help with roof racks

[rcleaves]

just upgraded my '94 SR5 to an '03 SR5 and love it but it didn't have the factory roof racks installed. went to get aftermarket racks (yakima, thule, etc) and they are not available unless the factory racks are installed... so, I called the dealer and they quoted a price around $1500 just for the rack components (crossbars, towers)!!! how can an $220 option cost $1500???

any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

i tried to search on "roof racks" but didn't find anything on this.

thanks!

 

[rcleaves]

so i called my friend who owns a lexus/toyota shop, he said he could get the racks from the mainland for $450. those %&#$& local stealers!

 

[sketch1]

What you can also do is call Yakima and ask them if they know what Q Clips will work for your runner. They are a great company to work with. I am not sure why they don't list the roof without a rack as an option when configuring your rack. I know you could pick that option on the 02 on Yakimas website. Anyway, without a factory rack you would need the Yakima Control Towers, and then the proper Q clips that fit the 4Runner. The 02 runner uses 2 sets of Q62, and assuming there is no difference in the body styles between 02 and 03 they should work.

 

[rcleaves]

thanks for your reply!

i went to the local yakima dealer and the owner actually came out and tried different clips and could not find a fit... very strange that yakima/thule have not taken advantage of the situation. maybe since most 4th gen T4Rs come with factory racks they don't feel there is a market for this...? seems like an opportunity to make some $$$ here.

 

[BayRunner]

I was in Hawaii recently and used to live there, i found it very interesting how many suv's, well mostly toyo's and honda's did not have racks installed. Here in the 48, it is more rare to not see a suv with the factory installed racks...i wonder why that is, there is a need for them with surfboards after all.