The XK Hemi

[xjtrailrider]

This is my first mod to the beast. I wanted to run my Yakima round bars on the factory rails but Yakima does not offer a set-up that will work without drilling holes. I had a set of Yakima Rail Rider towers so I decided to make my own mounts. Now I can carry the canoe and/or both kayaks or the bikes on top.

First I made the upper and lower plates to mount the towers to and to squeeze into the factory rails.

I took a 1/8"x1-1/2"x48" piece of flt bar aluminum and cut it into (8) 6" long pieces. I then drilled the holes in all 8 plates at the same time. I picked up some SS hardware at NorthWest Hardware and assembled the mounts/rack. Here are some pics;

The plates and the nylon spacers that keep you from over-tightening the bolts.


The towers mounted to the plates.


This is what the mounts will look like assembled.


This is what they look like mounted to the factory rails.



Here is the rack mounted to the Commander.



Here it is loaded up and headed to the river yesterday. We floated 12 miles of the James (Alpine to Glasgow). The rack did great on the highway.

[hadfield4wd]

Just once, I want to see you do something that looks like it was thrown on in the last minute.

Looks really nice Jon.

[drakan1908]

Nice!! Jon, you should advertise these on the XK site. Others would prob. buy them.

[xjtrailrider]

Nice!! Jon, you should advertise these on the XK site. Others would prob. buy them.

I did a write up on Commander Forum and got a lot of response.