Determining Weight Capacity of Yakima Track Roof Rack for Naked Roof

Updated 04/25/2019 | Published 04/24/2019

Question:

I have a rare naked roof Subaru Legacy 98 complete with the ingenious design to line the windows with brittle plastic to also prevent clincher install. Does Yakima provide any technical specifications for the rails? Whats the weight limit when installed on steel sheet metal? Are they going to pop out with a 50lb load and first gust of headwind? That would be wonderful: a leaky roof and a useless rack. How often do I need to reseal around the drilling points? Do these only work with Yakima towers?

asked by: Cody

Expert Reply:

The weight capacity of the Yakima 42" Tracks for Roof Racks # Y01126 will be the capacity of the bars used in them which will be 165 lbs most of the time. Now the roof capacity is also a figure you need to stay under as well. They don't have a specific capacity for a sheet metal roof install so you'd have to stay under the capacity of the vehicle roof as stated in the owners manual. When installed properly though you would not have to worry about the tracks popping out.

We sell these tracks in a kit that comes with everything needed to install the Yakima aero shaped Corebars with part # Y01617. The bars of this kit are 60 inches long and have a 220 lb capacity. There isn't a recommended resealing procedure either.

expert reply by: Jameson C