I agree with you on that.

For those that are saying one is stronger than the other where it mounts to the vehicle, I fail to see the difference strength wise between mounting directly to the 5 holes for each factory track or mounting to the factory track that’s mounted to the 5 holes. I removed my factory tracks with no intention of putting them back on so I attempted to bend them by putting one end on the lip of a stair and standing and jumping on it. No problem with the factory track bending.

My impression as well. There's nothing at all wrong with the factory tracks - they're every bit as strong if being pulled upward (just 5 little bolts either way), and when pressing down they at least spread the force out over the whole length.

By far the weakest link in the whole factory roof rack setup are the plastic feet on the cross bars.

I can see arguments in both directions, the biggest concern is the factory roof track creates a water seal that apparently several people have struggled recreating once removing the track and ending up with a leaking roof.

Keeping the roof rack intact keeps the seal in place assuming it hadn't been otherwise compromised. That's the main appeal of the Sherpa rack, to me. 4 bolts vs 5 seems potentially irrelevant. If the roof track is in question or has been removed before the Prinsu seems the obvious choice assuming it's sealed against leakage.


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On my last 4Runner I had to deal with a water leak from the roof track bolt holes. By all indications the roof track had never been removed. I removed both tracks and put a smear of silicone around each bolt hole and a dab in the bolt hole itself before reassembling. Didn't leak any after that and the silicone was enough to seal everything, but not prevent the track bolts from being able to be removed.

Never had an issue with leaks and like Bad Luck I put a dab of silicon around the bolts when installing.

The biggest difference between the mounting for the Prinsu and Sherpa is the weight distribution. The Prinsu mounts are molded and braced as part of the sides. The weight load is spread to all 10 (or 12 depending on view) mount points to the roof. The Sherpa uses two mounts and the two front pads to spread the same load.

If the 4Runner roofs are " so weak" would you rather spread the 600 lbs over 10 contact points or 4?

I did both - I went with 10.

Also the mounts to the Sherpa are bolted to the rack then to the rails. Bolts break and come lose so the rack can move around while on the roof. The Prinsu mounts are literally part of single piece sides. The bolt can break or come loose but it cannot move from the original location. The entire roof rack has to come loose and all 10 bolts have to break before the rack moves around on the roof of the 4Runner. The loose rack issue was one of my reasons for trashing my Sherpa rack.

I thought Gobi had some rather vague patent involving racks that bolt directly onto a vehicle in the factory mounting points? Or something similar, which is why other racks have to use removable feet or risk getting a cease-and-desist letter from them.

And again, not to belabor the point, but it's 4 points of contact onto the fairly stout metal track Which is several feet long and curved to match the shape of the roof.

I'm not trying to say one is better than the other, just trying to say that one isn't worse than the other.

My Sherpa has been on a long while and I haven't had a single bolt come loose. And I wheel it pretty hard with stuff attached to it. Not a RTT, so nothing close to the 300 lb limit for either rack. Just camping chairs, gas gans, stuff like that.

I just put a Sherpa on, and I'm pretty happy so far. To be fair, all I've put on it has been an awning. I liked that you take less of the vehicle apart with it, and I don't plan on loading it very heavily - just EZ up, hammock stand, maybe some gas and water.