3rd gen--Yakima rack issue

[jmden]

So, on this '14 Exped, I would like to put Yakima rack towers (Q-Towers) and 78" cross bar over the front door area to help spread out the load on the roof and secure the load on the roof in a safer manner than using Yakima racks on the factory roof side rails alone. I haul 18'-22.5' sea kayaks and the 4 foot spread on crossbars that the factory side rails allow looks pretty puny when you're hauling something that long on top, not to mention how much more vulnerable to winds twisting your boat from your rooftop with that short of distance between two crossbars holding a 22.5' boat in place.

I have a set of Yakima Q-Towers from a '97 Ford Explorer and those will work great on this Expedition, however, Yakima in all it's wisdom, decided not to make a part (Q clip) for the 3rd generation Expeditions that is specific to the vehicle that lets the Q tower connect to the door frame.

Has anyone run across this and come up with a solution besides having a part custom made?

 

[spotdog14]

Can't you just use some of these rail grabbers?
RailGrab 4 Pack | Yakima

 

[Am3ricanInfid3L]

I've put a kayak and canoe on mine before by using straps connected to my grille guard, to the nose of the boat. Same for the rear. I strapped the rear of the boat too my hitch. This kept it from moving around.

 

[jmden]

Can't you just use some of these rail grabbers?
RailGrab 4 Pack | Yakima

Two sets of those are what I'm using on the factory side rails. I need a third crossbar (put a Yakima Rocket Box between the two big kayaks, so use every inch of the 78" cross bars) above the front doors to extend the length a couple of feet between the rear cross bar and the frontmost crossbar for increase load stablity and load carrying capacity. Imagine going 70 mph and getting a 40 mph crosswind with 22.5' kayaks (the larger is 110 lbs) on top when you can only put the cross bars about 4' apart from each other when using Yakima Railgrabs. There's alot of kayak hanging over the front and rear crossbars. Adding a third crossbar over the front doors greatly increased load stability.

Funny thing is, I've done this 3 crossbar thing for years with on old '97 Explorer using the Q-Towers with vehicle specific Q clips made by Yakima for the same reasons as mentioned above and it's worked great. Pick up this new Expedition this summer and find out that Yakima doesn't make Q clips for the 3rd generation Expedition. Thanks Yakima.

 

[spotdog14]

I think it might be time to upgrade to a trailer.

 

[rollinstone]

This is what I came up with: Roof Rack Fit Guide | Yakima

Won't this work? I've got a '97 Explorer, but I know when I move to the Expedition I'm going to have to change the towers.