does any one have the MOAB by thule, or yakimas 'load warrior' or 'mega warrior'?

please help me decide based off your personal experiences. im an active young adult, moving for school and would like something big and inexpensive.

PS if anyone has one for sale im interested. thanks. -dave

 

Hey man, looks like nobody will post here because it doesnt have to do with some new fake carbon fiber crap or a new body kit. But thats where I get sick of this site Anyway, about your question. I have the Yakima Mega Warrior with the extension. I had it on my 2001 Jeep Cherokee and when I traded that for my xB, I decided to see how it would work. Well, after a little tweaking to the q-towers, it works awesome! The Mega warrior OR the load warrior will be your best bet. I worked in outdoor retail for 4 years selling all the major racks from Yakima, Thule... and the Yakima is the best by far. Their mounting (q-towers and roundbars) make more sense and work better than any others on the market. With the load/mega, you can still use Yakima OR Thule accessories like bike trays, kayak mounts, etc... but you CANT USE Yakima with a Thule system's square bars, another reason Yakima is the best choice. My gas mileage wasn't effected that bad, maybe droped to 26-27 from a usual 28-29, and that was the full mega warrior with extension. Honestly, unless you need ALOT of length, just get the Mega warrior. Its a fair bit wider than the load warrior and a bit longer, each of which you will appreciate when you actually use it.

So from personal experience, I 100% suggest the Yakima, mainly the Megawarrior. I have seen others on here, but I have 3 bikes, a Cannondale Super v, Specialized P2 freeride bike and a Specialized Allez road bike, all of which i can easily load onto the mega warrior using steel head and older thule trays. They are super soild and dont move. I also suggest the bungee net for the rack. The clips are made exactly for the tubing and you dont have to worry about you stuff flyin' off.

Hopefull this helped you some, I have pics of my xB with the rack on, but they are on my ext. hard drive. If you like, i could e-mail them to you. Just let me know.

 

Im totally interesting in seeing pics! i wanted exactly what you have! megga warrior, the ext and everything! hopefully ill see what it looks like... hopefully it looks alright and functions in the form i need it to. so heres another question... do i have to buy the q towers plus the basket? does that include the bars? im concerened about the overall height of the unit as well. Ive been looking at aftermarket rails and such that are of some 'generic' type that are set permanent to the car... it seems cheaper, but im more worried about it connecting and fitting properly. i appreciate your feedback immensly.

 

Could you send me pics aswell on how it looks thanks.

PS you answered my question on gas mileage

My only other question is do you leave it on constantly and does it affect the weather stripping because at the last show I saw the yakima rack and where the q towers go into the door, the owner cut out the weatherstripping.

Is this a load of mega warrior on the black xb https://www.scionlife.com/forums/vie...highlight=rack

Thanks

 

so heres another question... do i have to buy the q towers plus the basket? does that include the bars?

im concerened about the overall height of the unit as well. Ive been looking at aftermarket rails and such that are of some 'generic' type that are set permanent to the car... it seems cheaper, but im more worried about it connecting and fitting properly. i appreciate your feedback immensly.[/quote]

About what you'll need to buy. If you dont have any Yakima stuff, you will need the following: 1 set (this is 4 total) of Q-Towers, 2 pair (sold seperatly) of Q-Clips, crossbars & the Mega Warrior and/or the extension. I would suggest @ least 2 locks, if not 4, for the Q-Towers to keep people from pulling your levers up on the towers and snatchin your bars. DON'T LET THIS SCARE YOU, but here's the link to the Yakima page I just did that shows everything I have for my total rack system. It lists each piece and its price.

http://yakima.com/Consumer/Step4.aspx

You dont have to have ALL of that, but you do have to have at least the Q-Towers & Q-Clips, Yakima crossbars, and the Megawarrior. Its a bit pricy, roughly in the $700 neighborhood, but I also listed on that link bike trays, wheel forks, a bungee net for the basket, and locks. You may not want or be able to get all of that at one time, I know I wasn't able to. Also, I'm making a rough guess that with the bastket, you may be adding 10" at tops to the xB. I think the bars sit about 3" above the roof, and the basket has 6" sides (could be 4") and the brackets that attach the basket to the bars roughly lift it 1". If you want, you can give me your e-mail addy. and I'll send you the pics. that way. I'm not too sure how to add them here. Hope that helped out

 

Hey man, about your q's.

I actually don't have the basket up there now. I dont really haul that much around right now, so its just dead weight, and with gas prices like they are, I'll do whatever to keep those 2mpgs! But taking it off & putting it on isn't a problem @ all. It takes MAYBE 10 minutes tops either take it off or put it on. Once you get your Q-towers set properly (this takes FOREVER) so they dont mess up the seals (as you mentioned), then you can lock those in place and leave them. Now I DO leave the towers and bars on 24/7 witha couple bike trays and wheel forks. I like the way it looks, and that set up doenst hurt my gas mileage AT ALL. Honestly, I think I may have gained 1mpg with it being up there. NOTE, I'm just talking about the bike trays, NOT the basket. I'm not sure why that guy cut his seals, thats just too much for me, there isn't a point if you take your time to get the measurements correct and the clips will fit properly without damaging your seals. The only problem i've had are the little vinly stickers that you put over the metal Q-clips to keep them from scratchin the paint in the door jamb. Its been in the upper 90's here for the past month and the heat kills the sticky stuff on those stickers and the friction from the door seal tends to pull them off the clips. Not a huge deal, juts annoying and somthing that will have to be fixed. I'm going to call Yakima and have them replace those pads.

And for the record on that Black xB, I'm 99.99% sure its a Load Warrior. It looks narrow. The Mega Warrior fits flush from left to right with MAYBE .25" over hang on the sides. Honestly, if your OCD like I am, you can adjust it so its totally even with each side. If you like a basket that fits INSIDE the lines of the roof, you may want to consider the Loadwarrior instead, but if you want space, check out the Mega. You can click the Yakima link I added above to check out all the pieces that I have for my system. You dont have to have all of it, but you will have to have the Q-towers, Q-clips, crossbars and then the basket you want and maybe some locks. If you will give me your e-mail addy, i can send you those pics as well. Hope that helps you out

 

please send pics... it gives me such a better idea of what im getting myself into.

davidspencer54@hotmail.com

 

can you also send pics to:
bannawagon@yahoo.com

this thread has really helped me, i am going away to school too and have been trying to find the right rack and cargo basket

 

I'm fiddling with Q-towers now, and my door seals really bulge. I adjusted M1 and
M3 according to clip sheet and have centered the assembly and tightened towers (running back and forth from side to side). Big bulges...what is the secret. Can someone provide a closeup pic and some hints please?

 

Hey dude, not to be short, i'm pretty ticked now. I just typed out a big long response to help you out, and for some reason, the stupid computer decided to select my response and delete it all. So, to save time, heres the quick answer. There is no EASY way to get it right. I have my rear q clips directly over the vertical seal of the rear window, the seal that seperates the moving window from the little view window. Then, I measured 34" and mounted the front set. I've had to redo my mounting a few times, and this is the best so far. I have had to fight with my q-towers so much, I almost decided to trade my xB for an element just so i could ahve a rack. But I gave it one last shot and its perfect this way. Just keep tweakin with it and the little adjustment screw under the cam of the q-tower. You will get it to work, or you could run it by a local Yakima dealer and have them try it out. I sold Yakima stuff for over 3 years and have come to the conclusion that Yakima is the BEST on the market and Q-towers are the HARDEST mounts of their line up. Its a give take, but give it some time and it will work out.

 

thanks for the pix man

 

i had the yakima set, i sold it with the "basket case" basket.

i had it up for about a month and used the basket to carry a bunch of back packs a sleeping back and a tent.

it saved a lot of space in the back and the "basket" was only $100 at REI



you can sort of see it in that pic...

 

I would appreciate pics of your set up as well man let me know

Jrmusser@gmail.com Big bird send them to me if you can!

 

^^haha, i'll see if i can find them havent been in that account in a year, lemme see what i can do.

 

im persistant!

 

send them, found the bad boys.

 

Here's a link to pic of xB with Megawarrior...

http://www.rackoutfitters.com/car-ra...or-62p1492.htm