Yakima roof rack resto. Input friendly.
01-09-2012, 03:55 PM
#1
Yakima roof rack resto. Input friendly.
I bought a full Yakima setup a year ago that was rough looking, but I installed in anyway for a road trip. Fast forward to now, I lost part of a Q-tower while moving, and I cant purchase that part without replacing the entire Q-tower. When I went to order the new Q tower it didn't match my existing 3. Looks like I have the old Q-towers. This mix up, and having 2 accidents where the other drivers "didn't see me" sparked a full revamp of my roof rack.
I want to do something I have never seen before, POLISHED bike trays, Amber or yellow LED clearance lights on the front, and a slim red LED rear TBL. Possible wooden slats in between bike rails, possible hand-shaped wooden wind fairing, possible wooden 48" cross bars.
My cross bars are rusted and need replacing, everything else I can refinish myself.
I'm looking for some sort of 1" tube mounts to place a small LED on. I only want two forward-facing clearance lights. The slimmer the better. I have some black plastic reflector mounts from bicycles that might suffice with slight modding.
Here is the beginning of the build, I already clocked 3 hours of time and many beers stripping this tough coating with a wire wheel and drill.
Light at the end of the tunnel
I want to do something I have never seen before, POLISHED bike trays, Amber or yellow LED clearance lights on the front, and a slim red LED rear TBL. Possible wooden slats in between bike rails, possible hand-shaped wooden wind fairing, possible wooden 48" cross bars.
My cross bars are rusted and need replacing, everything else I can refinish myself.
I'm looking for some sort of 1" tube mounts to place a small LED on. I only want two forward-facing clearance lights. The slimmer the better. I have some black plastic reflector mounts from bicycles that might suffice with slight modding.
Here is the beginning of the build, I already clocked 3 hours of time and many beers stripping this tough coating with a wire wheel and drill.
Light at the end of the tunnel
01-16-2012, 01:05 AM
#3
I wanted to do all of the sanding by hand.... but finally got sick of sanding and bought attachments for my drill to do some work for me.
The initial wire wheel I used scored the metal pretty deep and needed a good amount of sanding to level it out. This is what over 3 hours with 180 grit looks like. School is starting this week so I will post pics next weekend when I hit them with some 600 grit.
The initial wire wheel I used scored the metal pretty deep and needed a good amount of sanding to level it out. This is what over 3 hours with 180 grit looks like. School is starting this week so I will post pics next weekend when I hit them with some 600 grit.
03-09-2012, 03:39 PM
#5
Progress has been SLOW. But I'm leaving in less than a week for a road trip, so I will have to bust my buns ans get it polished out this weekend.
I ordered new Q-towers, pod assemblies for the rails, crossbar endcaps, and viper rachets for the rear wheels. If the LEDs get here in time I will have my light feature also installed.
I have been debating adding a strip in each rail facing upward to illuminate the bikes a little, but that may be over the top... especially If I have a 4th brakelight across the rear bar.
Prob. gonna stick with these basic forward facing spot lights, mind you they pump out 800 lumens and have an 260 ft light distance. They are going on the rack or in my foglight openings.
I ordered new Q-towers, pod assemblies for the rails, crossbar endcaps, and viper rachets for the rear wheels. If the LEDs get here in time I will have my light feature also installed.
I have been debating adding a strip in each rail facing upward to illuminate the bikes a little, but that may be over the top... especially If I have a 4th brakelight across the rear bar.
Prob. gonna stick with these basic forward facing spot lights, mind you they pump out 800 lumens and have an 260 ft light distance. They are going on the rack or in my foglight openings.
03-11-2012, 06:49 PM
#6
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problem is your going to have to keep polishing it afterwards. When I polished my engine cover I was tasting metal and polish for days. Cant wait to see the finished product!
03-11-2012, 07:14 PM
#7
03-15-2012, 02:37 PM
#10
Well it kicked my butt but I got all the new parts on. here are some pics from the process.
I used shorted bolts for the rear of the bike tray to the cross bar to keep my sunroof clearance. Which by the way is less than a credit card between the glass and crossbar! I should have got the 53" bars lol.
here's a taillight teaser, I decided to keep stock tails and jazz them up a little instead of going with 05-07s. The eyelid matches the front.
I used shorted bolts for the rear of the bike tray to the cross bar to keep my sunroof clearance. Which by the way is less than a credit card between the glass and crossbar! I should have got the 53" bars lol.
here's a taillight teaser, I decided to keep stock tails and jazz them up a little instead of going with 05-07s. The eyelid matches the front.
Last edited by Tshock; 03-19-2012 at 04:53 AM.
11-23-2013, 04:32 PM
#12
Here for an update. I finally polished the rails nice enough to have then powdered clear. I also bought a new fairing. Ultimately I have replaced every part except the crossbars lol. I have a LOT of time in the bike trays
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