Mounting an awning to the stock roof rack?

[DWilliam]

Some pretty good sales this weekend, specifically looking at this one below. Anyone have experience mounting a shade awning to the stock roof rack, specifically on a 2002 sR5?

Instant Awning with Brackets 2m (L) x 2.5m (Out) WITH LED

 

[GhostRing]

I have seen folks drill directly through the OEM crossbars and bolt the awning's L bracket to them.
You may need to bend the bracket to fit/clear the awning and the roof depending on the size of things.

I am also wondering if the sketch below would work - as it would push the awning farther out and
would not interfere with the crossbars. I don't know if there is enough room without parts in hand though.
Just some ideas...

 

[Mzs14]

I bought the NAPA awning and drilled through the stock cross bars. Everything clears and should work just fine.

 

[JohnMc]

I think the crossbars would be better than just utilizing the track on one side. The crossbars, while not all that strong (plastic ends) at least connect to both sides. Connecting to one puts twisting forces on that track as you bounce along on a trail. And that track is just held down by 5 small headed bolts, and it's fairly thin metal.

 

[Pyral]

The stock roof rack has a 300 lb capacity, so an awning should be fine. I had a roof rack cross bar get run over by my mothers Q5 when I was repainting it and it didn't deform at all (the plastic parts were removed).

My only word of caution is to not deploy the awning in strong winds. I've seen beach umbrellas bend their aluminum posts in strong wind, I can only imagine what it could do to a much larger awning.

The crossbar slides into the roof rack rails with a dove tail like shape, but what provides the clamping is a screw that threads through a metal plate that slides within the roof rack rails. If the cross bar fails it will be the screws that hold the cross bar to the end cap, not cross bar end cap to the roof rack rails.

 

[DWilliam]

I bought the NAPA awning and drilled through the stock cross bars. Everything clears and should work just fine.

How do you like the Napa awning?

 

[Mzs14]

How do you like the Napa awning?

No complaints so far, compared to more overland marketed awnings this is some of the best bang for your buck.