I guess Ill be that guy, I didn't want to pay a whole lot for a rack but needed one since my spare wouldn't fit in the factory spot anymore. I ended going for the Rola rack off of amazon, I did opt to add the center extension to add some length and Im glad I did because I use every inch of it on trips. The brackets that come with the Rola rack attach to your factory cross bars on the luggage rack. I didn't even put those on, just threw them in the trash and opted for the 4XInovations Rola rack lowering brackets. I wanted the rack to have a low profile and not stick up like some of those goofing looking baskets and I wanted the truck to still fit in the garage when the rack was empty.
Long story short, some people complained about Rola rusting and dripping rusty water on their vehicles. Rola now sends rubber sleeves that slide over the connection joints to help prevent this. I took it one step farther and put black RTV around all the screws and connections then put the sleeve over. I have had this rack in the midwest for 5 years with zero rust or powder coat flaking off. The rack says its rated for 200lbs of weight but I can crawl on top of it fully loaded with the spare, fuel can, and gear with no issues at all. The one issue I did have early on was the front fairing would hum badly at highway speeds, the mounting screws couldn't get it tight enough. I had a cheap remedy that worked like a charm, I pulled the fairing back off and wrapped the front tube that the fairing mounts to with a bicycle inner tube and re-installed the faring over it and that did it. You can't see the inner tube or even know its there. A little ghetto you say, maybe but it was cheap fix for an annoying problem. I love the rack and it was only meant to be short term use until I saved up for a "nice" rack. I like it so much I haven't changed it and it has been throughs trails in Moab and all over Colorado including the entire Kokopelli Trail. I have just under $300 totally invested in it.

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@Catahoulabulldog

Aluminum has another bonus over steel besides weight... It does not rust. The last thing you want is a rusty rack dripping ugly Bloody Sh!t stains down your rig.



Boort

This may be a dumb question, but can the Victory or Sherpa racks take the weight of a person?
The reason I ask is because I would like to set up my tripod on top of my 4runner and do some photography. Just want to be sure that it could take the "point load" weight.

I think the first question needs to be answered is what do you plan to use your roof rack for? RTT, gear, gun box storage and etc.



Example for me I decided to go with BajaRack exp style rack to hold gear in the front enclosed area and a RTT on the rear portion of the rack. Now I have sold my Tepui RTT I am looking to replace my current rack with a Sherpa style rack.

I still have sitting in my garage collecting dust something similar I used before a full rack, its a BajaRack mule rack. Photo of my old parts.

It takes my 175lbs just fine, even better if spread out over 2 bars

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You'd want to distribute the load across multiple cross members. I would not be really concerned about the cross members carrying the weight. Some back of the napkin calculations: The cross member profiles are 1x2" extruded aluminum about 47" long (on my 4th gen) If you weigh 200 lbs and stand in the center of the member it would be expected to deflect a bit more than 1/3" down. (not accounting for any deflection of the side panels that are supporting the ends.)

Each cross member is connected by 2 Stainless Steel 1/4x20 bolts at each end. The shoulder of the profile would take out much of the leverage by the 1/3" deflection caused by the center load. So your 200 lbs on just one member would be focused primarily on the shank and heads of these bolts. Looking up a grade 5 1/4x20 bolt would report a clamping force of 1117lbs over a clamping area of 0.0318 Sq Inches. 200lbs spread evenly across the 4 bolts works out to each bolt supporting ~50lbs + 1/4 the 1 lb weight of the cross member itself.

The next item down is the mounting points on you're 4Runner's roof which I don't have specific details for other than the original rack's load rating of 150 lbs. But that was likely due to all of the fiberglass/GRP in the stock rack rather than the mounting point failure load.

TLDR: you probably don't want to focus all of your weight on just 1 or 2 cross members but otherwise I think the Sherpa rack can take the point load of a 200lb person standing on top.

The Owners and Engineers from @SherpaEquipmentCo are members here and could weigh in with more technical details or point out where my calculations are wrong.

Boort

Thanks for the replies.

I'm thinking I'll have to put down a piece of plywood anyway, so the tripod has something to rest on and I can move around without worrying about my feet too much.

Looks like I'm good to go!

That is what I'd do. My sleeping platform is an easy grab that will spread my weight across at least 4 cross members.

Boort

Boort you really broke this down quite well!

Through real-world experience, you can stand on just one cross-member. It will absolutely deflect though. I will say if you are planning on taking pictures you'll want to be comfortable and standing on just one bar is not at all comfortable. Building yourself a platform or purchasing a couple of our Adapt plates or similar style plates that bridge the crossbars and make a platform would be ideal. Youll be able to then put a camping chair or chair of your choosing up there, place your tripod and hang out in comfort! While at King of the Hammers I stood on my adapt plate often taking pictures with my long lens!

Thanks for the help!

Can anyone help me figure out what kind of roof rack this is? I'm attaching 2 photos. I really like this guy's build, and I want to copy that roof rack. I currently have a full-length roof rack on my 4th gen, but I would like to switch to a half-length roof rack. And I just love the look of this one. But I can't figure out what kind it is. Also, it seems to be mounted on cross bars that are bolted on (i.e. not mounted on the factory rails)?

If anyone can help me figure out what kind of roof rack this is, I would really appreciate it!

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Ive heard many great things about Sherpa. I think thats the route I am going to go here. Their lightbar cutout looks amazing with the X6S Slim light bar

Can anyone share comparison or experience with wind-noise from the Sherpa and Prinsu? They look to be comparable otherwise....

I can't compare the two, but I have the Sherpa and love it. Wind noise is more than factory, especially with the light bar at freeway speeds, but it is not any more than I would expect from any rack. Crazy thing is, if you close your shade on your sunroof it cuts the noise down noticeably. If it is bothering you, just close the shade. If not, leave it open and it really isn't that big of a deal in my book.

Making sure to adjust the wind fairing so you don't have vibration is the biggest thing. I had no vibration under standard driving, then found the sweet spot on the freeway where I did. Adjusted the fairing and no more vibration.