Mine came with Toyota crossbars. Anybody know the weight and wind limitations on the these, if any? I've always had Thules and Innos, and they've been great.
..... Any idea of the models of the yakima fit kit and feet. Much appreciated.
For those of you wondering about the integrity of the stock crossbars on the TE, beware. Since the rails are not parallel they incorporated that single black screw to account for placement along the rack. It allows for the minor expansion and contraction of the crossbar.
I recently drove across country and experienced 35 mph crosswinds in Colorado and Kansas with a 14' paddleboard on the roof. The constant stress on the crossbar and the flex was significant enough to work those screws out. I have since been unable to order a replacement thru Toyota. Nobody knows the part number or claims I have to buy a whole new crossbar assembly. A trip to local hardware store has solved the problem temporarily. I am considering drilling thru the bottom and thru-bolting. You obviously lose the adjustment capability, but I keep the bars as far apart as possible.
The real answer and best option however is going with an aftermarkt setup.
Anybody tried the Thule equivalent? If so, I'd love to see a pic.
For those of you wondering about the integrity of the stock crossbars on the TE, beware. Since the rails are not parallel they incorporated that single black screw to account for placement along the rack. It allows for the minor expansion and contraction of the crossbar.
I recently drove across country and experienced 35 mph crosswinds in Colorado and Kansas with a 14' paddleboard on the roof. The constant stress on the crossbar and the flex was significant enough to work those screws out. I have since been unable to order a replacement thru Toyota. Nobody knows the part number or claims I have to buy a whole new crossbar assembly. A trip to local hardware store has solved the problem temporarily. I am considering drilling thru the bottom and thru-bolting. You obviously lose the adjustment capability, but I keep the bars as far apart as possible.
The real answer and best option however is going with an aftermarkt setup.
Anybody tried the Thule equivalent? If so, I'd love to see a pic.
I too surf and paddle board. And one of my front bolts is missing from the adjustable crossbars. Do you know the part number? I need to replace mine. Maybe loctite on the treads would help?
I too surf and paddle board. And one of my front bolts is missing from the adjustable crossbars. Do you know the part number? I need to replace mine. Maybe loctite on the treads would help?
I took some time this afternoon and stopped by my local REI store and examined some of the various Q clips available for the Yakima rack system by actually matching the clips to the door frame. The Q62 clips (these are the clips intended for the 3rd gen T4R) do match very nicely to the curvature of the 5th gen front door - I'd say exactly. Another set of clips, the Q117 (intended for an earlier version of the Tacoma), has the exact same curvature as the Q62 but extends a bit higher than the Q62. I plan to return in the next week with my crossbar and Q towers to determine which set is a better fit for the 5th gen over the front doors.
Following up on my post above. The Q62 clips (in conjunction with Q-Towers) are the way to go in mounting a Yakima crossbar over the front doors. Some experimentation may be needed to find the appropriate distance between the towers (Yakima's M1 measurement) and setback from the front windshield (M2 measurement). So far, I have found a M1 distance of 45 inches and a M2 distance of 9 inches to be a pretty good fit. Maybe hiker_jon can chime in with the distances he is using to see how close my measurements are to his.
You will need at least a 58 inch crossbar to span the front doors. However, if you want enough length on the outside of the towers to mount a bike rack or something, you may want to go with a 66 inch bar. The 58" bar will leave only about 2 inches on the outside of the towers (that will clear the tower latch). The 66" bar will give you about 6 inches.