Hey Guys,

The previous owner of my 4runner thought it would be a genius idea to delete the roof rack and silicon the holes. I'm in the process of fabbing a roof basket out of 1" tubing that I intend to be able to hang a couple hammocks from either side if the tree situation is not suitable. Can anyone tell me if there are existing threaded inserts in the roof(I'm apprehensive of pulling the currently sealed plugs) and if so what size bolts thread in there?

Additionally, would using ALL the existing holes be strong enough to support a few hundred dynamic pounds of force? The rack will be overbuilt and rigid so Im fairly certain that won't be the point of failure. I can definitely beef up the interior roof but would like to avoid unnecessarily dropping the headliner if I don't have to.

Thanks guys, Im not getting much info from the forums' search or google with this specific issue.

 

The roof will support weight (downward force) without a problem, but I would not trust those inserts for upward pulling forces from going over rough terrain.
The most reliable way would be to drop the headliner, drill holes through and use backing plates under the roof. I have a first-gen so that's what I did; I do not think those Nut-serts are very reliable.

 

Makes sense- but there are factory nutserts on the 2nd gens? If so, I will use those as well as additional drilled and reinforced holes. I want the rack to be as stiff as possible though I probably wont be travelling with more than 150lbs up there.

 

I added nutserts (rivnuts) to the roof of my extended cab pickup with cut down 4runner rails for my roof rack. I didn't put backing plates on it as it would have been extremely difficult, however with the rails and cross bars put on it is extremely stout and I can hang all my weight on it with no deflection, as it distributes the weight pretty well. I would have no issue using rivnuts on something like this again. I will be making a basket with lights and probably put my spare up there as well when needed