I'm looking to purchase a roof rack box (Thule / Yakima type) for my '05 4Runner since my dog takes up a lot of room in the cargo area on long trips and I wanted to see what other 4Runner owners have had luck with.

I'd like a setup where I can just clip the box to my factory roof rack cross bars as opposed to having to buy extra accessories to clip to my cross bars and then attach the box.

Any info is appraciated.

I really like my Yak Loadwarrior and simply clamps to the factory rack on the 3rd gens so I'm pretty sure they have to have an option for the 4th gens.

I use a Yakima as well. The OEM rack is said to hold 250 lb. The Rack is close to 90lb. The rack weight cuts the load almost in half. Your mileage may vary.

I payed $40 for a used one. Minor clean up was all that was required.

It suits my needs; however, the plastic piece used to deflect wind up away from the load can rattle. I have made efforts to to dampen the plastic on metal rattle.

If one is spending big bucks, I would consider a tailgate rack as a viable alternative, if one has a trailer hitch not in use. On can use the full "tongue weight" and it's out of the main air stream.

Yes, hauling your crap is "rocket science".

90lbs?? No way,I can hoist the rack off the side of the truck over my head with minimal strain. I think it's more in the 40lb range at most.

And yes,my deflector rattles too but I do have some rubber grommets to replace the old cracked ones so hopefully it'll dampen the rattle.

I also have the Yakima Load Warrior, and it works great, the nice thing about the Yakima load warrior is that I can attach items like a bike mount to the top of it if I want to carrier a bike without having to put on the yakima cross bars. The cross bars on the Load warrior are the same diameter as the standard yakima cross bars if that makes sense. Of course I have to watch the weight closer when doing this method. The load warrior weighs 44lbs from what I remember seeing listed. Easy to take on and off. I hang it on the wall of my garage with 2 brackets and it is easy to put on with one person. Get yourself a good waterproof bag and you can throw all kinds of stuff up there. Get the cargo net for the load warrior as well, makes it easy to strap everything down.

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I was close. I also give a thumbs up to the design of the LW since it compliments the stock rack nicely and doesn't look out of place.

Me -->

I did say "close" to 90 lb. ... :awais:

Ok ok ok... I DO NOT have a future guessing age or weight.

As a further benefit using my newly learned algorithm, All of the women I see weigh exactly HALF of what I expect them to weigh.

I got mine from BajaRack.com and have loved it. Mine is hard mounted to the roof, but you can mount it to the factory OEM cross members too.

I went all out with a pair of custom 2X4's

I just bought a loadwarrior basket. If you want the regular bar set up I have a set of 4 low rider mounts. Over all I like the basket, just dont know how often I will use it for what it is designed ( to carry stuff) I mostly just use it to mount lights and to mount my ski rack on top. Either way yakima makes a good rack system I would highly recommend one.

Check out these racks:

http://www.GobiToyota.com/4runner.htm

I too have a yakima and it is easy to install and take off yourself. One nice thing about the yakima is that they make mounts for shovels and even a mount specifically for a HiLift.

And as BuckyBadger said, if you get the LW get the net for it as well. Makes it very easy to secure the load.

Here are some good yakima accessories:
http://www.yakima.com/racks/cargo/pr...retch-net.aspx
http://www.yakima.com/racks/cargo/pr...k-carrier.aspx
http://www.yakima.com/racks/cargo/pr...l-bracket.aspx

I have the yakima loadwarrior mounted to the lowriders with the round bars. It is alot more stable then mounting it to the factory cross bars. But I use mine for camping and put 2 5 day coolers fully loaded up there and I have bike racks on the round bars as well. It has been totally solid but it has really affected my gas milage as well but I suppose having a hilift and shovel up there doesn't help either.

I have a Yakima Megawarrior on my '07. It's bigger than the Yakima Loadwarrior, I thinks it looks better on it.

Here is my rack set up for Speed weeks in Feb and 4th of July race. It rests on the Yack rack ( sorry must have taken it off for this race, did not do that this summer?) and is mostly supported with the 4 blue legs.

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Depending of course on your needs, this rack is one of the best I've found and the rack going on my expedition 4Runner. It's The African Outback rack from Slee Off-Road. http://www.sleeoffroad.com

The rack comes with the mounting rails that attach to the stock 4Runner rack locations. Take off the factory rack and install the rails, then the African Outback rack attaches to those rails. Very clean, easy to remove, low profile and can handle anything you need to throw up there. You can order it with top rail or without and there are many mounting acessories for lights, shovels, hi-lift jacks etc.

The African Outback roof rack is a state of the art all aluminum modular system that can be configured to suit your individual needs. The roof racks are constructed from aluminum extrusions that feature a "slide in" nut system that allows for easy fitment of bolt on accessories. The racks come with a top rail that is easily removed to allow for the fitment of rooftop tents. The low profile sealed rails combine to cut wind noise to a minimum.