VehiGAZ
01/11/2007, 04:17 PM
All the recent talk of roof racks and how to attach stuff is timely for me, as I just went through the rigmarole of trying to mount a Yakima ski rack to my "factory" roof rack (meaning the Yakima-built rack/crossbars made for the VX), so I thought I'd share what I learned.
Backstory: I have a great Yakima roof-top cargo box (see my gallery for pix), which is great for running a mess of gear up to Vermont for the season, but kind of a pain in the butt the rest of the season 0 I hate driving around with it all the time, and I am sick of putting it on and taking it off every weekend, and I scratched up the interior in a couple of spots when I got lazy last year and threw the boards in the back, so I decided to put a ski rack on the VX like the gods of winter intended.
Anyway, here is what I found out...
1) Isuzu no longer carries the VX roof rack, and Yakima never had it, so you can't get one from either of them. If you can find one that happens to be sitting on the parts shelf at an Isuzu dealer, BUY IT! You will make money on it selling it here or on eBay.
2) If you have the factory rack already and you want to attach a accessory to it (like a ski rack or bike rack), then you need to find a set of Yakima 28V or 28H Mighty Mounts, depending on the application. The #28 is the one made specifically for our wing-style crossbars. Ski racks require the 28V mounts (for vertical orientation of the attachment point), while bike racks or cargo baskets require the 28H mounts (for horizontal orientation of the attachment point).
3) You'll need some luck finding the 28V (Yakima part number 8830028), because neither Yakima nor any of the three major Yakima distributors (rackattack.com, orsrackdirect.com, and rackwarehouse.com) have them anymore. The 28H mighty mount may still be available from rackattack.com (it shows up on their website) but I haven't verified that. orsrackdirect.com thought they had the 28V for me, but it didn't actually exist on the shelf - only in their computers.
4) The Yakima Universal Mighty Mounts are readily available and will work on our factory crossbars, but their design does not offer much theft protection - anyone can simply unscrew the crossbar clamp and take your ski/bike rack (and everything it's holding).
Hope this info helps out! If anyone happens to find a source for the 28V mighty mounts, PLEASE SHARE (after you've bought yours, of course). I bought the universal mounts for my Buttondown 6 ski rack, but I'd much rather have the one fitted to our crossbars.
Backstory: I have a great Yakima roof-top cargo box (see my gallery for pix), which is great for running a mess of gear up to Vermont for the season, but kind of a pain in the butt the rest of the season 0 I hate driving around with it all the time, and I am sick of putting it on and taking it off every weekend, and I scratched up the interior in a couple of spots when I got lazy last year and threw the boards in the back, so I decided to put a ski rack on the VX like the gods of winter intended.
Anyway, here is what I found out...
1) Isuzu no longer carries the VX roof rack, and Yakima never had it, so you can't get one from either of them. If you can find one that happens to be sitting on the parts shelf at an Isuzu dealer, BUY IT! You will make money on it selling it here or on eBay.
2) If you have the factory rack already and you want to attach a accessory to it (like a ski rack or bike rack), then you need to find a set of Yakima 28V or 28H Mighty Mounts, depending on the application. The #28 is the one made specifically for our wing-style crossbars. Ski racks require the 28V mounts (for vertical orientation of the attachment point), while bike racks or cargo baskets require the 28H mounts (for horizontal orientation of the attachment point).
3) You'll need some luck finding the 28V (Yakima part number 8830028), because neither Yakima nor any of the three major Yakima distributors (rackattack.com, orsrackdirect.com, and rackwarehouse.com) have them anymore. The 28H mighty mount may still be available from rackattack.com (it shows up on their website) but I haven't verified that. orsrackdirect.com thought they had the 28V for me, but it didn't actually exist on the shelf - only in their computers.
4) The Yakima Universal Mighty Mounts are readily available and will work on our factory crossbars, but their design does not offer much theft protection - anyone can simply unscrew the crossbar clamp and take your ski/bike rack (and everything it's holding).
Hope this info helps out! If anyone happens to find a source for the 28V mighty mounts, PLEASE SHARE (after you've bought yours, of course). I bought the universal mounts for my Buttondown 6 ski rack, but I'd much rather have the one fitted to our crossbars.