Thule Tracker Roof Mounted Rack Fit Kit - TK1

Video Transcript for Thule Tracker II Roof Rack with Kit Review

Today we are going to install a Thule Tracker II Roof Rack on this 2006 Ford Escape. Using the Thule Tracker II Foot Pack part number TH430R, the fit kit part number THTK1, and the Thule Rapid Air Load Bars part number THRB43. The first step in preparing the roof rack is to loosely assemble the hardware with the bases. Depending on your vehicle application not all of the hardware is going to be used. However on the Escape we are going to need all of them. Through the top of the base we are going to our bolt with the thread locker on it as well as the washers. They do go in a certain order. The yellow zinc coated washers go in first, then the thinner black washer, and then we will in the bolt. 00:43

On the underside we will slip the base over the bolts, make sure that that post is facing upwards so it will fit into the pedestal and we are going to loosely thread the nuts on the bottom. Make sure that the side with the letter A stamped in it is facing up. Again we do not need to tighten these down yet, we need them loose so that we can slide them in the tracks on the roof of the vehicle. With the hardware loosely attached we are going to repeat the same process on the other three feet. With the four feet assembled the next step is to install them on the tracks on the vehicle however first we need to remove the OEM crossbars. 01:19

Next we are going to start sliding the feet into the OEM tracks. Make sure that the curved radius side of the base is facing the outboard side of the vehicle. All we have to do is make sure that we line up our nuts on the bottom and it will right into the track. Now that we have the bases set in the tracks we can put together the crossbar assemblies. All you have to do is slip the foot inside the bottom track. We will leave it loose for now so that we can put it up on the vehicle, make some adjustments, and tighten it down later. Next we will set our crossbar assemblies up on the bases and align the rack how we want it. Next make sure the overhang is even from driver side to passenger side and that they are spread evenly front to back. 01:57

Because this is a universal type of installation there are no set crossbar spread measurements for this rack. Check the instructions of whatever roof rack your accessories you are going to be using and set the crossbar spread from front to back according to those instructions. Now that we have our crossbar spread set we are going to remove the crossbars and tighten down the bases. You can use the included Allen key to tighten the bases down to the tracks. With our crossbar assembly set on the bases now we can adjust our overhang and make sure that the bars are even from driver side to passenger side. To tighten down the foot to the crossbar push in the gray button and let this black cover slide down. With the cover out of the way we have access to the Allen head bolt on the inside. One of the best features of the Tracker II roof kit is that the crossbars can easily be removed from the bases and you can leave the bases in place so the measurements stay the same. With the crossbar removed we can put our covers over the bases so the next time we need to use the roof rack the base is already set in place and all we have to do is the crossbars on top of them. There you have it for the Thule Tracker II roof rack.