Yakima 4 Bike and BAKFlip

[nakiska]

I am ordering the parts for this install myself. I will install one pair of rails on the bed and one pair on the roof.
It looks pretty straightforward once the holes get in the right place. Did you use the holes that are in the rails?
I cannot tell from photos, are the rails mounted parallel to each other?
It seems that if they do not have to be parallel or have to use the existing holes, there would be more flexibility.
I don't see the need to have them parallel, but it would be nice everything else being equal.

[Sniper]

Nakiska,

You will need to drill holes to mount the rails - existing holes are actually slots used to mount the plastic rail caps.

Make sure you remove the plastic caps to position holes.

The rails will need to be as parallel as possible to allow the bars to mount perpendicular. Tolerance for off-parallel is designed in, I do not know what the +/- is.

I found the best way to line up rails and make sure all would fit together was to assemble the rack system (unattached) and set it on top of the bed rails. Did not tighten everything so that I could position things. When something was where I wanted it, would tighten and tape down as needed. Then used this as template to determine hole positioning.

I ended up with 5 holes per side: first 2 towards cab, skipped a hole, then the next 2, skipped 2 more holes (no sheet metal underneath), then the last hole at end. This holds very sturdy.

Wish I would have taken pictures, wife had the camera on trip to Vegas (not sure if I want to see those pictures!).

Also, as BillB mentions, you will need to get longer screws to mount the slide rails. I got them at a bolt and screw store (Lowes did not have them, too specialized).

Good luck!

[nakiska]

Thanks. That is great information. I will set it up as a template as well. I will let you know how it goes. I plan to also mount a third cross bar just below the window in the bed. I will use that one for bike fork mounts and as a tie-down point. This should have loads of versatility.

[BillB]

Nakiska,

You will need to drill holes to mount the rails - existing holes are actually slots used to mount the plastic rail caps.

Make sure you remove the plastic caps to position holes.

The rails will need to be as parallel as possible to allow the bars to mount perpendicular. Tolerance for off-parallel is designed in, I do not know what the +/- is.

I found the best way to line up rails and make sure all would fit together was to assemble the rack system (unattached) and set it on top of the bed rails. Did not tighten everything so that I could position things. When something was where I wanted it, would tighten and tape down as needed. Then used this as template to determine hole positioning.

I ended up with 5 holes per side: first 2 towards cab, skipped a hole, then the next 2, skipped 2 more holes (no sheet metal underneath), then the last hole at end. This holds very sturdy.

Wish I would have taken pictures, wife had the camera on trip to Vegas (not sure if I want to see those pictures!).

Also, as BillB mentions, you will need to get longer screws to mount the slide rails. I got them at a bolt and screw store (Lowes did not have them, too specialized).

Good luck!

Great to hear you made the install happen for your truck. We just went biking this past weekend and hadn't used the rack in months and once again I was so glad I made the effort to put this on my truck. The memories of the install are fading and only the good usage part is remaining. Lets see some pics of yours loaded up and ready for action.

[nakiska]

I am taking pictures as I am going. I have the rack set up and laying on top with the side rails tops removed. I am trying to get the rail to extend to the rear as much as possible, but due to the bow in the sides, that places the frontmost hole near the edge of the sheetmetal. In my case, measure ten times, drill once.
I am debating have some non-parrallel amount to put more rail on the side. The downside, is I may have to loosen the crossbar from the control tower to slide it more than about a foot.
Have to get the nerve to drill this afternoon.

[nakiska]

Drilled holes in the Ridgeline
worked out nice
Here are some pics of the finished project with rack/bike and with only the landing pads/cover.
My rails ended up parallel at 58.25 inches from inside to inside edges of the rails. I cut the rails at 40 inches long.
The picture with the dry-erase marker with the checkmarks and x's represent where the yakima drill holes that I used and the ones that I didn't. I used four per side and have two pair left over (I started with 54 inch rails). I may add them for additional strength.
Thanks for the inspiration.
Next for the roof.
I also still need to figure out the best tonneau cover for it.
I am leaning toward the Honda OEM.
My

[bond007jms]

As a new RL owner (2hrs to be exact ), I have a couple of question about your setup. BTW - that is exactly what I want to do to my RL (my friend has that setup on his F350) and I wanted to copy it, but wasn't sure I could make it work with the RL. Your post sold me on the truck!

It is a frustrating that Thule doesn't make the Xsporter for the RL. It is also maddening that Pace Edwards doesn't make the Explorer Series Rails for the RL.

Anyway, once you have the BACKFlip on the bed, how do you lock the tailgate? I have seen aftermarket locks for the RL (Pop & Lock, others??). Do you have any experience with these?

If you take the rack off, and just leave the two tracks on the rails, can you still mount a Topper/Cap/Shell, or do the tracks make that impossible?

How bad is the wind noise? What is it like driving in the wind with the bikes? Have you noticed an impact on the RL's MPG as a result of the bikes?

Also, are you able to still use the trunk in the bed with the rack on?

Thank you in advance!

[nakiska]

My installation has the yakima tracks on the cab and on the bedrails. Each track has a pair of crossbars and then a fifth (believe it or not) crossbar that is mounted to the tiedowns just behind the window.

The trunk opens perfectly, even with the rearmost crossbar.

I just came back from a long trip in which I tested three scenarios of the top of cab racks for wind noise. 1- no racks installed in the tracks, 2- racks with yakima fairing, 3- racks without fairing. The wind noise is bad with the yakima racks on top without the fairing. It is ok with fairing. The aftermarket window vents make more noise than the tracks do. The fairing is critical.

If you wanted to later install a cap, the tracks would have to be removed from the bedrails. It would be very easy and would not interfere with the cap install.