Yakima Rack

[tower]

Dear RacerX,

I have the Yakima set-up on my rig. Yak’ recommends that you clamp their accessories to their cargo basket (Road Worrier). Fine, but that won't fit in my garage. They won't warranty (as in if it magically flies off your roof) the set-up I am about to describe.

You can use either the LP4 or LP5 (LP = Landing Pad) to connect to the H2 roof channel. The 5's have a wider elliptical base; the 4's are a little more rectangular. It's all just aesthetics. I recommend the 4's and 5's because they are the only 2 LP’s using 1 1/2" "nuts" (actually narrow plates with threaded holes in them). Do NOT use the black spacer washers because the bolts won't reach anywhere near the bottom of the track. In fact, you will need to “float” the nuts to get them up to the top of the channel in order for the included bolts to catch the nut’s threads. This is very easily done. (I used a wadded up plastic bag for this.) I called Yak' yesterday and they (again) said that they are working on a roof set-up for the H2 (yeah, having an '03 and being a ski patrolman, I'll probably need knee replacements before they come out with anything. And it would be so simple. All they need is an “inverted U” shaped nut. But I digress.

So with the LP’s on, you must add Control Towers and Crossbars, and you know the drill from there. I got the 78” crossbars and cut them down to 69 inches. You can use the stock 66” bars, but they don’t really leave any margin outside of the Control Towers and look a little funny to me.

Using this set-up, I can dump (rotate) my ski and bike mounts into the horizontal position. This makes them more aerodynamic (yeah, BIG gas savings), but more importantly, lets me pull into my garage. I already had to raise a soil pipe in the garage (commercial building), just to get the beast in with the factory crossbars attached. So I guess I should mention for anyone having similar overhead clearance issues, I used the Steelhead fork clamps, but removed the tray. There is no need to rotate the Steelheads. For the rear tire support, I used their Multimount, and I do rotate it downward. Likewise, the ski rack gets rotated downward.

If you want any more info, send an e-address. I hope this helps.


t~