Pendoggo4R
New member
Is this new black stainless hardware now standard with the purchase of a new rack system?
It's not, it's an extra $45.
Is this new black stainless hardware now standard with the purchase of a new rack system?
It's not, it's an extra $45.
Is this new black stainless hardware now standard with the purchase of a new rack system?
Got mine today. Some quick thoughts:
- Install was fairly straightforward; if you've wrenched before, you can figure this out. But the instruction sheet.. I thought it could have been done better cause I couldn't really make any sense of it. Credit to Sherpa though, got the rack on just fine without the instructions.
- Sherpa gets an A+ for communication. They're responsive, esp over the phone.
- Hardware upgrade to black hardware is a little pricey, and it only includes exterior facing hardware. The nuts on the insides of the rails, the front leveling mounts, and some of the smaller bolts inside the assembly were silver. Minor gripe, but still a gripe for a $45 upgrade. Also, for some reason I was short two black washers so two of the washers on the outside are silver. In the end I had about 6 silver washers left over. I plan to contact Sherpa for a couple extra.
- Finish is excellent. The powder coat is very even and well applied. I bumped a few crossbars and had a few scuffs, but the finish didn't compromise.
- Main install gripe: the front leveling mount portion of the install was a giant pain in the ass. I'm no engineer, but I didn't understand why there weren't fixed points in the front crossbar that the leveling mounts attached to. The amount of finagling and loosening and tightening (huge pain with the nylon centered nuts) just to get the rubber mounts to sit centered in the gutter, then to have it shift when working on the other side. Do the exterior dimensions of the 4Runner vary slightly from the '10 to '19 productions? I guess that would make sense. Otherwise it seemed to me that getting the mounts dead center with fixed bolting points would have been a very feasible thing to do.
- Front fairing is gapped a few millimeters so it's not touching the roof. Hit 70mph on the way home today, no whistling. Fantastic.
- One of the rails came with a pretty decent sized chunk on the edge. Sherpa wrapped the ever loving hell out of the components, so I don't know.. FedEx must have really done a number on this in transit cause it's very noticeable. Annoying, but not Sherpa'a fault.
I'll post pictures and possibly more thoughts tomorrow. It was pretty damned dark when I finished.
Overall, highly recommend Sherpa. It looks fantastic, good dudes to deal with, and seems like it's gonna be up on the car for a long time to come.
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Nice! Another great option of roof racks available for our Runners! My next upgrade will be an aftermarket roof rack during the up coming holidays. And with all these different vendors, my decision just got harder. Lol! I do like that your rack uses thicker aluminum and that we don't need modify anything on our vehicles. But I would like to know if the rack is compatible with sunroofs. I would imagine it would be since all we would need to do is move the crossbars for clearance. But just wanted to make sure. I will be looking forward to more user reviews and pictures.
Lots of pictures as requested.
First batch is inside my work parking garage. Second batch is outside my Physical Therapy office for some sun-filled photos.
Few more thoughts: the side rails hug the roofline so aggressively, but there's no concern about rub or any incidental contact occurring. I had a couple of my bigger co-workers hang on the sides of the rack and rock the rack back and forth, and kept my eyes on the gaps. Sturdy.
The chunk annoys me. Any way to get that fixed? Should I just Sharpie it and pretend it's not there? Haha.
I don't really have much else. Sherpa is responsive as hell, even here.
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Edit: I see it now on the side rail. Id like to see some pictures of it in better light if possible. Is it showing the silver through it?
At it's widest the gap is about 1cm (closer to the front because of the position of the levelers) and at it's narrowest it's about half a cm (at the back). I had two guys simultaneously hang on each of the side rails at each mounting point to see if there would be any noticeable immediate impact of their combined weight (about 400 pounds) on the rubber mounts that sit on top of the factory bolt points, as well as towards the front, and there was none. This may or may not change over time, as rubber (obviously) deteriorates.What’s the gap between the truck and the bottom of the rail? When you say aggressive does it touch with sheer load or did you test with bodies just on top?
Do you have a pic of the rear cross bar in relation to the shark fin?
Edit: I see it now on the side rail. Id like to see some pictures of it in better light if possible. Is it showing the silver through it?
We installed a Crestone yesterday here locally and I wanted to post some photos of the front feet as well as some other detail shots for those who have asked.
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Hey I'm confused - earlier in this topic, you say "we do not have them sit on the rubber, we found that it was not ideal for our application. They sit just inside the ridge on the roof to provide the most strength with our custom-molded rubber to protect the paint."
But the photos above seem to have the feet in the front sitting on the rubber inside the rain gutter ... is that right?
Thanks!