How to Install Yakima Roof Racks
Roof racks are highly adaptable, allowing you to tow bikes, kayaks and storage containers on the exterior of your car. Unfortunately, it takes a bit of doing to get your car ready for towing. Follow these steps and you'll have your roof rack installed in no time.
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Things You'll Need
- Tower stanchions (4)
- Crossbars (2)
- Wash cloth
- Measuring tape
- Car
- Allen wrench
Instructions
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1
Wash your car's roof. Installing your roof rack on top of a layer of mud or grit will not only make it harder to clean in the future, but may also make the attachment points of your roof rack not hold as well.
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2
Loosen the hand screw on the exterior of each post. You will have four stanchions, each of which can be loosened on the exterior by hand. Do not unscrew too far, as this will bring the adjustment screw out entirely. You want the exterior hand screw to be loose enough to allow you to spread the tower open, revealing the inner mechanisms.
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3
Loosen the tower opening wide enough to fit your crossbars. Where the tower opens on a hinge (due to the loosened adjustment screw) you should see an Allen wrench adjustment point. Insert Allen wrench and turn to the left until the tower's opening is wide enough to accommodate the crossbar.
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4
Insert crossbars between the four towers. You should now have two crossbars with towers loosely attached to either end.
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5
Find the suitable width for your car by measuring from the inside edge of the towers. Your roof rack kit should include a manual that will give specific measurements for your make and model. They can also be found online at a link provided below. Once the crossbar distance from tower to tower is the recommended length, re-tighten the Allen wrench adjustment points.
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6
Attach pads and caps to towers and crossbars. The pads will prevent the rack from scratching your roof, while the caps simply close off the end of crossbars so rainwater doesn't settle inside of them.
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7
Open car doors and center racks on the roof. Use the distance measurement specific to your car model to align your front rack away from the top of the windshield.
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8
Lock in front rack towers with metal clips. The clips will grip on the underside of the rim of your car doors. Push the clips up into the loosened tower housing, allowing the bottom to catch firmly on the inside of the car door.
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9
Once the clip is as far into the tower housing as possible, install the lock housing. This metal tube will fit through both the tower housing and a hole in the clip, locking the two together. Slide the fastener (a metal clip inside the tower housing) down over the lock housing to seal the tower on to the rooftop.
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10
Repeat for the other three towers, then adjust the tension on the open face of the towers. Tighten the Allen wrench adjustment spot immediately above the fastener, but make sure to apply tension in equal measure to all four towers. Your towers and crossbars should now be firmly locked into place.
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11
Tug and pull on the towers and crossbars to make sure everything is firmly in place. Your racks should now be ready to attach any storage component you might need, such as a bike rack, canoe clips or storage box.
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Tips & Warnings
Make sure all adjustments and measurements are done evenly to prevent loosening.
