Thule Crossroad 450 rail grabbers / Trail Edition siderails

[Catchlight]

Has anyone converted their Trail Edition roof rack to either Thule or Yakima load bars, which hold more weight than the Toyota factory bars?

I've already got Thule rectangular load bars with kayak saddles and ski holders all set up from when I had my 3rd Gen. 'Runner, and would rather not have to switch to Yakima Railgrabs (which Yakima says will fit the TE) and pay for Yakima's round or aerodynamic load bars, .

The Thule fit guide says the Crossroad 450 rail grabbers are not compatible with the TE siderails, but I'm wondering if Thule just tried the SR5 or the Limited siderails, which are quite different from the TE. I don't live near enough to a Thule dealer to check this out in person.

Thanks for any info on this, or other alternatives that will carry 150 pounds or more.

 

[sandcrawler]

i have the 450 Crossroads and Thule load bars on my factory TE rails and can confirm that they fit fine. be aware, however, that the downside of this setup is that it puts your bars quite high off the roofline, in my case costing me ~6"+ of clearance. so depending on your garage—and any plans for a lift you may have—it may accelerate your running into headroom issues.

 

[STLDAVE]

Has anyone converted their Trail Edition roof rack to either Thule or Yakima load bars, which hold more weight than the Toyota factory bars?

I've already got Thule rectangular load bars with kayak saddles and ski holders all set up from when I had my 3rd Gen. 'Runner, and would rather not have to switch to Yakima Railgrabs (which Yakima says will fit the TE) and pay for Yakima's round or aerodynamic load bars, .

The Thule fit guide says the Crossroad 450 rail grabbers are not compatible with the TE siderails, but I'm wondering if Thule just tried the SR5 or the Limited siderails, which are quite different from the TE. I don't live near enough to a Thule dealer to check this out in person.

Thanks for any info on this, or other alternatives that will carry 150 pounds or more.

I agree with Sandcrawler, the 450 Crossroads work great with the TE rails, but could cause some clearance issues. However, they're not that hard to install and remove. I do just that a couple of times a month when I need them. As far as the Yakima Railgrabs are concerned, I tried them and just didn't feel safe putting two expensive kayaks on top. I don't feel that way with the Thules. BTW, I just checked the Thule site and the 450 Crossroads is what they recommend for the 5th Gen.

 

[rocket67]

Im using the TE rails/Thule 450 to carry my two 17' kayaks .. very solid!

 

[scanny]

I'm using 58" crossroads on SR5 and it looks like it fits any rails as long as you have a little space between roof rails and roof. Probably shops like Rackattack can let you try it on your truck before you buy them.

 

[TwoDraft]

I have the Thule 450 on my Limited with no problems except for the additional height that's been mentioned. I even lent them to a neighbor with a GMC Acadia along with my rack without any problems.

 

[Catchlight]

OP here. Thanks, everyone, for confirming that the 450s work on 5th gen siderails. Just ordered a set.

 

[j_shoe99]

The roof rack was another buying point for me when considering the T4R SR5 I'm buying tomorrow. I can re-use my Thule 450 crossroads w/58" load bars for it. I have some bike trays and a Thule Cargo Box which will be put to full use throughout the year. Plus, it has a higher weight rating, than the "weeny" cross bars that Toyota sells.

:bigok:

 

[mace.]

The roof rack was another buying point for me when considering the T4R SR5 I'm buying tomorrow. I can re-use my Thule 450 crossroads w/58" load bars for it. I have some bike trays and a Thule Cargo Box which will be put to full use throughout the year. Plus, it has a higher weight rating, than the "weeny" cross bars that Toyota sells.

:bigok:

The weeny cross bars also sit too low for some cargo boxes. When I tried mine the weight of the box was pushing down on the shark fin. No bueno.

 

[Catchlight]

I've attached the Thule Crossroad 450 adapters to my old rectangular Thule crossbars and then to the Trail Edition siderails.

It's rock solid, and with 58" rails I can place one kayak saddle outside the Thule foot so there is room to have two fairly beamy kayaks sit level in their saddles and not touch in the middle.

Another benefit is that the crossbars can be 44 inches apart, which is good for keeping whatever's on the rack stable in crosswinds.

The one downside is that the TE plus its siderails and the saddles are so high that I can't get the vehicle into the garage with the rack on. The solution is to park in the driveway when the rack is on, with or without kayaks. But it only takes about 15 minutes for two of us to get the rack on or off, and it will save a lot of gas to not be driving around with the rack on all the time.

 

[scanny]

yep, that what I did this summer:

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/116054-carrying-2-wide-kayaks-question.html

 

[j_shoe99]

I've attached the Thule Crossroad 450 adapters to my old rectangular Thule crossbars and then to the Trail Edition siderails.

It's rock solid, and with 58" rails I can place one kayak saddle outside the Thule foot so there is room to have two fairly beamy kayaks sit level in their saddles and not touch in the middle.

:worthless

 

[Catchlight]

:worthless

Oh, man -- I'm in trouble with j_shoe99, who I've always agreed with when he gave other posters s**t about their lack of photos. I'll get a photo or two up, but it might take a day or two as we have weekend visitors right now.

 

[j_shoe99]

Oh, man -- I'm in trouble with j_shoe99, who I've always agreed with when he gave other posters s**t about their lack of photos. I'll get a photo or two up, but it might take a day or two as we have weekend visitors right now.

ha..no worries. I'm too lazy to go install mine, and take a photo of it. But, I'm anxious to see what it'll look like.

Also, that roof is pretty high up. Might be a tad interesting lifting a bike up there. Or my Thule cargo box. Might need a ladder to two...

 

[Catchlight]

<i>Also, that roof is pretty high up. Might be a tad interesting lifting a bike up there. Or my Thule cargo box. Might need a ladder to two...</i>

You're right. Between the ground clearance of the TE and the height of the siderails plus the Crossroads, it's crazy high. My neighbour and I needed stepstools to get my 22-foot, 100-pound triple kayak up there.

The top photo shows the 44-inch fore and aft spacing between the loadbars, which is great for stability, especially with a long load.

The other two photos show the width of the setup with 58-inch Thule loadbars, especially when one kayak saddle is positioned outside the foot. That kayak has a 30-inch beam, and you can see there's a lot of room left for another wide boat.

The two loadbars take about 10 minutes each to attach or remove from the siderails, but I might get faster at it. As I mentioned, the rack setup is too high to fit in our standard height garage.