Load bars

[nikonron]

After much deliberation I finally came up with what I wanted in a pair of load bars for hauling kayak and other misc. gear. Couldn't justify almost $300.00 for Yakima or Thule. I purchased a pair of Front Runners 58" slats only and then fabricated my own mounting feet from 2"x2"x1/4" aluminum angle. I like the versatility of the Front Runner slats, being able to have floating anchor points on top and bottom. Slats are only $58 each and I already had all the other hardware. Ron

 

[Wandering Sagebrush]

After much deliberation I finally came up with what I wanted in a pair of load bars for hauling kayak and other misc. gear. Couldn't justify almost $300.00 for Yakima or Thule. I purchased a pair of Front Runners 58" slats only and then fabricated my own mounting feet from 2"x2"x1/4" aluminum angle. I like the versatility of the Front Runner slats, being able to have floating anchor points on top and bottom. Slats are only $58 each and I already had all the other hardware. Ron

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Ron, nicely done!!!

 

[Stalking Light]

Neat.

 

[nikonron]

Thanks! Have to be tinkering with something.

 

[buckland]

Tinker on!... is better when one parses it out and does it "your way" .... Well done.

 

[PokyBro]

Ron,

Thanks for sharing! I'm like you, I don't want to pay a bunch for all the Yakima stuff, and I actually like your setup better. Now I know how I'll do mine, way cool!

Where did you get the front runners, and anything special with the eye bolts?

Poky

 

[nikonron]

Ordered direct from Front Runner. The s/s eye bolts are from them also, I had them from a previous rack that I had. You can loosen them and slide them anywhere along the track. Or use as many as you like. Ron

 

[Bombsight]

Solid work!

 

[Big Steve]

Nice fab

 

[Squatch]

I like it.

When I did mine I bought used Yakima towers off the web. Then bought 6000 series 6' aluminum tubing from a metal supplier. Saved some weight and some money over buying new Yakima stuff.

 

[todgru]

Hi @nikonron do you have a link to the bars you purchased? I am have a hard time finding them.

They look great!

 

[nikonron]

https://cdn.frontrunneroutfitters.com/multi/media/catalog/product/cache/5/thumbnail/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/f/r/front-runner-standard-slat-for-slimline-ii-tray-1475mm-RRSS1475-1.jpg

This should be a link for the slat bar only. You will also need to purchase the plastic end caps. Also mounting feet unless you want to fabricate your own as I did. Ron

 

[CougarCouple]

Clean and clever nikonron. They look great.
Russ

 

[ETAV8R]

These look great. How did you fab up the aluminum feet?

I recently bought some EMT pipe, cut it into two five foot pieces and plan to attach it to the tracks with 2 hole metal straps. Any thoughts on this is appreciated.

 

[GoinBoardin]

Where do the tracks come from?

 

[ETAV8R]

Where do the tracks come from?

Mine came installed on the camper roof.

 

[2thdr]

Where do the tracks come from?

Tracks look like Yakima parts on my camper.

 

[nikonron]

The mounting feet are just fabbed from 2" X 2" X 1/4" aluminum angle. Ron

 

[Yukon]

I like what you did. You eliminated the Yakama "landing pads" which allow you to connect to the long roof rails. Then, you added another company's cross bars which are much less expensive than Thule or Yakama. Cool.

The one thing that I like about the setup I did by using the Yakama landing pad and crossbar is that I can remove them quite easily with no tools when the kayaking season is over and I don't want to lift that extra weight on the roof.

Very nice job. Thanks for sharing.

Chris

 

[ETAV8R]

The mounting feet are just fabbed from 2" X 2" X 1/4" aluminum angle. Ron

Did you put one or more of the folds in the aluminum? And cut it? I don't have the tools to do those types of mods.