Yakima Cab Rack - New Landing Pad Option?

Hey, guys. New to the forum. Bought a new 19 Double-Cab a couple weeks ago; looking to put a rack over the cab. I'd like to go with Yakima; I've had their stuff on all my vehicles in the past; like to keep it that way if this works out. I don't really care for the Streamline system, which clamps into the door frames. I'm more interested in going with something more like a Skyline/Landing Pad system utilizing the factory rack attachment points. I've seen several guys on here using Landing Pad 11, and I like that; seems to work quite well. A couple days ago, on Yakima's home page, there's several pics of a new Tacoma with some sort of Landing Pad system, mainly showcasing their new Lock'n'Load platform rack. I'm obviously more interested in just the landing pads, as they don't appear to be the 11's. Here's a couple pics; I wanted to see if anyone here knew which pad they were using in these pics. Aside from that, I wanted to see if anyone was doing anything similar with a different setup. I like the idea of the Rhino Rack, especially the ditch mounts, but am not going to drill into my cab for the rivets they use in addition to the factory mounting points. The Prinsu's and Sherpa's are nice as well; just not really my thing. Thanks in advance!

 

Any reason not to contact Yak directly? Not that we wouldn’t be happy to help you but I’d think you’d get a better and faster (as well as correct) answer from Yakima. Drop them a line I’ve always has good luck with there CS. Update us on what you find out.

 

I plan on it; I've also had great customer service from them. Since it was the weekend, figured I'd hit y'all up in case someone had done something similar. Went to a couple Yakima dealers yesterday; they were both a bit skiddish about recommending something Yakima doesn't officially offer; liability, I guess.

 

Yakimas customer service is usually very knowledgeable and easy to deal with. Give them a call. Also if youre on hold there's decent music not just elevator music on a loop. Good luck

 

https://www.rackattack.com/car-rack-installations/toyota/tacoma-std-cab/

 

The Rhino systems are super nice. I'm not wanting to drill into my cab, however, and it appears those tracks mount to the truck via both the factory attachment points AND using some drilled rivets.

On a separate note, I contacted Yakima yesterday. As I might have seen on either this forum or another, Landing Pad 22 is apparently an updated version of the 11, and seems to be the current unofficially recommended pad for the TACO from Yakima. I'm going to go this route, using a set of Skyline Towers and Round Bars for now, utilizing the factory rack attachment points, and only having to drill through the weather stripping (not the cab). I'll keep y'all upated on what happens. Thanks to all for the information.

 

please do I’m interested in this as an alternative to Prinsu or something similar. Thanks OP

 

Heck yeah keep us posted!

 

UPDATE: Installed everything yesterday; everything went very smooth. The Landing Pad 22 fit VERY well, IMO. The landing pads did come with M6x28 and x35; I did have to get some longer M6x50 bolts to make it work. Crossbar spread is a bit more than my other cars; approx. 42". Not a bad thing, as long as all my bike trays, skybox, etc. will go that far, and I think they will just by eyeballing them. Drilling the weatherstripping wasn't a big deal; I just eyeballed where the threaded holes were and marked them. I did forget there is a piece of steel in the weatherstripping itself, and removing that from the section of weatherstripping (using some snips) ahead of time makes everything a lot easier. Silicone added around the holes I used. Note: the front bar does sit about 1" lower in height than the rear. Doesn't bother me, and I don't think it will cause any issues with attachments, but it may bug some folks with OCD. The only reason I can figure Yakima/Thule/etc. doesn't sell something like this is the fact that you have to modify the weatherstripping, and maybe they want a 100% plug and play install. Either way, this can be done, very easily, and it works really well. Cheerz.

 

Did you get a chance to test your sky box and bike trays? I like this option but the spread seems to be at the max for a lot of the attachments.

 

When the rack was installed, I never did get a chance to install bike trays on it. Per their manual, they should have been able to make that spread. My skybox would NOT spread that far, and doing a quick search with newer Skyboxes, I don't recall finding one that would fit. Kinda sucks, because I really hoped it would have accepted more accessories.

Unfortunately, I ended up pulling the rack off the cab, using what components I could to make the rack for the camper shell I bought. I assume I just didn't use enough silicone to seal things up, but began getting water in the cab during rainstorms; mostly in the front passenger side. I didn't like the possible long-term effects of that; especially if there was another leak I didn't know about. So I pulled the rack, sealed up the holes for the rack, and installed new weatherstripping. I know that sounds like a chicken-shit thing to do, but I'd rather have peace of mind than an electrical problem down the road. There's plenty of other people running various brands of cab racks with no apparent leaking, so I guess it's just me.