putting on roof rack but I have a question

[doylee4693]

Never messed with a roof rack before but started to look into them today.I have a thule roof rack that the last oner gave to me with the truck.Was gonna sell it but then i relized you actually need the original roof rack if I wanted a rola rack,At least thats what i think.Anyways my queastion is what part do I need to connect my 2 racks to my roof.heres a few pics of what i mean.Shouldnt there be something bolted to the 4runner for me to connect the roof rack system to?

 

[doylee4693]

:banana: :banana: :banana: :banana:

 

[the great him]

i dont think those towers are gonna work for you, they look like they clamp to the roof, from the top of the door jam, and if thats the case(correct me if im wrong on any of this) your rack will sit right over the front and back doors, covering your sun roof(not like its the end of the world), but it wont be back over the cargo area where most people have their racks. i think it would look funny to have a rack that far forward. now if you wanted a full length rack(from the front of the roof to the back) i dont think those towers would support that much over hang in the back. -what im saying is, you have no support for the rear of the rig, those cross bars and towers wont be able to mount to the back section(past the rear doors) on your truck. maybe take your runner to a local truck and SUV shop and have them look at it and tell you what they think -its hard to say for sure with out seeing the actual tower and cross bar in person next to the truck, who knows those towers might not even fit properly on the runner. my advice would be to check wrecking yards and local classifieds for some factory towers/crossbars and go that route, they generally sell pretty cheep like under $75 and im sure you can sell your tule ones for twice that

 

[doylee4693]

right on man thats exactly the answer i was looking for.im gonna ditch these and pick up a set of oem's.doesnt that involve drilling tho?also by towers do you meen the par that the crossbars go into?

 

[the great him]

yes the tower is the part that the crossbar goes into/through. you might want to look the towers over closely to look for a product number or model type ect. then call tule or contact them some how and ask them if what you have will work, like i said, its hard to tell from just the pics what you have, if i could see it in person that would be another story. as far as the factory oem rack is concerned, it looks like to me that you already have the strips that run the length of the back section of the roof??? all you need to do is unscrew the bolts/screws holding the end caps in place and carefully remove them and then just slide the factory towers/crossbars into the groves and lock them down in desired position with the supplyed(factory lock screws with the big black knob on top -just hand tight is fine) if you only have the delete strips you will need to buy the whole set up, in which case a wrecking yard or dismantler/recycler will be you best bet to find that set up. and cost should be only around $150 for everything. hope this helps, if not well ask again lol

 

[liv2bike]

Never messed with a roof rack before but started to look into them today.I have a thule roof rack that the last oner gave to me with the truck.Was gonna sell it but then i relized you actually need the original roof rack if I wanted a rola rack,At least thats what i think.Anyways my queastion is what part do I need to connect my 2 racks to my roof.heres a few pics of what i mean.Shouldnt there be something bolted to the 4runner for me to connect the roof rack system to?

it appears you have a "naked roof" but hard to tell from your pic. Mine looks like that but that is bc I removed my OEM crossbars. My runner is a 2001 and has factory tracks that run the length of the roof. It looks liek you may have tracks but hard to tell. If you have tracks then you can buy Yakima control towers and landing pads and you might be able to use those crossbars. Go to either the Yakima or Thule website and put your runner's info into their fit guides. They will tell you exactly what you need. If you can't use what you already have, sell it. You will be able to unload it on ebay, craigslist or even here. good luck mate.