Factory crossbars or Whispbars?

Hello,

I'll be taking delivery of a 4Runner Trail Premium next week. I have a set of 52" Whispbars made by Yakima I have been using on my 2013 Tacoma.

So I have a few questions in the event someone else has been down this path:

1. Are the toyota crossbars worth a shit? Will they hold a couple of Yakima J-low kayak holders and a couple of 9.5' kayaks?
2. If the crossbars are shit, has anyone mounted Whispbars to the rails that come on the Trail Premium? Any issues doing this?

I'm gonna call yakima tomorrow, but I thought I would ask if any of you have done this. I'd rather not sell the Whispbars if they can be re-purposed easily.

 

Looks like I found the answer on another site. Apparently you can buy a fit kit that will allow me to attach the Whispbars to the 4Runner rails. Yakima should be able to confirm the proper kit.

 

They'd probably work with the stock crossbars but they are super low to the roof. The mounts on my Yakima Load Warrior barely clears if I use the stock crossbars.

 

Is your load warrior rack touching the metal of the rails?

 

Yea, heres a random photo that I found on google of a 5th gen.

 

My Whispbars are mounted. Total height is a couple of inches higher than it was on my Tacoma. Just means the kayak carriers will have to be removed after each trip which is really no big deal. I don't leave them on fulltime anyway.

 

cross bars do work well

 

Any issues getting in a garage with those?