Yakima rack permanent mount

Snapper Ranchero · May 5, 2012

Hi. I have a short bed double cab taco with a bed rack for my kayaks and stuff, but just bought a tandem sea kayak and needed something longer, so I bought a single bar for over my cab.

I wasn't happy with the Q tower clips so I decided to put something permanent on my truck. I saw something similar to what I did on the forum. This was my solution.

DISCLAIMER - I am not saying this works. Yakima says anything other than an approved install is potentially dangerous and life threatening if failure occurs. I have taken some precautions for install.

I shopped for cheap. I had the crossbars. The only thing I got from Yakima was the nut/bolts to put in my truck; I wanted plusnuts and talked to the phone person. The first item they send was meant for someone else; my address was on the label but the item inside and the packing slip were for someone else. I called Yakima and told them and they didn't want the old part back. The second package contained a different kind of nut/bolt (not a plusnut) but meant for the same application. (like a molly/drywall app) I'm not too impressed w/ Yakima right now. Plusuts would be better since the is no part to potentially lose inside your truck. The nut they sent required a slightly bigger hole in the truck (3/8 plus some ovaling to allow hinged part through) so there is no going back. Good news, Yakima uses 6mm parts, same as Tacoma uses for their roof rack, so I only need to drill one hole on each side. I bought 40mm length (4) bolts to replace the short bolts it same with.

Lifted out the rubber strip and uncovered the center bolt hole. They are covered with rubberized tape but you can feel the hole with your finger. I cut a circle in the tape. Measured the part for distance. Chose to drill behind the factory thread. This places my rack over and to the front of my backseat window. I did not want to drill in front of the factory bolt because that places it between the front and back door.

If my bars should start to fail/come loose, I could roll down my rear windows and strap the whole thing down through my truck. My bars extend out far enough to do this.

My homemade drill stop. I used drill stops on all my bits because the curtain airbags run close to the install. played it safe and started shy of 1/4 depth. Note the painter's tape covering the factory hole. I drilled a pilot hole a bigger hole then my final hole which required an oval from side to side to accomadate the bolt. Plusnuts use a smaller size hole. Too late now. Touched up the holes with touchup paint.

Hole in the rubber strip. These are a pain. there is a metal strip inside and a drill bit will slip to one side or another. I used a utility knife, a dremel and even a metal saw blade. All I can say is it took patience. The first strip I did BEFORE my roof holes. the second after. As always, I covered my roof hole in blue tape. Cleaned up, placed rubber back in and could see my holes were well lined up. Ready for install.

As I said, Yakima sent me these instead of plusnuts. Set of 4. I used some glue to attach fishwire to the bolts as they slip off the part if mishandled. I also glued the black washer part over all 4 of my holes to help with waterproofing. I worked the part into my drilled hole, used a small screwdriver to rotate the nut inside. I put my rubber strip in place, put my landing pad on top, threadlocked and put in my bolts in.

Yakima makes a bolt-on landing pad (#7) but it is too wide for the tracks.

If a part did fall in the hole I could get it by bending back the rubber inside near the door where the felt rooftop meets the door.

If I could do it different I would try to build up the base for a flatter surface, I would use stainless bolts. I may revisit this project; I will have to test the waterproofness soon.

(my other bars)