Roof rack factory cross bars redundant with Yakima towers and bars?

Friend has given me a Yakima Skybox carrier. Tried to fit on the factory roof rack but too low to raise the moonroof and uncomfortably close to top if weight in cargo box and bouncing. So am putting Yakima Timberline towers and Jetstream cross bars on. Saw a 4R with that set up and liked it. She did not have the factory crossbars - just the Jetstreams. She uses for her surfboards. My question for the group - should I keep the factory crossbars in place along with the Yak crossbars? Would add strength, but wonder if make more more noise and may be overkill with the factory bars staying on in addition to the Yak towers and crossbars? Of interest, she said that friends of hers lost their surfboards going down the road using the factory crossbars and not an aftermarket tower/rack.

 

Toyota's design on the OEM crossbars fitting inside the roof rails makes the bar too low, plus they flex under load and wind. I had issues using my Thule box (bouncing if going over 70 and touching the roof) on my 4Runner so upgraded to the whole system to a Sherpa Crestone. A higher mounted cross bar like the ones you suggest would solve the problem. The OEM cross bars would be of no use then.

 

Thanks, Glen! Verifies me using the Yakima box with towers and Yak crossbars to get it higher clearance. Did you take the OEM crossbars off yourself? I’m wondering if in the process be hard get inside slides/nuts/plate (not sure what’s inside the raised siderails that attaches to the turnscrews) ie would such hardware get stuck inside the side rails and potentially an irritating rattle? Or maybe wait and see how much noise would be leaving stock crossbars on along with the Yakima crossbars

 

I have Yakima lowriders along with the factory crossbars, mainly because I was too lazy to take the end caps off and remove the stock crossbars.
I will say the wind noise is pretty loud, louder than I recall with just Yakima bars on my older 4runner. I put a length of bungie wrapped around the 1st bar and it helped a little, but wondering if the Yakima wind fairing would reduce it more.

 

Thanks! That confirms my second thoughts about likely noise if I left the factory bars on along with the Yakima towers and bars. Guess I should ask the group how hard it is to take off the end caps to remove the factory bars after getting the Yakima towers and crossbars and installing them. And also trying with both factory and Yakima bars in place with and without the Yakima Skybox.

 

From what I have read, it is not hard at all. Use a plastic trim tool to pry the back end caps off, remove the rubber stopper in the channel, and slide the bars back and out. The back piece that goes in the channel stays attached.
If I do mine soon I'll take some pictures.

 

Thanks again. Just found a U Tube video on the removal like you describe. It is Nor Cal Rod & Reel "Removing Factory 4 Runner Crossbars 5th Generation 4Runners" Good video. He does a good job explaining. He's doing it for placing a kayak on, and also ideal for me, he's putting on the same Yakima towers (Timberline) and cross bars (Jetstream) that I will be using for the Yakima skybox. Gosh, is there anything not on U Tube?! What a resource.

 

Proceed with care. See this thread for a cautionary tale.

 

I had the same experience with the factory X-bars and a Skybox. I now have a permanent reminder from a 1 time use. Four nice wear marks on the roof. Went withe the Yakama Timberline towers. 2nd time I used them, the rubber bungy-clip thingy tore off. There is no fix for this. I ended up with LFD cross bars. They bolt into the factory rails and have plenty of clearance for the Skybox.

https://lfdoffroad.com/collections/ruggedized-crossbars-5th-gen-4runner

EDIT: I found the install of the Yakama towers to be extremely tedious. Way, way too many turns of the allen wrench. On the bungy thingy that tore, that tower was only screwed in 2-3 threads.

Another Edit: I got the front fairing X-bar from LFD. It was too close to the paint for my liking and took it off. Also, the Skybox did not fit over the fairing. But it works well with the regular bars.