[.boB]

I am planning a 2 month road trip through Canada and Alaska. I'll be camping, and sleeping in the back of the truck a lot. I want to put a roof basket on top of my Leer cap for a variety of reasons. I purchased the cap with installed Thule Tracker II tracks already installed. I want to mount something like this:

Now I'm looking at the Thule pedestals and installation components. They're expensive, and maybe not exactly what I'm looking for. Then I came across this picture in another thread. I didn't want to throw that thread off on a tangent, so I started this one.

Here's an earlier photo of the Pioneer platform mounted over the bed on a set of custom load bars.

Any thoughts on how this pedestal was made? Carriage bolt in the track? Looks pretty simple, but it needs to be sturdy. The slot in the track is 1.25" wide, and 0.25" tall. The opening in the top is about 3/8" wide.

Off the top of my head, I'd say a 3/16" piece of plate steel 1.25" wide with two galvanized carriage bolts through it slid into the track, then bolt the feet on to that.

Maybe EdSD90 could comment?

 

[BobsCreek]

Be carefully with the Leer they only tend to be rated for fairly light loads.

 

[Vinolush]

boB,

There is a threaded oblong shaped flat cam that slides into the channel. Allen screws fit down through the bracket into the cams. When you spin the Allen screws the cam which is in the channel turns and locks itself in the channel

Hopefully this video loads and you'll see the cam movement

I believe this is what you're referring to

Looks like the brackets in your pic may be homemade. I've never seen them before

I've got a vid and pic but won't upload..... still trying

You could use a carriage bolt inserted into the channel. maybe a little grinding mod for a tight secure fit.

I think you're on the right track!

 

[189601]

I am planning a 2 month road trip through Canada and Alaska. I'll be camping, and sleeping in the back of the truck a lot. I want to put a roof basket on top of my Leer cap for a variety of reasons. I purchased the cap with installed Thule Tracker II tracks already installed.

Any thoughts on how this pedestal was made? Carriage bolt in the track? Looks pretty simple, but it needs to be sturdy. The slot in the track is 1.25" wide, and 0.25" tall. The opening in the top is about 3/8" wide.

Off the top of my head, I'd say a 3/16" piece of plate steel 1.25" wide with two galvanized carriage bolts through it slid into the track, then bolt the feet on to that.

Maybe EdSD90 could comment?

I've had years of experience with the Thule tracks, and the track mounts for the Thule rectangular cross bars. I had an identical set-up to this one on my Canyon, on a previous Nissan Frontier, which saw extensive and very rough off road trips. I had serious issues with the Thule feet when transporting a 125# rooftop tent on the Thule system when off road. The cam inserts that Vinolush describes above did not have enough surface area, so distorted the tracks with all the pounding, and the feet failed where the cross bars pass through them. Luckily, the Nissan had a heavy duty tie down system, and I had extra ratchet straps, so was able to strap the tent and Thule crossbars down, and get off the trail a couple days later with no further damage.

After that trip, I replaced the tracks, and purchased eight Yakima square sliding threaded track inserts to replace the cam style, and fabricated a set of heavy duty, custom steel crossbars that could take the pounding of off road travel. When I switched to my Canyon, I reworked the bars to the correct length to match the width of the Thule tracks now installed on the same type bed cover on my Canyon. These bars, and the square track nut inserts have survived many off road miles with zero issues.

Above is a pic of the Yakima square nut inserts in my tracks. They must be inserted into the end of the tracks, so need to go in before the end cap is installed. They are much better than the cam nuts, but if your load is light, and you don’t plan on off road travel, the cam nuts are adequate. I need to add that Yakima and Thule both sell the same exact tracks, so you can interchange any parts and accessories you wish, they are fully compatible.

My crossbars, as shown in the original post, are attached to the nuts in the track with 6mm, stainless steel button head, allen drive machine screws. If you want any more detail on these crossbars, I can address that in another post.

 

[.boB]

Perfect! That's exactly the info I was looking for! The more I looked at the Thule stuff, the less I liked it. It just didn't seem sturdy enough for what I planned to do. I have a welder and a chop saw, so I'll just have to build what I need. Thanx for your help.