I'm tempted to remove the top half of my rack. I've seen someone posted pics of theirs done up this way but I can't recall who...

If you do it then please post a DIY. I think it would looks really good and what toyota should have csme out with.

He had to take it down and do some pretty good fab work, I think he said he machined his own plugs among other things.

That was @Little_Tower

I bought the upper rail delete kit from him and it's top shelf quality...just wanted to get some 11th hour feedback before I go ahead and remove the top rack.

Good thing is that it's not a destructive mod. Should I ever want to reinstall the top rack (for whatever reason), I can.

Just bumping this to see if anyone knows of any new options available since the last post. I’ve searched a bunch and haven’t found much. I’m thinking about the Baja drop-in basket, as that still appears to be the only aftermarket solution. It would be an improvement in some ways, but it’s expensive for what it is, and you lose the crossbars.

Makes no sense to me that Toyota tried to fit an FJ style rack on the much smaller footprint of the 4Runner mounting points. At the very least they could have added a real basket floor and made the front end a mirror image of the back end - an enclosed rectangle that would add a few extra feet of usable space. Shaking my head ...


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OP here. Nope. I spent a year trying various things and eventually gave up and sold it (they get a reasonable price) and bought a Sherpa rack, which is incredibly functional. Only regret is I didn't do it 18 months earlier.

There’s this one guy on the forum who made his rack longer. Looks more functional.

That looks great! makes a dumb rack at least useful. The weird rack is another reason the Pro will never be on my shopping list lol. Also looks better than the Gobi with the front bump up.

Nice, those Sherpas look great, and the company is just down the road from me, so that would make things easier. I found a ski box I can fit up there, and that's good enough for me in the short term. But if I decide to switch it out, Sherpa is my first choice for sure. I wish they made a half or 3/4 rack for the 5th gen.

That looks great - nice work. At a minimum that's what Toyota should have done if they were committed to the FJ style. But that's beyond my capability and I don't want to drill.

I may be in the minority here but I find the Pro roof rack to be fine for most things. I regularly put skis, kayaks (step stool required!), or a cargo box up there. I have strapped Rotopax (on pads) and luggage too.

I do wish it wasn't quite so tall, and it would be nice to have more of a floor. Aaaand it does look odd. Those are not things I would spend much money to fix, personally, but I can see why others may have different functional needs or aesthetic taste and would want something better.

As you can see here those huge roof racks are great for decorating with Christmas lights and spreading Christmas cheer

Yeah, I definitely don't hate it. It does what I need it to do at this point too, though I had to work harder than should have been necessary to find the right ski box and fit it up there (small problem in the grand scheme of things). I actually think the rack looks fine too. It's just the one thing on the vehicle that doesn't feel perfect, and sometimes I get a little frustrated thinking about how, with a little more design thought, it could have been a lot better. I'm in no big hurry to replace it, though, if ever.

How do I find @little_tower? I need to order this top rail delete kit so that I can fit a fly rod vault on the rack.

His profile is in this thread...TRD PRO Basket Mods