Roof Rack and Hitch Setups HERE!
- Thread starter Quentin
- Start date
sandcrawler
Senior Member
same one i've got. haven't yet used it on my '10, though.
sandcrawler
Senior Member
doing so now...
was riding tonight with the sunroof open and no wind noise... even talking BT hands-free no problem...
don't know if Dakine makes the model i have any longer (rackpad w/built-in strap) but i much prefer it to the Thule/Yakima surf-dongles. fits 2 boards and you can always use a regular strap and stack on more. that said, typically my shortboards ride in the back and the logs hang out the rear window... :surfer:
Attachments
Gotta say, your trail looks AWESOME. That color is great. Your setup looks great too.
sandcrawler
Senior Member
thanks, Quentin! :cheers:
any closer to deciding on your own setup?
any closer to deciding on your own setup?
I think I'm definitely going w/ the setup I have posted at the top. I won't need it until June (no biking or anything really fun until at least then from my knee injury) so I'll probably order right before my canoe trip in late June.
I've been learning Autodesk Inventor (CAD program) at work. Working on some ways to actually mount my Cannondales inside the 4Runner. Gotta keep the preciouses out of the rain.
If its anything like my Holdup - they are very snug. They fit into the hitch with a little slack, but then it uses a steel bolt to cinch everything down and its solid as a rock.
Here is a Draftmaster rack with a pair of delta-style recumbent trikes. This is a heavy rack but it handles the two big trikes just fine. I carry three kayaks on the OEM roof rails just fine also, via a Yakima or Malone post...
Nice mudflaps! Happy w/ them?
The mud flaps? They were really cheap and are OK - seem to keep a lot of the mud/clay off of the body. I probably should have mounted the front ones out a little wider - seems like some of the back part of the car just in front of the rear wheels catch some of the flying mud. I took the opportunity to install them while the car was up on the lift when getting new tires put on and was in a hurry and I didn't do a great job. But they certainly are better than the mud flaps that come with the Limited!
I'm tempted to get a Fork Up (adapts a fork mounted tray to work w/ a Lefty) and rig up something to keep the tray supported upright. That way it wouldn't be anything permanent in the truck but it'd still keep things upright.
We'll see. I drew up something today that adapts Thule crossbars to fit where the OEM bars go. The idea is quite simple. I'm wondering how much it would cost to have them machined.
Uneek
Super Moderator
Unless I'm misunderstanding your question... on the Yakima Holdup (I'd imagine Yakima would employ the same anti-rattle technique across all their hitch mounted accessories), the hitch pin is a more like a long bolt. There's a nut that's held in place by a plastic piece that fits into the drawbar that goes in the reciever of the hitch. As you tighten down the hitch pin/bolt, it'll pull the bike rack against the side of the receiver eliminated any extra play.
If you're going to use a standard hitch pin/lock, you'll need to remove the nut inside the drawbar of the bike rack, otherwise a 5/8" hitch pin will not pass through the bike rack. I removed the nut by pressing in the plastic "push pins" and pulling the plastic insert out with the nut.
So, I was teaching myself AutoDesk Inventor the other day and came up with this. It would basically fix Thule crossbars (cut down to ~44" from what I recall) to the standard SR5 rails. The upper piece has one end that fits into the slot in the rail and the other end fits into a Thule crossbar. Then, another piece is clamped below and fixed to the upper piece via a socket head screw.
The black is the thule crossbar, the white is a section of the T4R roof rail, and the gray are the parts I'd have machined.
Taking a quick look at the spacing between the rail and the roof, I realized that the socket head screw should go through the top section and thread into the bottom section instead of how I drew it up.
Basically, I think this would give me a pretty elegant solution to getting Thule crossbars, to fit all my attachments, on my 4Runner roof without having the huge Thule feet. I'm going to call around and see how much it will run me to have 4 of these machined and get more precise measurements (I was ballparking when I first drew it).
Thoughts? Should I go w/ this setup or the Thule feet? Another engineer that I work with was telling me that there is a company that makes pretty generic shaped steel blocks in all kinds of different sizes that would minimize the amount of machining I'd have to do on these, so I could possibly machine them myself.
I'm totally in love w/ Inventor, btw. What a fantastic modeling tool!
The black is the thule crossbar, the white is a section of the T4R roof rail, and the gray are the parts I'd have machined.
Taking a quick look at the spacing between the rail and the roof, I realized that the socket head screw should go through the top section and thread into the bottom section instead of how I drew it up.
Basically, I think this would give me a pretty elegant solution to getting Thule crossbars, to fit all my attachments, on my 4Runner roof without having the huge Thule feet. I'm going to call around and see how much it will run me to have 4 of these machined and get more precise measurements (I was ballparking when I first drew it).
Thoughts? Should I go w/ this setup or the Thule feet? Another engineer that I work with was telling me that there is a company that makes pretty generic shaped steel blocks in all kinds of different sizes that would minimize the amount of machining I'd have to do on these, so I could possibly machine them myself.
I'm totally in love w/ Inventor, btw. What a fantastic modeling tool!
The nice thing about your design is that it appears that you will be able to use virtually the whole cross bar. I have the Yakima Railgrabbers, and they take away about 4 inches of (already limited) usable crossbar space (two inches each side) with the way they extend in past the side rail. I wish Yakima could have designed a side rail grabber that had the bar holding footprint of a Raingutter tower (1" vs ~4"). Carrying my two canoes with the Railgrabbers leaves me a total of 4 inches for tie down straps - just enough to get the job done. I would like a bit more room between the canoes.
2JZTT
New member
So, I was teaching myself AutoDesk Inventor the other day and came up with this. It would basically fix Thule crossbars (cut down to ~44" from what I recall) to the standard SR5 rails. The upper piece has one end that fits into the slot in the rail and the other end fits into a Thule crossbar. Then, another piece is clamped below and fixed to the upper piece via a socket head screw.
The black is the thule crossbar, the white is a section of the T4R roof rail, and the gray are the parts I'd have machined.
Taking a quick look at the spacing between the rail and the roof, I realized that the socket head screw should go through the top section and thread into the bottom section instead of how I drew it up.
Basically, I think this would give me a pretty elegant solution to getting Thule crossbars, to fit all my attachments, on my 4Runner roof without having the huge Thule feet. I'm going to call around and see how much it will run me to have 4 of these machined and get more precise measurements (I was ballparking when I first drew it).
Thoughts? Should I go w/ this setup or the Thule feet? Another engineer that I work with was telling me that there is a company that makes pretty generic shaped steel blocks in all kinds of different sizes that would minimize the amount of machining I'd have to do on these, so I could possibly machine them myself.
I'm totally in love w/ Inventor, btw. What a fantastic modeling tool!
This would be VERY easy to do. (I am a machinist in the Navy) If I wasn't laid up right now with a bum knee, I could make these in a few hrs. I will also be transferring in Oct. then I will have my own shop on a ship.. whoo hoo. gonna make all kinds of stuff then. I will keep all this in mind when I get better. Aluminum or Stainless steel would be great.
Total usable bar span i something like 46" (I'll have to measure my railspan again). Once I have everything modeled, I'll let you know exactly how much space you'll have. The beauty of this is that if you could get these parts machined for $80 or so, new crossbars are only $60. You could have a new rack for $140. I'm considering doing something w/ Yakima round bars as well, especially if I can get some round stock that would generally match the bar size and would just require a little bit of turning and notching.
I talked to a buddy who's dad owns a machine shop and he's going to see about getting them done for me. This is just a mockup at the moment, so the measurements are just ballparked. Once I get the actual measurements and model the whole roof, I'll send some dimensioned prints your way for your use.
Sucks about the bum knee. I'm recovering from ACL surgery and just getting back to the point I can somewhat walk around.
Have the rails, crossbars, and adapters modeled up to actual dimensions. I'm going to do a basic model of the roof/endcaps and get the actual prints for the machine shop. I'll let you guys know some ball park prices by the end of the week, hopefully.
Now to find some used Thule crossbars for cheap.
Now to find some used Thule crossbars for cheap.
jpowers
New member
Here's the hitch rank I decided to go with. It's the Thule 990XT double track. I chose it mainly due to price and features it offered. The XT Model comes with Lock's and Key's for the hitch and bike. I haven't got it yet should be in sometime this week 
, heck I haven't even got my bike yet that too should be in this week. lol
When I get it all hooked up I'll post some pics of it installed.
, heck I haven't even got my bike yet that too should be in this week. lolWhen I get it all hooked up I'll post some pics of it installed.
