Sherpa Equipment Company - 5th Gen - Page 4 - Toyota 4Runner Forum

SherpaEquipmentCo · 10-09-2019, 01:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pendoggo4R

Got mine today. Some quick thoughts:

- Install was fairly straightforward; if you've wrenched before, you can figure this out. But the instruction sheet.. I thought it could have been done better cause I couldn't really make any sense of it. Credit to Sherpa though, got the rack on just fine without the instructions.

- Sherpa gets an A+ for communication. They're responsive, esp over the phone.

- Hardware upgrade to black hardware is a little pricey, and it only includes exterior facing hardware. The nuts on the insides of the rails, the front leveling mounts, and some of the smaller bolts inside the assembly were silver. Minor gripe, but still a gripe for a $45 upgrade. Also, for some reason I was short two black washers so two of the washers on the outside are silver. In the end I had about 6 silver washers left over. I plan to contact Sherpa for a couple extra.

- Finish is excellent. The powder coat is very even and well applied. I bumped a few crossbars and had a few scuffs, but the finish didn't compromise.

- Main install gripe: the front leveling mount portion of the install was a giant pain in the ass. I'm no engineer, but I didn't understand why there weren't fixed points in the front crossbar that the leveling mounts attached to. The amount of finagling and loosening and tightening (huge pain with the nylon centered nuts) just to get the rubber mounts to sit centered in the gutter, then to have it shift when working on the other side. Do the exterior dimensions of the 4Runner vary slightly from the '10 to '19 productions? I guess that would make sense. Otherwise it seemed to me that getting the mounts dead center with fixed bolting points would have been a very feasible thing to do.

- Front fairing is gapped a few millimeters so it's not touching the roof. Hit 70mph on the way home today, no whistling. Fantastic.

- One of the rails came with a pretty decent sized chunk on the edge. Sherpa wrapped the ever loving hell out of the components, so I don't know.. FedEx must have really done a number on this in transit cause it's very noticeable. Annoying, but not Sherpa'a fault.

I'll post pictures and possibly more thoughts tomorrow. It was pretty damned dark when I finished.

Overall, highly recommend Sherpa. It looks fantastic, good dudes to deal with, and seems like it's gonna be up on the car for a long time to come.

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Glad to hear the install went well. We are definitely interested in hearing your suggestions on our instructions as we are always looking for ways to make it easier for everyone. We put a lot of time into these and if it is no less then perfect we would to change that. We can definitely get some more black washers out to you, just reach out to [email protected] or give us a call!

The front feet are a pain to set up, Ill 100% agree with you. But, the adjustability is something that was greatly desired by the community when designing these and that was the best method we found to accomplish this goal. It allows you to tighten them 5 years from now if the rubber is to compress slightly etc. Also, once its setup. It's done. Strong and no pesky holes drilled in the front of the truck.

Again, with all this, we love hearing people's thoughts and opinions on how we can improve upon our products. We appreciate the kind words as well as the criticism.

We can't wait to see pictures of it! Thanks for the post.

TRDTommy · 10-09-2019, 03:38 PM

Nice! Another great option of roof racks available for our Runners! My next upgrade will be an aftermarket roof rack during the up coming holidays. And with all these different vendors, my decision just got harder. Lol! I do like that your rack uses thicker aluminum and that we don't need modify anything on our vehicles. But I would like to know if the rack is compatible with sunroofs. I would imagine it would be since all we would need to do is move the crossbars for clearance. But just wanted to make sure. I will be looking forward to more user reviews and pictures.

Pendoggo4R · 10-09-2019, 06:11 PM

Lots of pictures as requested.

First batch is inside my work parking garage. Second batch is outside my Physical Therapy office for some sun-filled photos.

Few more thoughts: the side rails hug the roofline so aggressively, but there's no concern about rub or any incidental contact occurring. I had a couple of my bigger co-workers hang on the sides of the rack and rock the rack back and forth, and kept my eyes on the gaps. Sturdy.

The chunk annoys me. Any way to get that fixed? Should I just Sharpie it and pretend it's not there? Haha.

I don't really have much else. Sherpa is responsive as hell, even here.

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SherpaEquipmentCo · 10-10-2019, 12:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TRDTommy

Nice! Another great option of roof racks available for our Runners! My next upgrade will be an aftermarket roof rack during the up coming holidays. And with all these different vendors, my decision just got harder. Lol! I do like that your rack uses thicker aluminum and that we don't need modify anything on our vehicles. But I would like to know if the rack is compatible with sunroofs. I would imagine it would be since all we would need to do is move the crossbars for clearance. But just wanted to make sure. I will be looking forward to more user reviews and pictures.

The rack has no interference with the sunroof, even if you have a crossbar directly over it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pendoggo4R

Lots of pictures as requested.

First batch is inside my work parking garage. Second batch is outside my Physical Therapy office for some sun-filled photos.

Few more thoughts: the side rails hug the roofline so aggressively, but there's no concern about rub or any incidental contact occurring. I had a couple of my bigger co-workers hang on the sides of the rack and rock the rack back and forth, and kept my eyes on the gaps. Sturdy.

The chunk annoys me. Any way to get that fixed? Should I just Sharpie it and pretend it's not there? Haha.

I don't really have much else. Sherpa is responsive as hell, even here.

Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk

The rack looks great on your truck. Thanks for sharing these. I like that you test the rack the same way we do when we first finish a prototype! Tried and true. Among lots of other tests of course.

If the crossbar is a real eyesore, send us a picture of the damage and we can get you a replacement. Nothing worse than having something new show up with some damage.

Edit: I see it now on the side rail. Id like to see some pictures of it in better light if possible. Is it showing the silver through it?

Pendoggo4R · 10-10-2019, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SherpaEquipmentCo

Edit: I see it now on the side rail. Id like to see some pictures of it in better light if possible. Is it showing the silver through it?

I can indeed try to take a better picture of it. My phone's camera would go out of focus every time I tried to get a closer up picture.

The length of the ding is about the diameter of a quarter. The silver does show through, you can see in one of the pictures that the depth of the gouge is pretty deep when you're looking down the line of the side rail. The location of the gouge is almost dead center of the side rail.

I honestly think you guys packed everything together very well inside the box. The stretch wrap held all of the components together very tightly. Maybe bubble wrap instead of butcher paper as filler would prevent any potential issues during transit. This was honestly seems like it was on FedEx, the box came pretty beat up on arrival.

I'm not gonna have you guys send me a replacement side rail, that's completely not necessary. I appreciate the consideration for a fix though. I'll probably just spray paint it and try to forget about it.

Aznwolf118 · 10-10-2019, 02:18 PM

What’s the gap between the truck and the bottom of the rail? When you say aggressive does it touch with sheer load or did you test with bodies just on top?

Do you have a pic of the rear cross bar in relation to the shark fin?

Pendoggo4R · 10-10-2019, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aznwolf118

What’s the gap between the truck and the bottom of the rail? When you say aggressive does it touch with sheer load or did you test with bodies just on top?

Do you have a pic of the rear cross bar in relation to the shark fin?

At it's widest the gap is about 1cm (closer to the front because of the position of the levelers) and at it's narrowest it's about half a cm (at the back). I had two guys simultaneously hang on each of the side rails at each mounting point to see if there would be any noticeable immediate impact of their combined weight (about 400 pounds) on the rubber mounts that sit on top of the factory bolt points, as well as towards the front, and there was none. This may or may not change over time, as rubber (obviously) deteriorates.

The picture of the shark fin is relative to the rearmost crossbar, which is not adjustable. Plenty of space.

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Pendoggo4R · 10-10-2019, 03:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SherpaEquipmentCo

Edit: I see it now on the side rail. Id like to see some pictures of it in better light if possible. Is it showing the silver through it?

Quarter diameter might have been a generous guess. It's closer to a nickel.

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ridefast · 10-13-2019, 11:13 AM

Install was pretty straight forward. My only struggle was with the front mount. I had my wife put a thick rubber coated bar under the front so I could tighten the front mounts.

I am super happy with the quality fit and finish of the rack. Super clean lines on everything from the fairing to the side rails. The rubber feet are in a class of their own on function with aesthetics in mind. The sherpa guys really put a lot of work into their racks and it shows.

I will also confirm this rack is silent at highway speeds.

Haven’t loaded anything on the rack yet, but let me say this thing is stout and will be able to meet my needs with ease. Ill post up a few pice once I make some mounts for my maxtrax, strap my Gazelle tent and a few boxes up there.

I can’t wait for more accessories to be made by sherpa!

I took the opportunity to clay bar and was the roof first.

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SherpaEquipmentCo · 10-13-2019, 05:36 PM

@ridefast

The rig looks great man! Nice work on the roof as well, a lot of people just skip out on the roof when detailing their trucks!

Pendoggo4R · 10-15-2019, 11:43 AM

Some RTT and some doggo.

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SherpaEquipmentCo · 10-15-2019, 09:27 PM

That is awesome! @Pendoggo4R

SherpaEquipmentCo · 10-24-2019, 01:18 PM

Just wanted to let everyone know we are having a Halloween sale that starts today and runs through the 31st.

rageandlove · 11-04-2019, 01:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SherpaEquipmentCo

We installed a Crestone yesterday here locally and I wanted to post some photos of the front feet as well as some other detail shots for those who have asked.

Hey I'm confused - earlier in this topic, you say "we do not have them sit on the rubber, we found that it was not ideal for our application. They sit just inside the ridge on the roof to provide the most strength with our custom-molded rubber to protect the paint."

But the photos above seem to have the feet in the front sitting on the rubber inside the rain gutter ... is that right?

Thanks!

SherpaEquipmentCo · 11-04-2019, 10:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rageandlove

Hey I'm confused - earlier in this topic, you say "we do not have them sit on the rubber, we found that it was not ideal for our application. They sit just inside the ridge on the roof to provide the most strength with our custom-molded rubber to protect the paint."

But the photos above seem to have the feet in the front sitting on the rubber inside the rain gutter ... is that right?

Thanks!

It is up to the user, both locations work well, sitting on the rubber does allow the front of the rack to have a little bit more movement unless you get the feet really tight, but it does save the roof from any chance of light scratching. We have not seen any issues mounting on the rubber as this customer requested.

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