loaded towing a heavy camper trailer, averages 18.5 litres per 100km. This figure is the cumulative average of at least 10,000km each year over the last 10 years on mainly outback roads such as Simpson desert, Canning stock route etc.
Your driving style could have more of an effect on your fuel consumption than the addition of a roof rack.

I have TJM rack for a 100 for sale in Sydney if you decide to go back down that route?
Malcom

Perhaps source a set of roof rack mounting brackets suitable for your vehicle and reverse them on the side you wish to mount the awning. Im sure most roof rack suppliers would be able to supply.

FWIW
I have a 105 with 3 Toyota rooftop bars running across to the brackets which fit into the roof boltholes. This supports a fibreglass rooftop tent.

I know that this is not what you want to do, but my awning is fixed to the brackets which makes it easy to install/remove.

Without my rooftop tent and just the bars (maybe just front and back) I don't reckon I'd see any difference in fuel use with this engine. The 1HZ is what it is- inefficient compared to the modern common-rail, but wonderfully reliable and easy to service.

Thank you very much for the replies everyone. We've actually decided not to purchase 'our' 105 that we were looking at and go a different route. Thank god for third party pre-purchase inspections is all I can say!