Hello, just got done installing a Thule roof rack on my Westy "Panzerkampingwagen." Took a little over 2 hours. Thule rack parts used: 542 artificial rain gutter, 300 feet, 58"? bars, 877 rollercoaster (kayak), 875 hydroglide (kayak), locks, front wheel holder, and a fork mount long tray bike carrier sold to be at a good deal by a fellow list member. First, some thoughts about what should go where. The Westy is a tall vehicle and the trees offer lower clearance on the right hand side of the road, so the Kayak mounts went on the passenger side and the bikes on the driver's side. You will need a fold-up stool to get the bikes on top anyway - standing in the open side door won't help load the bikes. Tools needed: 5mm allen wrench (for bike tray), grease for threads, drill bits, drill, locktite, ratcheting box end 10mm wrench (a MUST) - found at Sears. After doing this install I'd recommend getting 1/2" shorter carriage bolts for the artificial gutters, or if nothing metric is available switching to English and getting the appropriate nylock nuts and ratcheting box end driver. The carriage bolts supplied are so long it took aproximately 90 1/4 ~ 1/3 turns of the ratcheting wrench for each nut (8 total). A non-ratcheting wrench would take FOREVER to install the nylock nuts. I wedged a 2" wastebasket between the top and the front locking latch to partially raise the top to gain access to the bolts/nuts. I positioned the artificial gutters up as high as possible so the top of the gutter mount was just under the radius of the fiberglass top. Be careful drilling the holes as you only want the drill bit to just penetrate the top - if you just force the bit in to the fiberglass then let it plunge in it will drill a hole in your canvas top! After drilling the holes I applied locktite to the interior of the holes to seal the fiberglass and hopefully prevent cracks from starting. Make sure you position the front load bar far enough behind the skylight that the rack accessories don't protrude forward of the load bar and interfere with the skylight operation. |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.