I got my Thule rack to work on my truck...

[DaveS]

I have a huge investment in Thule roof rack parts over the last 20 years (ski holders, sailboard holders, luggage rack, ski box, bike carriers, etc) so it was very important to me that I was able to get my rectangular Thule bars mounted on my truck.

I already had the overhead bed rack, and was able to drill out the mounting feet for the Thule bars to get them to mount to the Nissan/Yakima mounts for the fat oval rack. I should be able to mount all of my stuff on it now with no problems!

By the way, the truck still fits into my garage with the Thule bars on, but clears by about 1/4" and only if it has a full tank of gas!

- Dave

[caltitan]

DaveS -
Good job of adapting and overcoming to get that rack up. How's the wind noise with the Thule back there? I had one on my Honda Passport and it made quite a bit of noise, even when unloaded. I should have tried a wind deflector, but that's a mute point since I sold the rack when I bought my Titan. I don't have the utility package so I'm leaning toward a trailer hitch rack for my mtn bikes or possibly a bed mount. A 1/4" clearance is pretty tight, what's the height from the ground to the top of the rack?

[DaveS]

It's not any noticeably noisier with the rack than without, which is nice. I think it's just that it's so far away from me in the cab! I haven't measured the height, but my garage opening is the standard 8'.

Eventually I plan to get a hard tonneau (a Leer), then I'll mount the rack to it for a more aerodynamic situtation.

- Dave

[Retriever]

It looks like your Thule bars are wider than the truck bed, so you could saw them off to slide perfectly into the side Utilitracks then hold them in place with the cleats. I doubt a bike would fit on that and still fit under the overhead racks though. I only need them for my bikes, so I bolted two cleats (removed the existing bolts and used longer ones) on either side of one of my Thule bars and mounted it on the back Utilitrack, and kept the front fork holder (minus the wheel tray) and front wheel holders on that bar. Then I sawed off a small section of the wheel tray and bolted it to another cleat and installed it on one of the bottom Utilitracks so the back wheel rests in that. The bike still fits under my overhead racks in this configuration.