I recently came back from a 3 day Mojave Road trip and it was my first time using the Rola roof carrier with quite a bit of load. Thought I'd post a review on it (I'm also bored right now).
The basket I got was the Rola Vortex (Rola - Roof Top Cargo Carrier). About $160 new, but I got it used for $100. The length is about 2/3 the length of the 4Runner's roof, but you can buy an extension to make the basket a bit longer (Rola - Roof Top Cargo Carrier). Here's how it looks without load.
https://flic.kr/p/oTJsaohttps://www.flickr.com/people/22443523@N08/
Quality: The quality of the metal seems good. It's a sturdy basket and comes painted in a textured black. I ratchet strapped a bunch of stuff to the basket with no bends in the metal or scratches in paint. It also comes with a plastic fairing up front (I haven't noticed wind noise, even with sunroof open). I have read reviews of this basket being affected by rust and I can confirm this issue. I have yet to use it in rain, but there was already rust on it from the previous owner. It isn't bad, but I'll update after the winter...though we don't get much rain here in SoCal.
Notes: The mounts on this thing aren't very secure. The way it's designed prevents it from fitting snug on the roof rack crossbars. Specifically, the bottom piece of the mount is U-shaped, but instead of hugging the crossbar, it extends a few inches out from the crossbar, then bends up. Here are a few pics of the mount to show what I'm talking about (notice the last pic...also notice rust on 1st pic).
https://flic.kr/p/pQDHQQhttps://www.flickr.com/people/22443523@N08/
https://flic.kr/p/py9ke6https://www.flickr.com/people/22443523@N08/
https://flic.kr/p/py8vZChttps://www.flickr.com/people/22443523@N08/
During my trip, the mounts kept shifting out of place. This kept occurring no matter how hard I tightened the fasteners on the mounts. I did a trail fix by wrapping straps around the mounts multiple times as hard as I could. This seemed to help. *Disclaimer: I did have quite a bit of weight up there, including a 20# CO2 tank, spare tire (265/75/R16), 60" Hi-Lift , and full 5 gal gas tank. I'm guesstimating the weight to be about 150 lbs (the rack is rated at 130 lbs). My guess is that even at the 130 lbs capacity, the basket will shift out of its mounts in off road use. Pics with load.
https://flic.kr/p/pwPiWRhttps://www.flickr.com/people/22443523@N08/
https://flic.kr/p/oSs19chttps://www.flickr.com/people/22443523@N08/
https://flic.kr/p/pMa4ZNhttps://www.flickr.com/people/22443523@N08/
https://flic.kr/p/pPfCUchttps://www.flickr.com/people/22443523@N08/
Recommendations: I see now why people forego using the crossbars and custom rig it to fit directly onto the roof rails. It'll be way more sturdy this way. For those of you who don't want to go through this trouble, I'd recommend getting a 3rd crossbar and ordering 2 more mounts, so the basket will have a total of 6 mounting points. This is the route I'm going since I had an extra crossbar laying around. I had a helluva time finding the part #, so here you go...it's #59506 (about $10 each). Good luck finding it though. I ordered from a vendor and it's backordered. 3 weeks have passed since purchase and I'm STILL waiting. Once mounted, I'm going to use 550 cord and wrap it snugly around all the mounts.
Overall, good rack for the price. I especially like the look of it. If you're looking for something cheap and aesthetically pleasing, I'd recommend this rack. If you're going to use it for heavy loads though, you'll most likely need to make some minor modifications. Cheers. :beer:
The basket I got was the Rola Vortex (Rola - Roof Top Cargo Carrier). About $160 new, but I got it used for $100. The length is about 2/3 the length of the 4Runner's roof, but you can buy an extension to make the basket a bit longer (Rola - Roof Top Cargo Carrier). Here's how it looks without load.
https://flic.kr/p/oTJsaohttps://www.flickr.com/people/22443523@N08/Quality: The quality of the metal seems good. It's a sturdy basket and comes painted in a textured black. I ratchet strapped a bunch of stuff to the basket with no bends in the metal or scratches in paint. It also comes with a plastic fairing up front (I haven't noticed wind noise, even with sunroof open). I have read reviews of this basket being affected by rust and I can confirm this issue. I have yet to use it in rain, but there was already rust on it from the previous owner. It isn't bad, but I'll update after the winter...though we don't get much rain here in SoCal.
Notes: The mounts on this thing aren't very secure. The way it's designed prevents it from fitting snug on the roof rack crossbars. Specifically, the bottom piece of the mount is U-shaped, but instead of hugging the crossbar, it extends a few inches out from the crossbar, then bends up. Here are a few pics of the mount to show what I'm talking about (notice the last pic...also notice rust on 1st pic).
https://flic.kr/p/pQDHQQhttps://www.flickr.com/people/22443523@N08/https://flic.kr/p/py9ke6https://www.flickr.com/people/22443523@N08/https://flic.kr/p/py8vZChttps://www.flickr.com/people/22443523@N08/During my trip, the mounts kept shifting out of place. This kept occurring no matter how hard I tightened the fasteners on the mounts. I did a trail fix by wrapping straps around the mounts multiple times as hard as I could. This seemed to help. *Disclaimer: I did have quite a bit of weight up there, including a 20# CO2 tank, spare tire (265/75/R16), 60" Hi-Lift , and full 5 gal gas tank. I'm guesstimating the weight to be about 150 lbs (the rack is rated at 130 lbs). My guess is that even at the 130 lbs capacity, the basket will shift out of its mounts in off road use. Pics with load.
https://flic.kr/p/pwPiWRhttps://www.flickr.com/people/22443523@N08/https://flic.kr/p/oSs19chttps://www.flickr.com/people/22443523@N08/https://flic.kr/p/pMa4ZNhttps://www.flickr.com/people/22443523@N08/https://flic.kr/p/pPfCUchttps://www.flickr.com/people/22443523@N08/Recommendations: I see now why people forego using the crossbars and custom rig it to fit directly onto the roof rails. It'll be way more sturdy this way. For those of you who don't want to go through this trouble, I'd recommend getting a 3rd crossbar and ordering 2 more mounts, so the basket will have a total of 6 mounting points. This is the route I'm going since I had an extra crossbar laying around. I had a helluva time finding the part #, so here you go...it's #59506 (about $10 each). Good luck finding it though. I ordered from a vendor and it's backordered. 3 weeks have passed since purchase and I'm STILL waiting. Once mounted, I'm going to use 550 cord and wrap it snugly around all the mounts.
Overall, good rack for the price. I especially like the look of it. If you're looking for something cheap and aesthetically pleasing, I'd recommend this rack. If you're going to use it for heavy loads though, you'll most likely need to make some minor modifications. Cheers. :beer:
