I just bought a yakima rack(complete except for Qclips) from ebay and I’m having trouble lossening the Qtowers so that I can slide them further apart on the crossbars to fit on my car. I broke down the tower as much as possible to see a bolt,screw,etc. that might do this, but I have no idea! I did find hex bolts, but they won’t budge. Is this what needs to be adjusted to slide the towers??? Any help would be appreciated.
Not sure if this will help
I don’t know if all Yakima towers are the same. On mine (which clamp to the side rails of a factory roof rack), the grip that the towers have on the cross bar and roof-rack rail is loosened by the same mechanism. Lift up a “lever tab” into its “free” position and loosen it like a nut (that tab is just a fancy-shaped nut). The tab threads onto a long skinny bolt inside the tower, and turning the tab as you would a nut tightens or loosens that clamp.
This seems obvious, so I’m guessing that you’re towers work differently than mine. If not, I hope it helps.
Careful
I had this problem, and ended up stripping the hex slot so that it is useless. Try to loosen it by hammering it inward first. You may need to tap it with a rubber mallet. Once it is loosened, you can slide it outwards.
hammer
I’VE nearly stripped one of the bolts already. The bolt is not protruding, so I can’t hammer it. I’m about to WD-40 it…
Push or tap the Q-tower
in (towards the center of the bar), not the bolt. This should loosen the grip that the Q-tower has on the bar. When you try to pull it outward, you are actually forcing the mechanism to tighten. Does that make sense? (I didn’t figure that out until I destroyed one Q-tower.)
hmmm
I see what you’re saying. Trying now…(and trying not to go crazy. These are the most expensive parts!)
read the instructions…
Follow the link on the page below to download a pdf of the Q Tower instructions. The adjustment of the towers to the bar is indeed made with the hex bolt. Don’t go hammering anything until you know that you’ve loosened what has to be loosened.
http://www.orsracksdirect.com/yakima-q-towers-roof-rack-installation-instructions.html
Did you get the Q-tower loose
without stripping the hex bolt slot?
downloaded the directions
This just in: I tried WD-40 on the bolt and then “gently” knocking the towers inward. They’re very tight, and I don’t want to hit them any harder.
I dowloaded the instructions and it just says to turn the lug counterclockwise to loosen. That’s what I’ve been doing…
Any other input is appreciated!
Instead of WD-40
Try a product called PB Blaster. It should be available at a Hardware or Car Parts store. It is dramatically better than WD-40 for loosening corroded parts.
I’ll second that…
– Last Updated: Mar-30-05 6:12 PM EST –
...I love PB Blaster. You can get it in Wally World, too, I think. When you spray it, tap whatever you're trying to separate lightly.
maybe you need a different tool
I just went through something very similar. I discovered that the stuck screws loosened easier when I used a star shaped screwdriver instead of the standard hex wrench. I was having trouble with the screw head stripping. The star head was able to grip better.
I just happened to have one of those “screwdrivers” that has several different head types.