Subaru Outback roof rack options

[p nut]

Needless to say, the stock roof rack sucks on our Outback (newer gen with the folding arms). Yet, there are no options for a replacement. I'm talking replacing the whole thing.
_
Looking at the Landcruiser racks, it seems like if simple towers could be fabricated, rack options would be endless. I'm not sure if it would be as straight forward as the Landcruiser installs, but I wouldn't think it would be too hard. I don't know what lays under the plastic of the current rack, so who knows.
_
Any inputs or any interest in something like this?

http://www.gamiviti.com/installation-tips/

Wondering if we could even get Gamiviti to fab some up, if there is enough of us looking for something like this.

 

[screwball48]

I think one of the Prinsu Design racks would look awesome on an outback. Clean and simple with increased strength and capabilities.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[MANUCHAO]

I been thinking taking the whole thing off and building / designing a low profile made out of aluminum with an integrated fairing to hold a light weight RTT / surfboards....

 

[vicali]

Talk to Zach at Prinsu.. the oem rack bolts on there somehow.. check on the outback / off-road Subaru forums as well..

 

[borison]

Looking forward to what you come up with, the factory racks on the last two Outbacks are hideous.

 

[outback97]

Needless to say, the stock roof rack sucks on our Outback (newer gen with the folding arms). Yet, there are no options for a replacement. I'm talking replacing the whole thing.
_
Looking at the Landcruiser racks, it seems like if simple towers could be fabricated, rack options would be endless. I'm not sure if it would be as straight forward as the Landcruiser installs, but I wouldn't think it would be too hard. I don't know what lays under the plastic of the current rack, so who knows.
_

I have a 3rd Gen OB, but am considering a purchase of 5th Gen in the future. I normally have a couple of Yakima Frontloaders on my Yakima crossbars and they are very solid. This whole new gen roof rack thing is pretty annoying, sounds like the folding crossbars are flimsy.

Digging around on subaruoutback.org I found this:
http://www.subaruoutback.org/forums...ed-parts-diagram-2015-outback-roof-rails.html

It looks like it's a PITA to remove the stock rack.

 

[p nut]

Thanks for the info/inputs.
_
Here is a video found on youtube. Looks like as outback97 said, headliner needs to come out. The guy on there said 1 hr "if you're good." So probably a weekend project for me. After that, it looks to be fairly simple--just unbolt and remove. I'm thinking if I move forward with this, I would tack on some nuts on the inside. Then, I wouldn't have to deal with removing the headliner again. Messing with airbags freaks me out, though...

[video]www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TlkuPXuNnQ[/video]

 

[screwball48]

http://forums.mtbr.com/car-biker/2017-outback-touring-actual-real-roof-rails-1016218.html

Check out the rack in the first photos of this thread. I know it is not as good as a Prinsu rack would be, but it may be a better base rack for mods than the big plastic one that is common.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[p nut]

http://forums.mtbr.com/car-biker/2017-outback-touring-actual-real-roof-rails-1016218.html

Check out the rack in the first photos of this thread. I know it is not as good as a Prinsu rack would be, but it may be a better base rack for mods than the big plastic one that is common.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Looks like same/similar to Forester racks. It would be nice, but according to a couple of people in that thread, it would cost over $1k for the parts and mounting points would be different for older gen Outbacks. Glad they're finally coming out with this, though. Folding rack was a dumb idea.
_

yea, they are real roof rails that you mount a railgrab type crossbars on. Subaru actually already has a roof rack system with Thule for the Outback touring with these new rails. Subaru part# SOA567x020 if anyone is interested. After assembling our dealerships Thule display a few weeks ago I think I would rather stick with a hitch rack personally. Maybe this new outback roof rail system would change my mind though.

As far as retrofitting the new rails on to the older/standard model Outbacks, I would be willing to be the mounting holes are in different spots and I know just to replace the old style rails you had to drop the headliner and everything so it was a TON of work. Not worth it in my opinion.

Yeah, as an example, my dad looked into getting the Forester roof rails to put on his base Forester which didn't have them, and with my employee discount, the rails and all required pieces were still over $1000 (you had to piece together every little nut and bolt) and yeah, drop the headliner and etc etc.

 

[midlifecrisis]

I had the same issues as you with the lousy factory rack and came up with an alternative for mounting standard Yak round bars solidly, that doesn't require removing all the plastic goodies, drilling the roof or any of that jazz. Take a look at my thread here starting at post #84 and see what you think of this option http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/146548-2015-Subaru-Outback-Expedition-Retrofit/page9

 

[Buddha.]

I've got the base forester no roof rails. Theres little caps to pop off with I assume a nut under there to attach subaru's crossbars for cars that didnt have roof rails from factory. I'd like something better though.

 

[p nut]

I had the same issues as you with the lousy factory rack and came up with an alternative for mounting standard Yak round bars solidly, that doesn't require removing all the plastic goodies, drilling the roof or any of that jazz. Take a look at my thread here starting at post #84 and see what you think of this option http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/146548-2015-Subaru-Outback-Expedition-Retrofit/page9

Yeah, I saw your build. Very nice. I want to get something more lower profile, so I'll see where I get with this. I may contact you if that ends up not working out.

I've got the base forester no roof rails. Theres little caps to pop off with I assume a nut under there to attach subaru's crossbars for cars that didnt have roof rails from factory. I'd like something better though.

So there is a welded nut there? If so, that would solve a lot of headache for you.

 

[jacobconroy]

I had the same issues as you with the lousy factory rack and came up with an alternative for mounting standard Yak round bars solidly, that doesn't require removing all the plastic goodies, drilling the roof or any of that jazz. Take a look at my thread here starting at post #84 and see what you think of this option http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/threads/146548-2015-Subaru-Outback-Expedition-Retrofit/page9

If you ever decided to make up a batch of your custom mounts, I would probably buy a set to try on my 2016. How many inches is it from the top, center of the roof to the top of the round bar? Looks like it is a couple inches lower than my current Yakima/landing pad setup.

 

[Buddha.]

So there is a welded nut there? If so, that would solve a lot of headache for you.

I assume there's a nut but I have to check

Edit: I checked. If you pop up the little hinged cover there's a plate there maybe 3/16" thick with two threaded holes., Probably not much of a weight rating for the setup no matter what I do.

 

[midlifecrisis]

If you ever decided to make up a batch of your custom mounts, I would probably buy a set to try on my 2016. How many inches is it from the top, center of the roof to the top of the round bar? Looks like it is a couple inches lower than my current Yakima/landing pad setup.

From the roof to the top of the round bar at the center: 4-1/2" at the rear and 3-3/4" at the front.
I could shorten the pads by ~1/2" and slam the cross bars right down on top of the factory plastic, but it seemed prudent to leave a little bit of clearance there.

Getting everything down as tight as possible was one of the wish-list items I had that got me chasing my own design. I don't like how tall the after-market options are and I hate the way they mount. I love Yakima stuff generally but sometimes I really have to scratch my head at some of their engineering design choices.