FriscoKid

Has anyone here tried to fit the Thule Fat Mouth clamp onto their 3rd gen 4Runner factory installed rack? Thule's documentation says that the fit setting for the wedges should be "A" but I could not get this setting to work (the clamp was leaning too far forward). I eventually got the clamp on OK but I didn't use any of the Thule fit settings (not A, B, C, or D).

I'm just curious what fit settings other folks have tried, their own or one of Thule's.

Thanks.

Greedy

I have those clamps on my 99 and have used them for 2 seasons. i don't really like the design and wish they still made the clamps that were specific to our rigs. Anyways, I remember the first year I put them on they leaned forward too. This year, i took them out of the box and couldn't find the directions so i just did some trial and error with moving the spacers to different locations, flipping them over etc.. Turned out alot better - they are really solid and vertical. Didn't really anwser the question but might be something to try...

FriscoKid

Thanks for the reply. I pretty much did the same thing. I first tried what Thule's instructions directed me to do but I didn't care for the damn thing leaning forward. That's when I started moving the fit wedges around and ended up with a decent fit, but the configuration was not anything like any of the configurations shown in the instructions. I was just wondering whether other folks had the same experience. Now for some skiing....

UNR.Grad

I had the same problem, just got them last night and I hated the fit. I toyed around with them and got them to stand straight, but they stand too high with the fat mouth. So I tried the clamps my mom has for her Tribute, and they work perfectly, the ski racks hug the factory racks now, much cleaner.

FriscoKid

Yeah, the Fat Mouth does make the ski rack sit up high. Personally, I'm not all that thrilled with the design of the Fat Mouth either. It's good that it probably can attach to almost any rail size and shape, but the overall design is more complicated than it needs to be. The locking mechanism is kind of cheesy and you still need to remove the ski rack before the clamps can be removed (which is also true of the older style clamps). In any event, I got this thing on and it fits pretty good (now that I abandoned following Thule's instructions) so I can probably live with it.