R55 Mini roof rack base support system Yakima conversion
Thread Starter
|
Neutral
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Mini roof rack base support system Yakima conversion
I thought I would post this in case anyone is interested. Today I made a conversion kit so I could use Yakima roof rack attachments with the roof rack base support system.
The reason I made this conversion was that from all I read the base support system was the best way to go without having the factory rails installed but I don't want to have to pay a dealers ridiculous prices on every different kind of rack I want in the future. With this conversion I can now just go and buy used Yakima attachments on Craigslist or eBay for cheap.
I am also about to move accross the country and wanted to put a roof storage pod allong with a bike or two on my rack which with the base support system was impossible. I was able to create a much wider rack. The base support system was about 30" wide where my adapted rack is 60" wide. With this wider rack I can fit two bikes and the storage pod on my roof.
With all of the parts the kit I made was less than $35. I will be putting the finishing touches on it tomorrow and will try to get pictures and directions up as soon as possible.
The reason I made this conversion was that from all I read the base support system was the best way to go without having the factory rails installed but I don't want to have to pay a dealers ridiculous prices on every different kind of rack I want in the future. With this conversion I can now just go and buy used Yakima attachments on Craigslist or eBay for cheap.
I am also about to move accross the country and wanted to put a roof storage pod allong with a bike or two on my rack which with the base support system was impossible. I was able to create a much wider rack. The base support system was about 30" wide where my adapted rack is 60" wide. With this wider rack I can fit two bikes and the storage pod on my roof.
With all of the parts the kit I made was less than $35. I will be putting the finishing touches on it tomorrow and will try to get pictures and directions up as soon as possible.
Thread Starter
|
Neutral
Joined: Jun 2013
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
Sorry this too so long to update, I forgot because after I Made this I moved across the country so I was kinda busy 
So basically what i did was make my own bars that fit Yakima rack and make adapters that went from the mini rack to and bolted to the bars. Here is what my adapters looked like this:
So basically what i did was make my own bars that fit Yakima rack and make adapters that went from the mini rack to and bolted to the bars. Here is what my adapters looked like this:
I made 4 of these, two for each bar. I glued together two sets of rubber and metal washers for each adapter. One set of washers i cut to match the width of the slots in the mini rack. I got 4 carriage bolts that went through the washers and a threaded spacer that fit on the bolts.
Here is one of the 4 clamp adapters i made.
And the adapter on the rack:
Here is one of the 4 clamp adapters i made.
And the adapter on the rack:
For the bars I took a 10 foot 1" pipe and cut it in half. I put two holes through the pipe that the bolts i used would fit through. I had tubing that fit over the outside of the pipe. I used some wire pulling grease to slide the tubing down the tube. Here is what everything assembled looked like. The last piece was a lockbolt on the top after putting the bolts through the bars. Here is the bar and adapters on one of the mini racks:
So here is my review of my project:
Useless unless you have to move a lot of stuff. It found out recently you can buy off the shelf adapters that will go to yakima attachments. But it really saved me when i moved from Connecticut to Seattle. The mini rack is only 30" wide so i could have only fit a roof pod on it. With my bars they were 60" wide and i was able to fit the pod and two bikes. Here is a picture of that:
It's been useful getting furniture to (couch and a bunch of other stuff):
It was a little sketch with the couch up there but the bikes and pod were fine for 3000+ miles.
If you don't need to move as much this is may be a better alternative
http://www.orsracksdirect.com/yakima...ts-clamps.html
Useless unless you have to move a lot of stuff. It found out recently you can buy off the shelf adapters that will go to yakima attachments. But it really saved me when i moved from Connecticut to Seattle. The mini rack is only 30" wide so i could have only fit a roof pod on it. With my bars they were 60" wide and i was able to fit the pod and two bikes. Here is a picture of that:
It's been useful getting furniture to (couch and a bunch of other stuff):
It was a little sketch with the couch up there but the bikes and pod were fine for 3000+ miles.
If you don't need to move as much this is may be a better alternative
http://www.orsracksdirect.com/yakima...ts-clamps.html
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
