Installing Thule or Yakima tracks.
The included instructions are OK. I'll cover some points as it relates to installing on an Access Cab. I did not use the plusnuts, since I had to drop the roof liner anyway, I didn't think they'd offer any advantage. I was sort of wrong - the nuts included in the kit have a huge plastic enclosure. This is great for sealing up the hole. Not so great for fitting into tight spaces.
- You are almost certainly better off using plusnuts - but there are a few things to avoid in the roof. There is a cross bar support at the junction of the two doors. There is also a support for the liner where the visors are. This support is hard foam with a thick plastic cover. If you go too far forward, you'll need to trim or otherwise deal with this piece.
- You should consider using the "landing pads" instead of a track. They are a fixed location and not movable, but involve lots less drilling.
- You'll have to trim the tracks to 36". At 42" The forward and rearward roof reinforcement sections will interfere with installation. Besides, the curvature of the roof becomes hard to deal with.
- Mind the support in roof liner for the visors. This goes all the way to the sheetmetal and will interfere with one of the nuts. I had to trim mine. They aren't really removable, but a little hacksaw and lots of patience will get it done.
- The greatest realistic distance between the tracks is about 38". It is not possible to install into the factory gutter, and you'll need to be an inch or so inboard of them to leave room for the nuts.
- The track end caps suck. Seriously, they are very poorly designed. I left off the forward caps because otherwise they pointed into the air. They are designed for a flat roof and on the the forward curve they will not line up at all.
- I tied a line to the shark fin and taped it down on the center of the mirror. All measurements were based from that.
View attachment 117715
The finished install. Well, finished for now. I have a fairing to install and I need to figure out what to do about the end caps.
View attachment 117714