Roof Rack Question

Your Mazda or Hyundai will be SWEET.

 

Just off the horn with Yakima - sadly they don't make a Whipsbar mount that uses the fixed mount holes on the Tacoma so Whispar is going back to REI. Yakima's reasoning makes some sense: they usually only see naked roofs or roofs with factory rails. Apparently my roof with factory mounting points but no rails is "rare."

 

That's unfortunate...tagging because I want a roof rack setup for over the cab. Sure would like to use the current mount holes.

ETA: Jevans, check out this post...I live/work near Rack Attack and actually had them install a Thule system on my last canopy. There is a post in here that uses the Thule TK14 mount (post 5) on the Tacoma cab.
I'm going to look into this more...They told me on the phone they still add the rails inside the gutter as shown in the thread by "Indeepcamo"...I don't want more holes in my roof.

ETA...check out post 23...If possible I plan to go this route as I have a new Leer coming with the rails installed on the canopy at the factory...

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/2n...le-roof-rack-factory-ditch-tacoma-4-door.html

 

RackNroad in SLC installed Whisbars on a DC using the mounts I referenced, I saw it. They even kept the black trim in the channels. I guess Yakima doesn't train their reps to think outside the box.

Contact rack attack or racknroad. I know they think outside the box.

https://www.rackattack.com/ask-a-technician.asp?

http://www.racknroad.com/the-tailored-fit.html

 

Ah...is this the fit kit you actually used? It only has one screw per foot so in theory it could be used for the Tacoma - would just be affixed with one screw per foot instead of two.

outdoorgb - what DanceswithWolves is suggesting might be similar to the guy on the other thread that did the same thing with the Yakima Landing Pad 11.

EDIT: The bolts that come with the factory rack are M6 like the K451 - but are only 14mm/35mm long vs. the 60mm/70mm in the K451. Could be that the K451 feet are taller and the longer bolts will work...but they may not.

 

After looking at the roofs of all the double cabs I've seen today and noticing they also had the black plastic strips - I'm inclined to agree with you. Hopefully they come out with a solution; lady said I wasn't the first one to call about this issue.

 

Honestly from what I have seen unless you get a yakima rack used of classifieds for dirt cheap they aren't worth buying. There was a thread on here not to long ago where a guy bought all the necessary components to install a basic 2 crossbar yakima rack with fairing. He researched the best prices and sourced all the parts new. His total ended up being somewhere between $500 and $600. At that price there is no reason not to just get a full floor roof rack like the BajaRack, Frontrunner, or PrInSu. Or even build your own if you have the skill/tools.

 

Yep that is similar to what I had seen. I want to say Collinb made the exact one I was thinking of but it was very similar. I like your rear bumper more though. The side protection that extends up looks great

 

I'm willing to bet the Yakima phone reps don't have much, if any experience actually mounting racks. They just look it up and see what fits by the book.

Installers like RackNRoad & rackattack make their money by getting creative with the parts that are available then configuring them to work with the application they need.

 

Just picked up the K451 and will see what I can do with it tonight. Worst case I might have to get some shorter M6 grub bolts. The guy at the shop thought the rubber pads might be an issue since they aren't designed for a tacoma. But all the rubber pads look similar enough to me that I can't imagine it will be a total deal breaker.

 

Update: installed the front rack with the K451 tonight. My observations:

The bolts where by no means too long - if anything they were too short. I don't know if the threading is just some fraction of an inch thick or runs as far down as you put the grub - but if feels plenty stable. The cars this kit was designed for have the mount at roof level; on the tacoma its down in the gutter, hence the bolts not being at all too long.

The rubber feet by no means fit like a bespoke italian loafer but it works. I'll put up some pics this weekend. Its by no mean a cosmetic issue unless you get up close to look at the mounts.

This (or doing something similar with Yakima landing pads and control towers) appears to be the only way to use the factory mounting points for an aftermarket rack (save buying the factory rack, only installing the rails and adding after market bars). Had I not gotten the whispbar from the get go I may very well have gone that route. The economics are close enough.

Assuming nothing gets weird on this set up I'm going to run it until Yakima hopefully comes out with a proper factory mounting point kit for the double cab tacoma. Its stable with only the one bolt per mount, and while two bolts per mount would absolutely be a tighter/flusher fit I think its better than the door frame mounts.

Thus concludes two frustrating days of something that I figured would be a layup for a tacoma.