Please school me on crossbars/roof rack

We tried an old roof top cargo box on our cross country trip last year. Made it to Denver and picked up a basket and bag, well worth it.

 

So after “racking” my brain (sorry) trying to figure out my next attempt at cross bars, I decided to just focus on what I need to haul right now, which is my kayak. Ill worry about expedition level stuff for when i am going on expedition.

I looked at yakima for a pair of bars, and it seems I cant get in to that club for less than 400 bucks. Then I bumped into the malone brand, for less than half as much. Reviews seem solid, found a local retailer with stock, and brought back a pair.

Seems really solid. Makes some noise, but I still need to add some of the rubber stripping meant to quiet it down.Hopefully this willbe enough to get me on the lakes!

 

I would put the weatherstripping on and try it.

I complained on the other board that my LFD bolt-on wind fairing was jack hammering the roof of my T4R at 75 to 80mph. They sent me out an integrated crossbar with weather strip - free of charge. The weatherstripping touches the roof but this bar doesn't move at all.

 

Yup, that is what LFD wanted me to try, but I didnt want to have anything touching the roof.

That ship has sailed though. I got a refund from LFD, and Im hoping these new malone bars will get my kayak to where it needs to be.

The only thing Im wondering is whether the malone bars are too wide... thinking about chopping off a few inches...

 

I bought 2 pairs of OEM crossbars for now... I am planning on drilling holes on a pair to put bolts that will hold traction boards.

 

What length did you get? Doesn't look too wide for me.

 

DITTO!

 

i dont remember the width off the top of my head. But ended up chopping a few inches off each bar,

I still havent been out to the lakes with the yak, so can’t report on its function yet

 

I hate hearing this on the LFD crossbars as I've been looking at these for some time now - they check all my boxes, until now. So basically we have one person that had an obvious rotten experience with LFD, even with the refund. My question: Is this just a fluke or is it a widespread issue across the board?

 

20 dollars in unistrut and couple cans of spray paint and a chunk of scrap for the tabs. Ordered a gobi in February. Still dont have it. Will never order another thing from them. Probably sell it when it gets here

 

Man, I like my LFD crossbars. I actually didn’t receive the bottom trim on wind fairing when they first arrived. I didn’t know any different until I saw pics from this forum. I emailed them and they sent it out quickly. I’ve had them now for a over a year. I bought the bundle and have no issues at all.

 

I've had no problems since I got the replacement integrated wind fairing crossbar.
https://www.lfdoffroad.com/catalog/toyota/5th-gen/crossbars-5th/integrated-wind-faring-crossbar

I'll eventually get their side rails and turn my LFD crossbars into a full roof rack.

 

Good to hear! I’ll be talking to them soon regarding turn-around time. Just received confirmation that my tires have arrived. Getting slowly prepped for April Moab trip.

 

I have debated removing the wind fairing crossbar altogether just to see if there is any issues (wind noise etc) just using the standard crossbars. Problem is I'm lazy, once I have something bolted on, I don't like unbolting it all over again.

My reasoning for going with a full LFD rack (side rail addition) would be to add a roof top tent. I went camping last month for the 1st time in 20 years. Sweated my ass off setting up the tent. Then sweated some more trying to pound tent stakes into rocky Ozark Mountain soil. Sweated while airing up my air mattress, then sweated again in the tent later that evening.

The following day, I sweated all over again taking the tent down. Realized the huge benefit of a hard top rooftop tent is how easy they setup. Couple minutes max.

This was a warm weather camping trip. I'd much rather camp when it's cool out.
I needed remind myself, why I hated camping in the summer.

I think I enjoyed camping when I was younger and lived in an apartment in the suburbs. Now that I live rural, have land, and a nice house, camping has lost it's allure for me.

 

@McSpazatron Do you still have the Malone Roof bars? If so, how do you like them. Any marring on the roof rails?

Reason I ask about the marring is that I need something to allow me to carry some long lumber and sheet goods (plywood and sheet rock) from time to time. I'd only install them for times when I need them but 99 percent of the time they will just be stored in the garage off the vehicle.

 

Way late to this party but my solution to the LFD fairing touching the roof was to take that bar off. I just use the other bars. Wind noise is negligible.

 

Yeah, I still have them on. Cant say if they mar or not, since they’ve stayed up there.

I’ll say this about crossbars on the stock rails….they suck for long kayaks. I imagine they suck for anything long. The space between the two rails is too short, so it acts more like a pivot for long things. It’s very easy for cross-wind forces to turn the cargo when driving at highway speeds, regardless of front and rear straps. My first and only attempt to carry my 12ft kayak sucked.

Also, I noticed anything long that’s centered on factory rack, leaves a lot of the cargo behind the vehicle. Which looks odd, and just leaves way too much hanging in the air for people to run into. I really wish toyota put the front mounting point further forward on the vehicle so we wouldn't need to get so creative.

I’m still mulling around ideas for a roof rack….

 

Thanks @McSpazatron

I also have a truck bed extender that mounts in the receiver that I was going to use in combination to get 3 points of contact. It extends past the rear about 18" and has vertical arms that can extend to a little wider than 48". Not 100% sure if the heights will line up right but it's adjustable and I can further modify it to get that zeroed in if need be. Maybe something like that would stabilize the kayaks too.

Also the orange big box store is 4 miles from the house and I can get there on back roads that top out at 45mph.

Ive been carrying 8ft sticks inside the vehicle. So far 9 2x4x8's is the most im comfortable carrying. But I know I'm one hard stop from a head unit or windshield replacement when i do that. Would prefer to get them on the roof or on/in a trailer.

 

Great idea, hadnt thought of that! With that hitch stabilizer, you’d probably have no problem with the malone bars for lumber if you evenly distribute weight width-wise. They are sturdy bars, and the price is very right compared to the options. As far as marring, no experience I can relate, but I imagine it’s more to do with cleaning off the area so the rubber/plastic clamping parts don’t have anything to abrade with.

 

Agreed. The price is right. Way easier than convincing the wife I need to add a truck. Insurance alone would be more than the price of these bars. I also thought about buying a trailer but storage is a challenge. Would rather just rent that from Uhaul for the 3-4x a year I need one for stuff beyond what these bars can do for me.

I need the width (gonna get the 58" version) so I can use endless ratchet straps to secure a full sheet of plywood.

This is now on my list of things to do once the holidays are over.

 

Following up on this thread. I ordered the 58" Malone roof bars and installed them. With the pickup bed extender and the front and rear Malone bars at their furthest fore and aft position, it gives me exactly 7ft of spread across the 3 supports.

The Malone bars are easy to remove but I may just leave them on if I end up using them often. They look ok and kind of match the silver front and rear valances and the ironman ucas.

I thought I was going to have to modify the bed extender to get it level with the bars but it works out perfectly on the 2nd height setting. I bought it used but I think it is the Maxxhaul one that you can get for about $70 on Amazon.

I also ordered a set of endless ratchet tie downs so I wouldn't have to deal with the hooks on my other tie downs. Tie downs are made by safe strap and were $26 on Amazon.

This are really lousy pictures but you should get the idea. Solved my lack of a pickup by spending under $300. The side supports are removed as the won't fit under the garage door but the extend to 48 3/4"

 

Finally used the setup to carry some lumber. Worked great. No pickup truck needed.

First pic has a 12' 2x4 and a 10ft 2x6
Second pic is 12 2x4x8's

 

Sweet. Nice to see it being put to work.

 

Thanks. I think it would work well for your kayaks.

 

How's the powder coat holding up? Any rust on the rack?

I see you're in TX. I'm in SoCal... just wondering if it's worth getting the stainless steel vs the carbon steel.

 

Which cross bars did you end up getting?

 

How much higher do the LFD cross bars sit compared to the OEM Toyota cross bars? I need at least an inch more (preferably 2 inches) to clear my shark fin when I put my Thule cargo box on my current current cross bars. I'm not really interested in getting a full length flat roof rack at this time... just want to get two cross bars that sit above the side rails. I thought about the Thule Wingbar Edge because it sits pretty high, but that's $600. The LFD bars look like a good option at a great price; just want to make sure I have enough clearance. TIA.

 

No rust in almost 28 months, and I spend a decent amount of time at the coast.

 

I’ll sell you the factory ones off my 22 ltd….

I like the delete look anyway.