Talk to me about cross bars

Sup people. I have a ‘21 ORP and have not bought cross bars for my roof rack yet. I need some cross bars.

Shoot me some good cross bars, if you could be a doll. Thule WingBar EVO is the move??

 

Depending on intended application, OEM are fine. But..

For aftermarket, I've got several sets of Inno bars and towers - essentially Thule stuff, rebranded. Inno is fairly cheap compared to Yak or Thule and the quality is on point.

One set is perma attached to a roof basket and flipped inside the basket for a lower profile, and so I can remove the whole thing easily.



The other 65" ish long set is used for kayak transport. You can also see the OEM bars in the below pic, for some asinine reason my wife insists on leaving them up there even when the Inno bars are not installed in case she wants to buy some lumber on her way home from yoga or something. I don't know. Whatever. I just leave them on all the time now, even when the Inno bars are installed.

 

I use Thule rectangular bars because I already had the rack but I'd rather have the quieter Thule aero bars so YES I think you figured out the best solution. My rack is rock solid.

 

Thanks for the replies so far, fellas.

Would mainly use em for ski/snowboard rack and kayaks. And maybe one of those cargo boxes at some point.

Don’t personally love the bars extending past the width of the vehicle. Is that necessary for kayak transport. Would typically be 2 at the most.

 

I also dislike the bars that far out. It's not necessary for kayaks; you could stack them or do a J cradle but this is the most simple and easiest to load (for my non upper body strength having wife). You can lift up just one end of the kayak and "hang" it from one rail, then lift up the other end. Can't do that with short bars.

Edit, no pics of the loading process but here's the kayaks loaded. If you don't stack them or use a J cradle you will have to have wider bars.

 

LFD for me. Start with their crossbars, later on buy their side rails, and turn it into a full roof rack.
https://www.lfdoffroad.com/catalog/toyota/5th-gen/crossbars-5th

https://www.lfdoffroad.com/catalog/toyota/5th-gen/roof-racks


Buddy of mine with maxtrax and pelican on his LFD crossbars:

 

What I like about just using crossbars vs a full rack is I can remove them for less noise when I'm not using them. Much harder to do with a full rack.

 

I second LFD's design. Super functional, light, modular, cheaper, and with less lead time than most full-size racks. (you can also add these to their full rack if you decide this option in the future)

 

https://www.lfdoffroad.com/catalog/toyota/5th-gen/crossbars-5th/ruggedized-crossbar-bundle

I bought this kit and love it.

 

Just FYI my 50" Thule bars are much narrower than the vehicle. For me 58-60 might be ideal for those few times when I need to carry two narrow solo canoes but as one poster showed you can also stick one inside in a pinch.

 

I am liking this. Two questions:


1) Does that front bar have some sort of padding on it as to prevent scratches/scuffs on the paint?

2) Would I be able to attach anything to something like this? Ski/snowboard rack, kayak rack, cargo box, etc from basically any grand if I were ever so inclined to buy em?? (I am new to all of this)


Thanks

 

The owner of LFD posts on a couple other boards I'm a member of. He recommend putting down a strip of plastic auto bra (paint protection film) where the wind deflector touches the top of the roof.

Example:

$16 XPEL Black Universal Door Sill Guard (60" x 2.75") Paint Protection Film Kit

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003EP52I8/

My recommendation is get the integrated wind deflector + use the protection film. I had the bolt on wind deflector and found it would jack hammer the roof at 80-90mph driving down to Key West Florid. LFD swapped it out for the integrated crossbar and wind deflector for free.

Good:
https://www.lfdoffroad.com/catalog/toyota/5th-gen/crossbars-5th/integrated-wind-faring-crossbar
https://www.lfdoffroad.com/catalog/...tegrated-wind-faring-crossbar-stainless-steel

Avoid:
https://www.lfdoffroad.com/catalog/brackets-mounts/wind-faring

You should be able to mount all those things.

 

I'd loose an eye on that thing.

 

The kit comes with a rubber edge for the bottom of the faring. Also mine isn’t like those in Dan’s links. Meaning the faring isn’t straight across the bottom but is cut up and down to match the roof. It has adequate clearance even at high speed. The protective film might also be a good idea. I’m sure there are mounts for just about anything.

 

Pics please?

 

it’s a little dirty along the bottom edge but I think you can see the clearance.

 

Other options:

https://www.victory4x4.com/product/...gE25QlPSljBqgTdvT7wHX2_xePPwTOxkaAvaBEALw_wcB


The person from Wicked Creations who posted on here about these said they were going to be offering the cross bars separately, However, the set with the side rails is a pretty good setup also:

https://wicked-creations.com/wicked-creations-toyota-4runner-roof-rack/

 

Does the fairing touch the roof top?

 

Can you mount a Yakima Skybox on the LFD bars without the box clips dropping down and hitting the roof? It doesn't look, from the pics in this thread, that you mount the box without the box clips dropping down and hitting the rooftop.

 

I used Malone locking crossbars on my 2017 Limited. Bars only came out maybe 1.5” on each side. Cheap too at under $200 CDN.

https://www.sail.ca/en/malone-unive...MIh4ro6rzY8QIVcgnnCh2ibQBKEAQYAiABEgI3WPD_BwE

 

Not really. I tried to get my 21 box to fit on LFD bars, but it hung off the back too far and not only sat on the shark fin, it would not let the tailgate go all the way up. I ended up going to the extreme and install Rhino Rack permanent tracks and then feet with cross bars. Being able to spread the bars out far enough to support long loads is overlooked often.

 

No it doesn’t.

 

Hopefully Im not jacking the OPs thread here....But, I have a line on a pair of Thule 60" AreoBlade bars and Crossroads 450r mounts. The mount placement on the bars appears adjustable.

What are the pro's and con's of going with such wide bars? I'm thinking more width is good, more tie-down options, etc. Im not tall enough to catch an eye on the bar ends, so...Im thinking these will work really well.

Something Im not thinking about?

TIA!

 

Ive cut down bothYakima and Thule bars, just remove the end caps, cut to length and replace the end caps.
I used to need to carry 2 canoes so I used wider bars. It's not a big deal to cut them.

 

One posible con of overly wide bars is if you are ever in an off road situation with big branches nearby, or rock faces. Get a little off camber and those crossrails could catch all sorts of stuff