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Roof basket talk

Discussion in 'General 4Runner Talk' started by baller0350, May 28, 2015.

  1. Aug 22, 2017 at 2:46 PM
    #31
    MeefZah

    MeefZah ---

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    Lexington, Ohio
    Got my Rocky Mounts 14'er roof basket loaded up for our 21 day trip to AK. Second spare tire / wheel (from my wife's 4Runner) and 10 gal gas in 4 cans. Not a huge fan of the "spare tire on the roof" look but I figure for the amount of dirt roads and the Dalton that we are going to be doing, a second spare can't hurt.

    Factory crossrails, and no problems with supporting the weight.

    I used 2 threaded 'J' hooks, fender washers, wing nuts, and some small cotter pins drilled into the 'J' hooks to attach the wheel to the basket and keep the wing nuts from rotating out.

    [​IMG]
     
    HarveyElmore likes this.
  2. Oct 11, 2017 at 5:30 PM
    #32
    MeefZah

    MeefZah ---

    Joined:
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    Lexington, Ohio
    Status update. The post above shows my RM 14'er basket pre-trip. It did an admirable job over 9250 miles to and from Alaska.

    My home-made 'J' hooks to keep the second spare up there worked great. I mean - great! No loosening at all. Easy and cheap way to keep a wheel on a basket. Photo is below. Simple J hook that goes around one of the basket rails, with a large fender washer to catch the spare through one of the holes, 1/4" wing nut, and small cotter pin to keep the wing nut from backing off. You will have to drill a hole through the bolt portion of the J hook and you'll need to do some measuring to get the placement of the cotter correct prior to drilling. One on each side of the wheel (for a total of 2) will keep it secure.

    The basket itself worked perfectly. No issues of any sort - although after about 12 days I noticed the 8 thumb nuts on the 4 'U' brackets holding the basket to the crossbars were backing off. This was after a good deal of rough road. I spent about 2 minutes re-tightening them and they stayed snugged down for the duration of the trip.

    The OEM torx bolts holding the factory crossbars to the brackets that mate with the side rails of the factory roof rack also loosened up. I snugged them up once and that was that.

    The basket rails did chafe the gas cans a little, no big deal, but for next time I will wrap the rail that is in contact with the cans with some pipe insulation of the correct size to make sure the chafing doesn't actually run through a can (highly doubtful that it would but pipe insulation is cheap insurance).

    Gas cans were held down with one of my motorcycle luggage bungees, an adjustable length QD unit made by Rok Straps (http://rokstraps.com/).

    No noticeable increase in wind noise and no obvious decline in fuel economy with the basket and tire up there.

    This style of basket - regardless of maker - is really the best bang for the buck and a solid value, especially for temporary use for trips.


    Wheel holders:
    [​IMG]

    Rok Straps:
    [​IMG]

    About 8500 miles in:
    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]
     
  3. Oct 11, 2017 at 6:31 PM
    #33
    HarveyElmore

    HarveyElmore New Member

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    Vehicle:
    Offroad TRD 17'
    Thanks for the suggestions
     

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