Yakima Skyline Towers and LockNLoad platform

Here is some more technical info about the BaseLine System

 

I just switched out my bars for a LockNLoad platform.



Platform K will not fit if you plan to mount it directly to Skyline Towers. I found that out the hard way, though if you were to mount it on bars you should be able to make it work.
Platform B will fit but the mounts are about 2.5 inches too long. They are made of aluminum and was very easy to cut it down to size.



It took just over 2 hours start to finish to mount the rack by myself.
I then mounted two RockyMounts Euro Pitchforks bike racks, Yakima Recovery track mount, a Pelican Vault V700 case, and my LED lights.
A trick I used for holding the track nuts in place for starting the bolts is to cut a thin piece of wood that fits inside the track so the nuts can rest on top of it. Most of the bolts I used were just a little too short to reach the nuts.

Everything mounted easily to the T channels, they are a universal size you can use accessories from pretty much any company.

For the lights I used Yakima's LightenUp mounts, they were a bit of a hassle because they use security torx bolts. But I am very happy with how low profile it is having my lights underneath the platform.




For the recovery track mounts I was able to get my cheap X-Bull boards to fit, you have to cut off 4 of the lugs on the bottom of the board.




I need to get out on the interstate to test noise levels, once I do I will post again on my findings.

 

Nice work! I like the setup with the LockNload. I stumbled on this because I was looking for the Yakima Landing Pads #24 and cant find them anywhere. If anyone has some leads let me know. TIA

I'm working on my setup and want to put the kayaks on the cab with a RTT in place of the camper on Billiebars. I'm designing a box system for under the tonneau cover for camping storage. This is my first truck in a long time and I'm excited to get it all ready for the lake or mountains.

 

So I definitely want to invest in this skyline system eventually but I've spent so much on random stuff recently that my wife would kill me lol. For the time being, does anyone have any recommendations on how to keep the ones that wrap into your door from scratching the paint? I've attached some different fabrics and foams to that piece but the edge always seems to cut through whatever I put on it, exposing the metal to metal.

 

I used the stickers that came with the Q clips and they do and alright job. I had one clip that sliped in some high wind with the kayaks on top and the sticker saved the clip form damaging the paint. I broke down bought the Q clips from Ebay, these clips are like gold so id I do go with the skyline system I be able to sell them easly. Let me know if you have found a better material than the sticers.

 

@ssd2k2 Nice setup on the Tacoma with the LockNLoad rack. I am moving from a bar to a rack - needs are growing. I cannot tell from your pictures if you have a sunroof but if you, did you have any problems operating the sunroof with the rack? Also, where or what were the mounts obstructing for you to cut those shorter?

 

Cutthroat with fox suspension? Details....please.

 

I don't have a sunroof but the center support for the rack, which is the lowest point, is 2.5 inches from the roof.

Where the towers bolt into the roof are longer front to back than the maximum length that the platform can accommodate so you need to cut off 2.5" from one set of mounts. They are very easy to cut with just a hacksaw, they are just extruded aluminum with plastic end caps. So after you cut it you can put the end caps back in and it's near impossible to tell they were cut at all. If you don't want to cut anything you could go with size J platform but it would overhang all sides of the truck cab.
I've had the rack on for 7 months now with zero issues. I'd say I get slightly better gas mileage over having a round bar rack on the truck. The wind noise isn't too bad, no louder than a bar rack.

The StepCast 32 is pretty much the lightest 100mm travel fork on the market, the stock fork is 1.6 lbs and the step cast is 2.9 lbs. The bike handles great on all types of terrain but for single track anything beyond Green rated trails is pushing the limits of the bike. This summer I did the Lutsen 99er which is a 100 mile mountain bike race on my Cutthroat and it was miserable. Of the near 1000 people in the race only 6 other people were on monster cross bikes. But for doing bikepacking or just rolling around town the bike is my favorite of the 10 bikes I own.

 

Yakima just released a new platform mount.
https://yakima.com/products/ruggedline-hd?variant=41107870974000

About a year ago I switched out my Yakima towers for ARB roof rack mount, it lowered the platform down an inch and ?maybe? has more carrying strength since it uses all 10 roof mount bolts. It bolted right up to the Yakima with no modification besides needing different bolts.
But the new Yakima mount has been tested and certified to provide 220lbs of dynamic load which is an improvement over the 165lbs before.

Here are some pics of my rack currently with the ARB mounts.

 

I’ve got the Yakima Baseline and I can say once it’s been set up (took me an hour but I’m super picky) it is very stable and comes on/off very easily…like 5 min

 

Before I put the platform on I would take off my rack at least once a year to wax the roof, but the platform weighs so much it's not worth the hassle to remove anymore.

 

Im curious about what you think of the noise level from the rack. I recently installed it and it has a significant amount of noise. My tacoma also has a sunroof and I'm sure that adds to the noise being heard from the shaking of the wind passing over the rack onto the window.
Im curious about adding a wind fairing to the front and hoping that dials the noise down.

 

With the rack on Yakima towers there was some noise but not so much that you couldn't have a normal conversation in the truck or need the radio louder than volume level 12. It was about the same as a noisy set of AT tires.
When I moved the rack to the ARB mount it got quieter, but I had to cover up some of the cooling vents on my lightbar because they started making a whistling noise at highway speeds.

Do you have the small plastic fairing mounted on the under side of front of the rack? And do you have the rubber strips that fill the outside edges of the rack installed too?
Also what you have on the rack also affects the noise level.