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Heavy-duty crossbars mount to Yakima towers (sold separately) to create an aftermarket truck bed rack or roof rack. Top and bottom channels let you add channel-mount accessories. Tie-down points in endcaps let you easily secure cargo.
Features:
Yakima HD Bar-MD:Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hey everyone, it's Evangeline here at etrailer and today we'll be taking a look at our Yakima SkyLine towers. These are designed for your fixed mounting points, your flush rails, or your track systems. So if the roof of your vehicle looks like this, you probably need these. If you wanna carry around roof mounted accessories like kayaks or ladders or maybe you need to bring a Christmas tree home, you first need a roof rack system. Now this is gonna be the Yakima SkyLine towers for those vehicles that specifically require a custom fit kit for their fixed mounting points. Now if your vehicle does not look like this you might have a naked roof or raised rails.
That's why it's very important before anything to use our fit guide here at etrailer.com. Put your year, make model and then find the right fit for you. And if this is one of them let's take a look at how it works. Etrailer.com also helps you get the full kit for your vehicle because the skyline towers don't work alone you also need the appropriate crossbars as well as the correct fit kit or landing pads for you. But with this, you get a low profile roof rack so it doesn't stick too high up.
You get a heavy duty weight capacity since this is an aluminum roof rack. So usually they have 165 pounds capacity, depends on the vehicle, and you have this very sturdy but also very custom fit kit for your vehicle. That way, no matter what you put on it within reason and wherever you go, you know it's gonna stay there. But my favorite feature about this roof rack is the door design. So you pinch on the door to open it and that's it.
Just like that, you can lift the whole roof rack off of your roof. When you need to install it, you just pop it right back on. So the height of the tower is about 3 1/2" from your fixed mounting point to the top of the tower. The actual height can change depending on what crossbars you have and what rails you have, but compared to a lot of the other flush mounted crossbars and roof racks, it's just very low to the roof. Now with this style of a rack though, you are limited to the fixed mounting points or the flush rails of your vehicle.
So wherever they are, that's how much crossbar spread you get. For example, ours is set to 28" apart. On the other hand, if you have an aggressive tilt to your roof, you can actually adjust this up to six degrees forward or six degrees backward to help even out the playing field. Now I like to leave my roof rack on my vehicle and Yakima is pretty known for its durability. So the SkyLine towers are made of glass reinforced plastic, aluminum, stainless steel and elastomer. So all that is combined to help them stay strong even if you leave them on all day, all year. But if you do need to take off your roof rack you also have a feature to make it more low profile. Start by flipping both doors open and then you can lift the roof rack up and off of your roof. This way you can store it inside of your garage or in your house. You can leave your base on your roof rails. All you need to do is cover them with the included cover and that's it. You're done. The covered bases sit about 2" high up off of your fixed mounting point and makes for a much more low profile look. Your towers will have everything you need to install them which really is just one tool. And your fit kit has the hardware needed to undo the factory mounting points on your vehicle or for your track system if that's what you have. Now, that install process is extremely simple. Let's take a look at it. So these are what your towers look like when they are not on your roof. So they come all assembled in the box. All you need to do is get the appropriate landing pads for your vehicle. These landing pads can look different depending on your car and that's why it's very important to use our fit guide to get the right fit for you. You have four towers as well as the torque tool. And depending on your crossbars, you will also get a separate adapter to be used with those specific bars. With your landing pad kits, you'll get a part that fits your specific vehicle. You will get the hardware needed to install that part and you will have the base as well as the base cover. So if the towers are not on your vehicle you could just cover that base pad and take the cover off to install the tower. Here's an example of how the landing pad can be used depending on your cars. So you have a factory mounting point in this specific flush rail. So the pad goes over that hole and then you're gonna get your base which goes on top of that pad. And then you have a bolt with split washer and flat washer which is used to tighten down those two pieces to your car. The torque tool for your towers comes in handy whenever you're tightening down those bolts because it has a setting for tension. Once you get enough tension, it automatically clicks and prevents you from over tightening. Now to set up your tower for your crossbars there's different adaptor pieces. We're using the one for the JetStream crossbars. So we start by pushing in this plate into the tower. So you are gonna hear some clicks and that's how you know it's secure. Now we're gonna open up the tower door. So this involves pinching the door and pulling. Be careful because if you slide your fingers forward it doesn't feel as good. But with the door open, you can then loosen this bolt up front. It says to do it eight times. I just go until the bolt underneath is visible so you can see underneath what I mean. Notice how you have this little bolt head hiding around. You're gonna try to get at it with the tool. You can see how I do have access. That means as we flip this tower back over I can put this plate up top and then I can tighten down and thread onto that plate. With adapter and plate, this can now slide into your crossbar. For other adapters, they're designed to slide over or around your crossbar. With this specific style, I do recommend for the initial slide making sure that this is loose, but after that even if you have it fully tightened down you'll still be able to slowly adjust it on the crossbar. So with the towers on you're then ready to put this onto your roof. Now what I do is I just kind of roughly measure how far apart our landing pads are and that's when I can measure on the towers the distance apart they roughly need to be, in my case, 43 1/2. You could be off by 1/2" or so 'cause you can still move them. Also, supposedly this is when you put the rubber pieces inside of your crossbars. I do that after I've already installed them onto the roof. I take them back off and then I push them in so that I know exactly where the towers will be sitting. Make sure your towers are torqued down at their bottom bolt. Do that for both sides before installing. This is a lot easier with a friend on the other side but still doable with one person. So leave those doors open so that you can gently place them onto your roof. The bottom bracket with the door open fits onto your base so see how that just pushes into place. And then to secure it, just push that door close and you've got a sturdy fit. If you're using Yakima same key system lock cores, this is a time to switch them out on your towers. But other than that, just double check that all the towers are strong and secure and everything is sturdy. And that's it for the install of your roof rack. That right there was a look at the Yakima SkyLine towers for your Yakima crossbars for when you have vehicles that have fixed mounting points, flush rails or track systems.
Average Customer Rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (258 Customer Reviews)
Heavy-duty crossbars mount to Yakima towers (sold separately) to create an aftermarket truck bed rack or roof rack. Top and bottom channels let you add channel-mount accessories. Tie-down points in endcaps let you easily secure cargo.Fit our Subaru Forester perfectly. Install was a breeze. For the money I wish they came with the core locks.
etrailer was a great place to order, quick and easy. Yakima products however are over priced and overly complicated.
Very nice quality towers. Very heavy duty! They have a cool "snap" on / off mechanism for quick removal and installation.
Fit good with the OE track on roof. I like the new covers they supplied with the mounts.
Very nice and heavy duty. They don’t look too fragile on a lifted truck with oversized tires.
Honestly, I love etrailer. I love the expert help that you all provide. It's clear by the 1 year follow-ups that you care more about the relationships with your customers then just making a sale. Your service is friendly, informative and fast. I always come here first to look for my next purchase. Thanks again-Rob.
You guys provide great products and excellent customer service.
Thanks
These adapters were easy to install and made my system fit together nicely.
Perfect match
Your service is nothing short of excellent! Thank you
Great first experience dealing with you guys! Shipped fast, and was a faster install. You gave me the right parts and it went together in a flash.
Will definitely be doing business with you all again.
While putting the roof racks together, one needs to pay close attention to the detailed instructions; but, so far, the equipment is working well with a good fit on my Toyota highlander—I’ve traveled some 1000 miles so far.
Honestly went back to etrailer after buying something i couldnt find on the big A before because their support was so good and delivery speed was soo fast.
Shipment received, as ordered! Thanks again to Bryce D., for assistance.
Yakima SkyLine Towers are well-designed and well-executed. They easily fit into the Yakima Landing Pads and form a tight fit when closed. And they also fit nicely into the Yakima JetStream Crossbars when following the Yakima instruction manual and various YouTube videos. I did run into a snag at first where I found the rubber seal on one SkyLine Tower getting caught on the JetStream Crossbar track, but after that I was careful not to let that happen with the other towers.
I find the appearance of the Yakima SkyLine Towers to match their level of quality in materials and design.
It was what it was advertised and fit perfectly on my 2023 Ford Maverick
Great product, as are all Yakima products,in my opinion. These are on a Yakima system installed on my Diamond Back tonneau cover. Very pleased with them
Great company! Fast delivery.
The Yakima products are doing great. Just got home yesterday from a 18 day trip using them in Michigan's upper peninsula. Love them. Great products. Thanks again.
The Yakima products are doing great. Just got home yesterday from a 18 day trip using them in Michigan's upper peninsula. Love them. Great products. Thanks again.
We purchased the rack 5 weeks in advance of our up and coming trip. (Rack is amazing FYI). However, The website states free shipping over a certain amount. Weeks went by with notifications nothing was sent and the order kept being pushed back.
Once I called I was told those who chose to purchase shipping vs opting for the free shipping got their orders firsts; everyone else fell to the bottom. After waiting a month for “free shipping” I opted to have paid shipping and I received the rack within days.
While this company has many products I could use, I refuse to use them again because what is advertised is NOT what they ethically hold themselves accountable too.
These are some heavy duty crossbars.
Owned several surfboard racks in 45 years and these are by far the best.
Great tie downs also.
Solid and well engineered product. Trevor provided excellent support and service in selecting and ordering to ensure the right solution.
I have ordered several times from Etrailer and have always received efficient, timely and reasonable shipped items. Did not use customer service with this order but it has always been good.
Worked great
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