How strong/reliable is the stock roof rack?

[uncleslam23]

My girlfriend and I are planning a road trip from Denver to Portland this summer. We're gonna be camping for about two weeks so we're gonna need all the space we can get. I was gonna pick up one of these:

Amazon.com: SportRack A90095 Explorer Roof Box: Sports & Outdoors

But I wanted to see what you guys thought first. Is the stock roof rack strong enough to hold something like this on at freeway speeds? If not, do I have any other relatively inexpensive solutions?

Thanks in advance fellas!

 

[Bryan1]

I would stay under the 150lb mark but thats just me. Looking at the thread below others have loaded 200lb on their stock roof racks without any issues.

Roof Rack weight capacity? - YotaTech Forums

 

[Techsan]

I've used a Thule carrier since 2005 & no issues whatsoever & I would load the crap out of it. It easily made the trip from Colorado to California, then to Maryland.

I probably just jinxed myself now.

 

[uncleslam23]

You guys are awesome! It's just gonna have our tent, sleeping bags, etc... nowhere near 160#. I'll make sure to post back here and let everyone know how it went.

 

[A.Wilson013]

Check the Denver CL for some yakima or thule bars/towers. I saw a few last week for ~$100. With that, you'll also be able to lock your goodies.

Or hit up a junk yard for a 3rd cross bar?

 

[smkd13]

to give you a basis to work with when they say "maximum weight capacity" it means that with out a shadow of a doubt that it will carry that much with out messing up the control of the vehicle. so i will reference this to ladders for this matter. ladders have a specified max weight. when they test most ladders they generally use a lot more than the specified max. like little giant is rated for 350 lbs. but when they test them they dont fail until almost 2000 lbs. so yes you could in theory load a lot of weight up there.

the goal shouldnt be how much weight i can load up there without it breaking. you should be more concerned with how much weight can you load up there and be safe about it.

Now as we all know when you add weight to anything that is vertical it raised the center of gravity and makes it easier to tip over.

so load with care and be smart about it.

 

[blue dog]

I put 10 lbs of shizzle in a 5 lb bag on mine for Baja trips, not a problem yet bouncing down rough roads. Probably over 200 lbs in this pic.
factory rails, Yakima attached to a confer

 

[hrt4me]

Check the Denver CL for some yakima or thule bars/towers. I saw a few last week for ~$100. With that, you'll also be able to lock your goodies.

Or hit up a junk yard for a 3rd cross bar?

I have two cross bars available for sale...

 

[audiness]

I also way over-utilize my factory roof rack, and it seems to be holding up fine. I just try to keep the highway speeds lower when it's really full.

 

[RonMAIDEN]

Not sure how much the Load Warrior rack weighs but I've had almost 150lbs of gear on the rack several times with no ill results.

 

[mijbr90190]

The sticker on my stock bar say 165#. Il not sure if thats per bar or total, but either way thats alot of stuff.

 

[uncleslam23]

So I was reading through the link that Bryan1 posted and I noticed that my stock rack looked a lot different than everyone else's.

Long story short, I was having a little too much fun in Mexico a few years back and I ended up rolling the 4runner. The roof was smashed in a bit so I'm sure they had to replace the roof rack. I'm thinking they were probably try to keep cost down and put this guy on. All of the ones I'm seeing on other 4runners seem to have a vertical knob that holds them down. This one comes in from the side, and to be honest it feels a little shaky. Has anyone seen this type of rack on a 4runner before?

 

[hrt4me]

So I was reading through the link that Bryan1 posted and I noticed that my stock rack looked a lot different than everyone else's.

Long story short, I was having a little too much fun in Mexico a few years back and I ended up rolling the 4runner. The roof was smashed in a bit so I'm sure they had to replace the roof rack. I'm thinking they were probably try to keep cost down and put this guy on. All of the ones I'm seeing on other 4runners seem to have a vertical knob that holds them down. This one comes in from the side, and to be honest it feels a little shaky. Has anyone seen this type of rack on a 4runner before?

FWIW, none of that resembles anything I've personally ever seen on a 3rd gen 4Runner...

 

[habanero]

I have a Thule rack on stock bars and managed to bend one during a trip through the Maze District in Utah. My mistake, I stuck both 5 gallon gas cans in the one corner. Duh duh duh!
I had:
2 5gal cans of gas
5 gallon bucket of wagbags
portable shower stall
2 large tarps
trash-a-roo-ish bag
kid toys
gas siphon
anything too gross to go inside

Next time I'll be more careful to distribute the load better. I believe this was entirely user error and I won't make that mistake again! The bar never did fail through another week of moderate wheeling and I kept using it until Mightymouse found me a nice used one after months of not finding one on my own.

 

[hrt4me]

I have a Thule rack on stock bars and managed to bend one during a trip through the Maze District in Utah. My mistake, I stuck both 5 gallon gas cans in the one corner. Duh duh duh!
I had:
2 5gal cans of gas
5 gallon bucket of wagbags
portable shower stall
2 large tarps
trash-a-roo-ish bag
kid toys
gas siphon
anything too gross to go inside

Next time I'll be more careful to distribute the load better. I believe this was entirely user error and I won't make that mistake again! The bar never did fail through another week of moderate wheeling and I kept using it until Mightymouse found me a nice used one after months of not finding one on my own.

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