What is the best roof rack for the 1st gen runner's? What is the best way to mount one? Should I drill into the top or is there another way to mount? thanks for looking and your help!

 

i'd recommend any brand that clamps to the rain gutters.

 

I went with a used Wilderness Rack (do a search here) and drilled the top to accept the rails. So far so good.

 

Wow I like that runner alot, would love for the next one I buy to look like that, does anybody know whos it is?

 

Get some gutter mount racks, Yakima 1A, you can find them on ebay.

 

I found something at Wilderness roof racks. They have a track mount that might work. Waiting to hear back from them if it will fit or not. Also going to measure the roof when I get home. I hope it works, they have a lot of great acessories and it also looks really nice. Here is the website http://wildernessracks.com thanks for the help so far. I will keep you informed if they will fit the 1st gen runner.

 

Thanks, its mine, you can see more at my website. www.freewebs.com/matthewlawson and click on the 4runners link on the left of the page.


Oh the rack is a Yakima roof bars with bike and snowboard clamps.


Thanks,

Matthew
KC7EQO
1988 4Runner

 

Dude Nice 4runner , Buut how did you do that..1st post

 

I bought and installed a used one.

Mounted rails, took some drilling and sealing but so far I've had no leaks.


Mounted rack.


Shovel mount.


Hi lift mount.


pic for fun.


I also have the spare tire mount, the axe mount and mounts for a fuel can and water can.

All for 400$.

 

Thanks Junkers88. I have been wanting to see how it mounts to the roof and if the tracks were adjustable. I now know that it will work. What size rack is the one you have?

 

That one is 48"x60". It's a little bigger than I wanted but for the price I can't really complain and it does fit the runner very well.

 

Here's my write-up of how I did the base racks on mine.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...nstall-197292/

I've got a whole rack mounted up to those now and it works great.

 

It also says his join date was 2003. So maybe they reset his post count when they switched to vbulletin?

 

Post up some pictures of the finished install. I love it when folks find ways to make a 1st gen runner better than it was from the factory and still maintain a clean "stock" look.

 

Yeah, I'll try to put some up tomorrow.

 

Merry Christmas!

I finally got a few pics of the rack and mounting. The rack was a cheap one I found on Amazon. $200 shipped, including the extension. It's made to just screw together where the pieces meet, but I welded it instead and it's MUCH more solid that way. And I think it's the perfect size for the 4runner. Here's a link to the main basket... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00..._ya_oh_product




The crossbars I just made out of 1" round tubing. I don't remember the wall thickness, but they're plenty strong. And then I got some plastic endcaps for them.




For the crossbars I used stainless hardware with neoprene washers to reduce wear and such. And for the rack I just used the supplied bracketry.




It would have been nice if they included another pair of brackets for the middle section. I'll probably try to order a pair separately.




This one's a little out of focus, but I just wanted to show how nice and tight it is to the roof...

 

Heres some pictures of my rola rack. I just bolted it right through the top

 

the Po of mine did a custom rack job; imagine if you will tubes that are all chromed, and instead of round, all long parallelagrams, running from front to back. Three bars go under them; one up front by the moon roof, one in the middle, and one near the back- also squared and chromed.
each flange that meets the fiberglass top, has a double hole drilled in it; and each one has 2 bolts through it. so we are talking very stable here.
It would be nice if it had the sides going up on them a bit, like a basket; I may have to do something about that myself down the road here, but it looks nice, factory, and very strong- the PO did a good job.
I don't have pics yet, my cam crapped out on me, waiting to get a new one, but don't know what I want really> I am thinking a 10mp camera, maybe a Samsung.