Yakima Gutter Racks - Replacement

[ajkitebrder40]

I have a set of fairly old (starting to rust) Yakima Gutter cross bars with Inno surf racks (also starting to really show their age) on my JK. The clips on the rails have slowly started to warp the gutters a bit and scrape the paint off them.

I'm wondering if this is just age on the hard top (15 years old) or if I should go ahead and invest in the Rhino or equivalent cross bars for my JLUR on order. These are also a bit loud far as wind noise.

Also - I wouldn't mind being able to have a basket for gear on trips as well as a space for a SUP/kite/surfboard and/or some mix of all stacked. Any solutions to that?

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[Gazelle]

It sounds like your racks have worked well if you've been using them for 15 years. If you're not going to be carrying much more weight than a couple boards or a space case, then you might want to just get a new set of Yak Racks. The bars can be replaced independently, or even the small parts of the 1A (raingutter) mounts if that is all that needs replacement.

The round bars make tend to howl over 50mph but really benefit from a wind deflector.

An enclosed case (space case) or basket can be added to your round bars. To save some money, you can look for a used racks and accessories on Craigslist.

 

[ajkitebrder40]

Yeah, the inno racks were a craigslist find, I may just look again for some new cross members (if I can get the Inno's unseized from the bars)

 

[Gazelle]

I had a similar issue with the yakima rack I had on my snow plow truck in New England. LOTS of corrosion and oxidation. I resorted to a pipe wrench and lots of liquid wrench to remove the rain gutter mounts, but needed a hacksaw blade for the bike mounts. I bent the cross bars carrying several hundred pounds of a welded dog kennel. Don't exceed 200 pounds pressing in the middle of the longer Yakima cross bars.

If you plan to go over a couple hundred pounds, I'd recommend a different mount than the rain gutters regardless of which rack you use especially for the Jeep. With that much weight, I'd be afraid of breaking the drip rails.

After 35 years of Yakima racks, I have a lot of $ in various bike, boat, and ski mounts. It would cost me a bundle to replace them all, plus I have no intention of mounting a roof top tent, so I picked up another Yakima system. My heavy canopy (85Lbs) is about the max I'd want to carry on this rack.

 

[ajkitebrder40]

I had a similar issue with the yakima rack I had on my snow plow truck in New England. LOTS of corrosion and oxidation. I resorted to a pipe wrench and lots of liquid wrench to remove the rain gutter mounts, but needed a hacksaw blade for the bike mounts. I bent the cross bars carrying several hundred pounds of a welded dog kennel. Don't exceed 200 pounds pressing in the middle of the longer Yakima cross bars.

If you plan to go over a couple hundred pounds, I'd recommend a different mount than the rain gutters regardless of which rack you use especially for the Jeep. With that much weight, I'd be afraid of breaking the drip rails.

After 35 years of Yakima racks, I have a lot of $ in various bike, boat, and ski mounts. It would cost me a bundle to replace them all, plus I have no intention of mounting a roof top tent, so I picked up another Yakima system. My heavy canopy (85Lbs) is about the max I'd want to carry on this rack.

Yeah, it would only be surfboards and possibly an air mattress for inside the Jeep, nothing heavy.

 

[ajkitebrder40]

So, a new wrinkle to this. Like an idiot I had been doing some work in my garage and the rope for the garage door opener (release rope) was hanging down. Fast forward and I back out of garage, the rope gets stuck under one of the Inno rack attachments and yanks it out. No problem, I can fix it, but lead me to thinking on height.

Garage door opening roughly 82", JLR stock height 73.5", Yakima rack with Inno 7", edit - I measured to the seal on the garage door, the actual height of the frame is 82" so I should have about an inch of play. So...I think I will replace the racks still they are in pretty bad shape and have scraped the entire side of my roof.

 

[Dgr401]

I have the Yakima round bars and the wind screen does a good job of quieting them down.

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