Roof rack systems for the Legacy Wagon

Ted, I did an ooops. The pic says square but looks aero to me. GeeTee has aero in his pic on his LGT wagon. My aero bars came with the XT. Check with Subaru? Scott

Does anyone have any pics with the OEM racks on the wagon?

I've got a Thule ski and bike setup on my wagon and it looks great! I'll have to find the channel enlarging thread for the rear rail.

 

Anyway, I went in to Rocky Mounts in Boulder and put thre

e different boxes on my rack (Evo 1200, Cascade XT 1100, and a Yakama) and they were all too long to fit and still lift the rear door completely without touching. The problem was that the front bar wouldn't go far enough forward. I want a box to hold my skis, poles and my buddies' boards, but I want to be able to open up the rear hatch without contact with the box. Rocky Mounts suggested I could take the Thule Frontier and mod it by drilling holes where I actually need 'em. The Frontier is a pretty low end box, only opens on one side, etc. What Thule/Yakama boxes have folks put on their wagons? Thanks!

 

Chris

Does anyone have any pics with the OEM racks on the wagon?

 

Here you go, on my n/a.

I'll have to find the channel enlarging thread for the rear rail.

 

Try http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5503

Try http://www.legacygt.com/forums/showthread.php?t=5503

 

Thanks. I'm going to do this this weekend! This won't fix the box hitting the rear spoiler problem, but might help with moding one.

 

Chris

Anyone having the same trouble mounting the factory Mont Blanc rack I am? I tighten the cranks as hard as I can and the rack still wiggles around and doesn't feel secure. The rubber feet stick up 1/4-inch above the rails so the only parts touching are the clasp on the inside of the rails and the very bottom of the foot on the outside. Have any close up pics of what it should look like?

So far, over an hour into it and my conclusion is - "I can't believe Subaru put their name on this product". They should be called Mont Crap.

 

Hurry, bicycle racing starts soon.

The OEM Mount Blanc (MB) Square Cross Bar Kit (SCBK) mounts up very securely. Sorry I don't have any pics but the first order of business is to open them up as far as they'll go (without pulling the threaded rod completely free). There are two things that need to be set before you can do this properly and you do them both OFF the car:

 

1. Slide the MB towers (mounts) into the grooves in the cross bar ends so that the tower "cam" device is up inside the groove, not below it. This is an important step. The cam sets on top of the tower and both locks the rack onto the tower and keeps the rack from sliding sideways.

 

2. Now, cup the tower's side rail clamps (both sides of the tower) in your hand while you back out the tightening rod (turn it counter-clockwise). Hold pressure against the rod so that as it reaches the end of its threads, it will "click" inside the internal clamp. Once you hear or feel it click, then, while holding pressure on the inner side rail clamp and pushing on the threaded rod, tighten the rod one full turn (clockwise) to make sure it remains engaged with the clamp. Do this for all four towers and now you're ready to mount up the OEM rack.

 

Note: You'll know you've done this correctly if you can move the inner side rail clamp back and forth and the rod moves in and out of the tower. If it doesn't do this, then you've backed the rod out too far and disengaged it from the side rail clamp. You'll need to feed the threaded rod back into the rail clamp until you can reengage the rod.

 

You can go in any sequence but I started with the driver's front and did the front cross bar and then moved to the driver's rear and did the rear cross bar. You’ll likely have to “eye-ball the spacing on the tower mounts for the time being. Initially, you’re just trying to get them mounted to the roof side rails. Later, you’ll want to make sure that they’re even and sealed (more on this later).

 

These are the steps that I use to attach the SCBK to the roof side rails:

 

• Starting with the left front of the car, pull open your tower mount clamping mechanism and make sure that the rubber insert is fully up inside and engaged across both sides and the top of the side rail clamping mechanism.
  
• Set your tower mount, with the inner clamp spread open as far as the threaded rod will let it go, down onto your roof side rail, sliding the tower forward until it is about ¼” – ½” back from the end of the groove on the inside of the side rail.
  
• Make sure that your rubber insert remained in place across the side rail and down along the inner side rail clamp. If it buckled or came off the mechanism, just lift up the tower, reseat the rubber insert and set the whole mechanism back on the side rail as before. Keep at it until the whole mechanism, including the rubber insert is firmly established on both sides of the side rail and firmly attached to the clamping mechanism.
  
• Now, while holding firm (not hard) downward pressure on the top of the SCBK rail, tighten up the threaded rod (clockwise) until you feel it starting to “snug” down on the side rail. You should simultaneously be able to see the inner clamp tightening down on the inner side rail groove and the outer clamp starting to “squish” the rubber against the outside of the side rail. Don’t tighten it very much because you’ll need to walk over to the other side and attach your opposite side tower mount.
  
• Repeat the same steps for the opposite side, as well as the other two mounts to the rear. The only difference on the rear is that you’ll want to slide the rear towers aft (back) until they are a ¼” – ½” from the end in the inner side rail groove. There is ~2” of narrowing between the front of the side rail and the rear of the side rail. This means that your rear cross bar will look longer than the front. That’s not really the case; just that the towers set in further on the roof and that makes the cross bar “protrude” further than the front bar.
  
• Once you get all four corners mounted up, then go to each corner and tighten the threaded rod clockwise until you can’t turn it anymore, then turn it one more ½ - 1 full turn while holding downward pressure on the top of the bar. You may have to turn the rod back and forth just a bit to make sure it seats in its locked position, just remember not to back it off any more than you need to, to ensure that it lines up with the lock seat. Lock your tightening rod with the supplied “key.”

Now that you’ve succeeded in attaching your OEM MB SCBK to your car, you’ll want to take measurements for both your front and rear bars so that you can center up the cross bars on the front and rear mounts. Also, there are four pieces of measure-marked plastic strips that come with your kit. These you’ll need to cut to fit in the slot in your cross bars on both the inside and the outside of your tower mounts.

 

The reason you need to fit into the slot is that otherwise the airflow over the open slot would drive you to distraction; it makes so much noise without them. Don’t worry that you don’t fit them perfectly. I believe I allowed ¼” extra on each side of the tower mount to make sure that it snugged-up under the mount. You can also dab on some silicon sealer if you end up with a big gap for some reason.

 

Anyway – I’ll try to take pics to augment the how-to instructions but hopefully, this will get you mounted up securely and ready for the next big adventure.

 

SBT

for those interested, I just got an email coupon for http://www.rackattack.com = $20 off orders over $100. Coupon code = winter2006 and it's good through 3/10/06. Their prices are already cheap, so this helps even more.

Thanks Subietonic. I needed nothing more than your excellent description in your step No.1. The rack is now perfectly fit and secure. Turns out, my "cams" were under the bars, not in them. I still found getting the bars even on each side of the car to be a bit of a pian and don't look forward to removing the rack and re-installing it.

 

For those of you installing the factory rack for the first time, Subietonic's Step 1. is critical!!!! I don't think the directions with the rack tell you to do that (at least not very descriptive). You must turn the foot upside down and jiggle it until the metal "cam" falls into place so you can slide the bar thorugh it. Also be sure all the "locks" are in the unlock position (I screwed this up the first time too).

 

My new conclusion is: This is a good rack system but the directions should have been more clear. If I'd have mounted anything to the rack the way I first had it installed, it would have been on the pavement in no time.

 

Wind noise goes pretty un-noticed up to 75mph (with just the bars). I improvised filling in the slots in the bars with some plastic strips. Cut up credit cards would work best for this but I realize most of you need these to buy all your 'go fast' parts.

Anyone know of a rack wind deflector/visor that will not interfere with the sunroof? My rack seems pretty quiet but shields help with noise, mileage, and cool factor.

Has anyone checked into ordering the canadian aero bars for their wagon?

i don't think you want the aerobars for your rack. i had em for the wrx and didn't use them. you would have to buy a thule adapter which has clamps to go around the aero bar, which would mount a thule square bar directly above the aero bar. i also have the conversion kit i described for my wife's nissan pathfinder. you'd be hard pressed to fit 2 bikes on the bar (it is only 2' long) and it is a pain to take on and off the thule part from the factory aeros.

i bought that kit at a bike shop 2 years ago. who knows, maybe now thule or yak makes direct connections to factory aero bars?

hope this helps.

Yeah, that's so true. I had never used a roof rack before, and when I first put the mont blanc crossbars on, I couldn't believe the howl I got above 40 mph.

 

Oh my god. Please tell me what you are talking about.

 

I have these crossbars and they are unusable because of the noise.

 

How do I make it stop?

 

Edit: reading above, it's pretty clear that the dealership didn't insert the plastic strips I needed, and didn't give them to me either. Ugh. Another trip down I-93 for me.

i bought a used car that came with the rack but no plastic inserts everyone says you need. I cut up some plastic strips and slid them in between the bar and the plastic bar covering to fill in the space. It beats electrical tape and i couldn't believe how quiet the factory rack is without a wind fairing. i'll still consider putting on a fairing if i can find one that works with the sunroof though. credit cards would work nicely, but i know you need them to buy all those 'go fast' parts!

It looks like I'm reviving an old thread so hopefully I can still get some feedback. l'm debating between a hitch and roof mount for my bikes. I like the trunk access enabled by roof mount, and I have a custom built bike so I don't want some tailgater to destroy it if it were hitch mounted.

My only concern is the noise made by a roof top rack? I'll probably go with the Yakima EZ Rider and a couple of RockyMounts trays. If you're running a similar set up, how bad is the noise, really? Note: I have the oversized sunroof and almost always keep the shade open. If you have the roof mount, do/did you regret it and would you now opt for a hitch mount instead?

Thanks for your help, I'm trying to get all the facts before I go spend a few hundred bucks on this stuff.

I have the Yakima EZ Riders. I have not found the noise to be bad. I initially had the bars and a Yakima fairing and noticed very little noise. Now, I have a Yakima cargo box on most of the time (with no fairing) and there is some more noise. I would say that the sun shade provides a good deal of noise insulation. When I put the sunshade back, the noise is much more noticeable. You might find yourself keeping it closed (unless you want a good look at your bikes).

Also I imagine that the bikes might create more noise as my cargo box has some aerodynamic shape to it.

my Thule kit was noisy. No big deal....the whole thing goes off and on in about 5 minutes, so I left it hanging on the wall when not in use. If you're an avid rider and the rack is permanent, well, that's different. Thule fairing doesn't work on the LGT....if you go Yakima, you'll probably be ok

Wrap a bungie cord around the front cross bar, that will greatly help diminish the wind noise. I have a roof mounted Thule bike rack on my WRX and the wind noise was unbearable before I did the bungie cord mod.

Wrap a bungie cord around the front cross bar, that will greatly help diminish the wind noise. I have a roof mounted Thule bike rack on my WRX and the wind noise was unbearable before I did the bungie cord mod.

 

I saw a pic with this done in another thread. So this really works?

I saw a pic with this done in another thread. So this really works?

 

Yup! I was skeptical at first, but I figured that I would try it anyways. 1 bungie cord and 2 zip ties later...no more wind noise.

My car came with the aero crossbars. Am I correct in reading that there is no solution to add a single bike carrier without adding bars on top of bars ?

I am currently working with the owner of Walkermounts, check out his stuff here http://www.walkermount.com, for a roof rack for the wagons. It will be very similar to some of the truck racks that are on his truck. We are on the second redesign of the "feet" to lock into the rails. the bars should sit ~2 inches above the roof of the car, instead of having tall towers like yakima or thule. Everything is CNC'd 6061 aluminum and can be anodized for a little extra. We are hoping to have a production version in the next 2 months.

Sorry guys its http://www.walkermounts.com

Sounds cool

 

I am definitely interested...