Install Yakima crossbars w/o drilling holes in your TD

[mrcreepy]

I've been looking for options to add crossbars to my Riverside Whitewater Retro 509, and came across this video on YouTube. It's for a different brand of trailer, but I think this could be adapted for pretty much any trailer with rv molding/trim.

I would love to hear input from others on this setup.

He modifies the square bolts for Yakima Skyline Towers designed for a flat roof and inserts them into the trim pieces. I'm not 100% sure about the internal structure of my tear, so I like the idea of not drilling additional holes fishing for a suitable mounting location.

Parts List:
Landing Pads: #8000221
Skyline Towers: #8000148
Roundbar SL Adapters: #8003536
66" Roundbars: #8000410 (Note: Depending on width of trailer you may need a different length bar)

Here's the video (skip parts info section and go to about 2:58 in the timeline to see modifications and install)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU9pnNPzsWE&feature=emb_title

[tony.latham]

I've been looking for options to add crossbars to my Riverside Whitewater Retro 509, and came across this video on YouTube. It's for a different brand of trailer, but I think this could be adapted for pretty much any trailer with rv molding/trim.

I would love to hear input from others on this setup.

He modifies the square bolts for Yakima Skyline Towers designed for a flat roof and inserts them into the trim pieces. I'm not 100% sure about the internal structure of my tear, so I like the idea of not drilling additional holes fishing for a suitable mounting location.

Parts List:
Landing Pads: #8000221
Skyline Towers: #8000148
Roundbar SL Adapters: #8003536
66" Roundbars: #8000410 (Note: Depending on width of trailer you may need a different length bar)

Here's the video (skip parts info section and go to about 2:58 in the timeline to see modifications and install)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU9pnNPzsWE&feature=emb_title

That’s Burt, the owner of Vistabule Teardrops. He has set a high bar in both teardrop design and quality.

I would trust his rack method.

T


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[mrcreepy]

That’s Burt, the owner of Vistabule Teardrops. He has set a high bar in both teardrop design and quality.

I would trust his rack method.

T

Thanks tony.latham!

It seemed like a solid method, but wanted to make sure I wasn't overlooking a reason making this a bad idea.

[nbcarey]

I would talk to Yakima's customer support and get their engineers buy-off and load recommendations.

I'm imagining that aluminum trim (extrusions) might have... less than optimal engineering properties with realist things like sheer loads than one might like with a couple hundred pounds sitting on it, atop of 6- inch or so moment arm.

When you hit the brakes at 60 or 70 mph, suddenly and hard, and the stuff on your rack decides that it needs to continue on at that speed whilst the rest of your rig comes to a stop....

The results may be unpleasant.

A ticket for failure to secure your load at best. Injury or death at the worst.

[Pmullen503]

I would be okay with this system if when carrying anything like a canoe or kayak, you have a tight line from the bow of the boat down to the frame to take any lifting forces. The channel is aluminum secured with wood screws, that's fine to handle the weight but you should use rope or straps to help with lateral and lifting forces.

[tony.latham]

...with realist things like sheer loads...

We certainly need to be cognizant of the safety of others as we're cruising down the highway.

Over on a Facebook DIY teardrop group, Ryu Fukami (he's here too but I don't recall what he goes by) has posted some tests for using edge molding as anchor points for an awning.

He's got a video of the same molding attached upside down with him hanging off of it. He's using T-nuts and not the Yakima nuts that Bert is showing in his Vistabule rack video.

I don't know if the guys at Yakima would understand what's being proposed. I don't think it's an issue with the molding but how it's attached to the roof/wall system.



Tony

[Squigie]

I wouldn't worry about that mount method, when cognizant of the situation and attaching reasonable loads.

However, if I'm grinding nuts anyway, I'm going to grind them in the style of automotive quarter-turn t-nuts. That way, I don't have to remove the trim. Just drop the nuts/plates in, rotate 90 degrees, and tighten down.

I can't find a good example, so here's a quick rendering.

tnut.png (87.03 KiB) Viewed 2420 times

Narrow enough to drop into the slot.
Corners nipped for rotation.
Long enough for full engagement in the slot, once turned.

Slightly less engagement than a square nut, but much easier to work with and still plenty strong.

[mrcreepy]

I would talk to Yakima's customer support and get their engineers buy-off and load recommendations.

I'm imagining that aluminum trim (extrusions) might have... less than optimal engineering properties with realist things like sheer loads than one might like with a couple hundred pounds sitting on it, atop of 6- inch or so moment arm.

When you hit the brakes at 60 or 70 mph, suddenly and hard, and the stuff on your rack decides that it needs to continue on at that speed whilst the rest of your rig comes to a stop....

The results may be unpleasant.

A ticket for failure to secure your load at best. Injury or death at the worst.

Thanks for your input nbcarey. I'm definitely not looking to support 200 lbs pounds up there. Basically I'm looking at roughly 65 - 110 lbs. Depending on whether we're taking the bicycles or kayaks. The kayaks being heavier of the two would also have bow/stern lines to secure the load.

I would be okay with this system if when carrying anything like a canoe or kayak, you have a tight line from the bow of the boat down to the frame to take any lifting forces. The channel is aluminum secured with wood screws, that's fine to handle the weight but you should use rope or straps to help with lateral and lifting forces.

That's what I was thinking as well Pmullen503, thanks for chiming in!

[mrcreepy]

...with realist things like sheer loads...

We certainly need to be cognizant of the safety of others as we're cruising down the highway.

Over on a Facebook DIY teardrop group, Ryu Fukami (he's here too but I don't recall what he goes by) has posted some tests for using edge molding as anchor points for an awning.

He's got a video of the same molding attached upside down with him hanging off of it. He's using T-nuts and not the Yakima nuts that Bert is showing in his Vistabule rack video.

I don't know if the guys at Yakima would understand what's being proposed. I don't think it's an issue with the molding but how it's attached to the roof/wall system.



Tony

Tony I've been looking at other potential hardware. Any idea what t-nuts he's using? I'd also be interested in the name of the DIY Teardrop group name. TIA

[mrcreepy]

I wouldn't worry about that mount method, when cognizant of the situation and attaching reasonable loads.

However, if I'm grinding nuts anyway, I'm going to grind them in the style of automotive quarter-turn t-nuts. That way, I don't have to remove the trim. Just drop the nuts/plates in, rotate 90 degrees, and tighten down.

I can't find a good example, so here's a quick rendering.

tnut.png

Narrow enough to drop into the slot.
Corners nipped for rotation.
Long enough for full engagement in the slot, once turned.

Slightly less engagement than a square nut, but much easier to work with and still plenty strong.

Squigie I was thinking that as well. I've used similar style nuts doing projects with Unistrut/Superstrut and they work great. As you stated if you're already grinding why not put the work there instead of removing, screws, counter sinking, siliconing (sp?) etc...

[tony.latham]

Tony I've been looking at other potential hardware. Any idea what t-nuts he's using? I'd also be interested in the name of the DIY Teardrop group name. TIA

It's the DIY Teardrop Campers Community. When they open the door and let you in, search for "Is this a game changer?"

He doesn't specify the T-Nuts but he's respond to your questions.

Tony

[kevin13]

im getting ready to put a yakima rack on top of my teardrop.

if you dont want to use a track system. mount it over your trim with a longer screw that goes through the trim into the sidewall versus a stud

I am using a track system and the square yakima bolt system. as it disperses the weight more.

I got my yakima bars from fb marketplace and the track from prolineracks. gonna throw my kayak and an awning on it.

[mrcreepy]

I found some new old stock Yakima Rail Rider towers with #1 landing pads. The Rail Riders appear to be the same as the Control Towers and what Yakima now calls Skyline Towers. The Skylines require adapters and allow for different styles of bars (requiring adapters). The rail riders and control towers only accept round bars.

I'm going to have to enlarge the holes a bit in the landing pads as they use 6mm hardware to accomodate the 5/16 bolts, but I think there's enough material to pull this off. I plan to use McMaster Carr weld nuts (90572A500) and steel button hex head screws (92949A440) to replace the Yakima hardware.

Update with pic of crossbars installed and wip pics hopefully coming this weekend.

[mrcreepy]

A little bit of preparation progress.

To accommodate the new hardware 5/16" weld nuts (90572A500) and steel button hex head screws (92949A440) I needed to drill out the Yakima landing pad a bit.


I used a smaller bit to line up the hole on my drill press


T-nuts are snug, but the bolt slides in and out easily


Weld nut fits pretty good, but due to the rounded ends it will still spin in the molding.


To prevent the weldnut from spinning while tightening I plan to use this 2" L bracket to hold it straight. The L bracket is just to hold the weldnut. It'll be removed after tightening the foot to the trim. I had to grind the edges of the L bracket just a little so that it would easily fit into the molding opening.

[mrcreepy]

Success!

Seems very solid. I can grab onto a tower/bar and literally shake the whole trailer. I thinks this will be more than sufficient to mount 2 bikes, 2 kayaks, or misc gear in a basket depending on our trip.