Expedition Rack

[L-ARE-3]

I have recently added an Expedition rack to my 05' LR3. I know the old addage of hindsite is 20x20 but now I really want to add a bike rack option and still be able to pull in my garage. I have seen posts where people have added a Yak or Thule rack on top of the Exp. Rack. I would have to think that someone has created or found a way to mount a rack insite the Exp cage. The "T" track crossbars have to lend some support and ability to add a bike option.

HELP!!! I have been to every bike shop and tried almost every hardware store looking for a way to rig it up.

 

[techboydino]

this might do the trick. a little bracket work and it should be no problem.

Locking Blockhead

Basket Mounts.

A little pricey, but should mound with some crossbraces

Thule or Yakima should have something easy to fit up. Find a dealer that stocks these parts.

 

[AdvRide]

When I purchased my LR3 new in 05' I had the expedition rack installed before even picking it up. Over time I installed my Yakima towers onto the upper portion of the rack but that required a long reach for me to get my bikes off and on the rack due to the skyscraper height. Plus I put a two person kayak on that setup and the upper portion of the expedition rack sagged under the weight (84lbs) of the kayak.

And this setup was not going in a standard garage.

So I disassembled the expedition rack and removed the top section leaving the base. I liked the idea of having the base and cross braces to strap things down and it adds some protection to the glass top. But I have yet to come up with a way to secure the Yakima bike rails to the factory base. So for a recent trip I purchased the standard control towers, landing pads and cross bars to haul two bikes and a kayak. I removed the expedition rack base to install the Yakima setup. But now that I am back from the trip I am looking at how I can fit the expedition rack back onto the truck with the Yakima in place as well. Plus re-install the top portion of the expedition rack. I have some ideas that may include some trimming of the expedition rack. I will share them with you if I proceed.

I think the Yakima Blockhead application would work if you use some bolts and grind the heads thin enough to slide into the cross brace tracks. With the threads facing up the Blockhead could sit down onto them and you could use a nut to fasten them down. Just be aware that the expedition rack cross braces are not as stiff as a Yakima cross bar so if you plan to off-road the LR3 with the bikes on top they can flex a bit. I have some kayak racks that clamp around the expedition rack cross braces and simply driving down the road has them flexing just from the wind.

 

[kwlr3]

Any Thule product that mounts on their "Rapid Tracker" bars will also fit in the cross bars of the LR Expedition Rack. I mount four Thule 599xtr Big Mouth bike racks on my Expedition rack. Make sure you buy the additional adapters that allow that bike carrier to mount to the Rapid Tracker bars. The carriers come with the mounts for the older square bars. The Rapid Tracker system uses T-bolts that fit perfectly in the Expo Rack cross bars. I bought the whole set-up through REI in February when they had a 20% off sale on all Thule products

I stagger the bikes forward-backward-forward-backward. To get them up there, I stand on the tire and have someone hand me a bike. Easy to do with a road bike, not so easy with a 35 pound down hill rig.

This past spring I bought one of those off-road pop-up campers, mine is a Starcraft but Fleetwood makes a similar unit, I mounted the Rapid Tracker bars on the roof of the camper with the recommended Thule mounts and I can easily take the bike carriers off of the Rapid Tracker bars and put them on the LR3. The reason for the swap is the LR3 with the bikes on top needs something like...14 feet of clearance. We drive to our camp site with the bikes on the camper and then will switch the carriers over to the LR3 for the drive to the trail head. One of these days I'll post pictures of the WHOLE rig: '05 HSE, Expo Rack, Raised Air Intake, LR driving Lamps, Rear ladder, 4 Pelican caes fitted into the Rack filled with climbing and backpacking gear followed by the camper (if ever a pop-up camper could be called Bad-#**, this camper is it) with either four MTB's or two MTB's and two kayaks.

I'll admit it, I'm a gear freak.

 

[kwlr3]

Here is a picture of the camper with bikes on top