Thule TB60 to a steel lid or rails?

[OverlandZJ]

Shopping around for a solution to mount my RTT to my trailer and i came across the Thule TB60 and 460 foot package combination which looks like it should work for me. Till i noticed they are recommended for use on fiberglass only, any idea why they wont work on a steel surface?

Heres an ebay add which mentions this.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Thule-Roof-...Parts_Accessories&hash=item415911b26c&vxp=mtr

 

[Woods]

I can think of two reasons, neither of which may apply to you. Perhaps they are saying fiberglass to avoid folks buying them and thinking that they will install them on the roof of their car. And possible, the fasteners included in the kit will not be ideal for metal applications. It doesn't look like they use rivets, which is what would work for metal.

??? my best guess ???

 

[DonBeasley]

I have the exact rack and am about to put it on my metal lid. The best I can tell, the rail comes with bolts so it is designed to go all the way thru and use washers and nuts. Thule assumes this will be on a fiberglass camper shell. The metal setup comes with an expansion type of setup and assumes that you cannot access the underside, as in the top of a car.

Give me about a month and I will let you know.

BTW Sierra 4x4 uses a similar one from another company and mounts it to their lid.

 

[hollaback55]

thule tracks

i have that exact setup on my m101cdn which works flawlessly. the tracks for fiberglass will work on steel just fine, the mounting hardware is the only difference between the ones for metal and the ones for fiberglass. for your application you'll want the ones for fiberglass as you'll be able to access the underneath to run nuts and washers. the 460 foot pack is much tougher than the old 430 it is replacing. As for the tracks i mounted them on my LJ hardtop with great success as well as my m101. Use a little silicon and it will be fine.

 

[OverlandZJ]

Thanks for the feedback Gents!

Holla, couple questions that you seem may be familiar with.

I found the TB54 version for sale and after some measuring it will work for me. IIRC this is the one recommended for steel, correct? I assume i can simply through bolt these as well?

Also, how can i ID the 460 vs the 430's? Are they a different height where the two cant be used together? I would need more than two Loadbars under my Overland 1.8.

 

[RJ40]

I used that exact combo in my lid and tent...so far works very well..

Cheers!

 

[GFA]

I'll throw out a cheap alternative for anyone interested.

You can typically pick up second hand Yakima locking railrider 1 towers or newer control towers for very cheap. I've picked up 4 pairs and 4 Yakima crossbars in the last 60 days for under $100 dollars. That's enough to put a rack on my JK's hardtop and a rack on my M416's lid

Next, a quick trip to the local u-pull it for a set of roof rails for the Yakima railrider 1's to fit into.

http://techmanual.yakima.com/files/1031596D-INSTR.pdf

Any of these could work but the 97-00 expedition setup is the perfect length for my lid and looks great too. They can be cut down to any length you need also. I didn't look but I think the 01-02 expedition is the same, Y2K is just the last year Yakima made the railrider 1 before renaming them control towers with an interchangeable base. I pulled my own for a total of $10 dollars including all hardware and factory crossbars. I didn't reuse the hardware but instead made a run to home depot for the length bolts I needed.

All total, I've got about $64 into my rack...

 

[hollaback55]

I found the TB54 version for sale and after some measuring it will work for me. IIRC this is the one recommended for steel, correct? I assume i can simply through bolt these as well?

the TB 54 is the same as the TB60, it is just shorter (54" instead of 60"). They might come with flare nuts as i'm not sure that Thule sells the TB 54's with the nuts and bolts that you'll want to use for a fiberglass installation. You'll want the fiberglass option b/c it will come with all the associated hardware for a bolt through design that you can put a nut on the back end of. IMO i would get the TB60s for fiberglass and that way you wont need to source all the little nylon washers, bolts, cap nuts ect. it just makes the installation easier. Also you can cut these down if you wanted. the end caps just slide in so its not a big deal to get the 60's and make them 54's

Also, how can i ID the 460 vs the 430's? Are they a different height where the two cant be used together? I would need more than two Loadbars under my Overland 1.8.

the Podium 460's are a much better design in my opinion for carry a tent on a trailer. the design of the 460 is such that it is a 1 piece design that once attached to the rail has no secondary piece that snaps on and off. This gives it much more strength and allows it to handle the tent more securely. additionally, the 460 is much easier to work with when setting up for equal distance on the bar as it will not shimmy up the load bar as it is tightened.

the benefit of the 430 is that they snap on and off easily which for me wasn't an issue b/c my tent will stay on my trailer all the time. On my jeep for carrying snowboards i use the 430's. the weight of the snowboards is minimal and i like to remove the bars once i get back and not have them sitting up on my roof while i drive the car around. this however is also its weakness IMO of the 430's b/c the connection is not as secure. on a washboard road at 25 i dont want my tent to come flying off my trailer. I know they have been used for years by AT to hold their tents but the 460 is the replacement for the 430 and works much better IMO.

i would not use the 2 together, they are different heights (off by a small amount but different enough to maybe cause an issue). as for loadbars, i only needed 2 with my eezi awn 1200 but now need 3 with my globetrotter. I would say if your 1.8 is around the size of a eezi awn 1600 or smaller you could probably just use 2, if its larger then you'll definitely need 3 IMO.