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Yakima Exo install

12880 Views 67 Replies 11 Participants Last post by  thefinnisher
Decided to take the plunge and ordered a Yakima Exo swing base, top shelf, gear locker and backdeck for my Metris. I got mine through REI and had it shipped to the store. Free shipping plus I will get 10% back in dividends next year. So anyways here goes, hopefully I can get the pictures in order.
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This is the unit in the box. The first issue is the included hitch pin and lock is not compatible with the stock Mercedes trailer hitch. The included pin is too long. It may work if you just want to use the clip, but that wouldn’t be theft proof. I had an aftermarket pin I purchased from etrailer a few years ago that should have worked, but it never tightened down and ended up stripping before I got to 100nm the directions say to tighten the bolt.
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The rest of the installation pretty much followed the instructions.
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I visited the REI flagship store this week and asked about the exo base. They aren't getting any any inventory for a while. Story they are telling is a shortage of steel. They also mentioned they have had a handful of them come back with issues with the latch mechanism. They didn't go into a lot of detail. There are quite a few rack dealers around here and none of them had stock and the stories were similar. Loads of lockers, top shelves and bike rack mounts, but no bases. September or October is probably realistic.
@Vercingetorix Yakima just got some stock in for the cleats used for their gearwarrior accessory. I've been waiting a long while for these to come back in stock. They are going to be perfect to make my own camp kitchen box and mount non Yakima cases.

Nice and inexpensive.


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That is fantastic! Thanks for the tip.
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20lb tank does not fit. The table seemed sturdy enough, but will pass final judgment when I actually cook on it. I have some ideas on using some form of jack if necessary. The mounting system is indeed simplicity itself. Maybe the number will allow ordering as a spare part. View attachment 18953 View attachment 18954 View attachment 18955
Do you think the table (Back Deck) would fit inside the GearBox? like at the base maybe before your other stuff, or on top before closing? Would be nice for it to nestle in so that you dont have to have that huge piece inside the car.
Do you think the table (Back Deck) would fit inside the GearBox? like at the base maybe before your other stuff, or on top before closing? Would be nice for it to nestle in so that you dont have to have that huge piece inside the car.
It does fit.
@Vercingetorix Yakima just got some stock in for the cleats used for their gearwarrior accessory. I've been waiting a long while for these to come back in stock. They are going to be perfect to make my own camp kitchen box and mount non Yakima cases.

Nice and inexpensive.


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Cool? I dunno. I want to like it more than I do. I get the design choices. I'm sure people will buy it. I'm glad they made something and are investing in the platform.

Seeing a video helped with scale, but the forum software refuses to let me link it.
Legs are extra. If you pack these in the bin do you have room for what you need?

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I wanted to speak to the post concerning the amount of bounce this system has on the road. I have the Yakima Exo system on my Ram Promaster City and loved it first time out on a two week road trip - but - I too noticed a LOT of bounce from both top and bottom levels, and it made me very nervous. I googled the issue and it's how I came to find this post. So, I am glad to see others have noticed the same thing, and I just will make sure I am not overloading my racks, and trust the engineering will hold. I was especially sure to use the included jack to provide extra support to the arm when I had to swing it out while fully loaded. I am planning to look into a hitch stabilizer.
I initially bought a full set up of the swing away base with the cargo box and the second level with a cargo rack. I also was a little concerned about bounce. I love the swing away system. But I found that set up was too much space and invited overpacking. The second level arms are really heavy too so I thought I could get creative within the weight limits of the swing away base. I returned the box and second level frame ( so far have kept cargo rack but not used much).

inspired by post 42 above, I got “replacement” cleats and made a sort of gear / chuck box. It’s an aluminum truck box on 3/4 ply - wide enough to hold jerry cans on either side - that is drilled to allow bolts to the cleats. Made some shelves and storage boxes on the inside - kaizen foam on the bottom cut to hold stove and other gear. It is still a work in progress and may eventually get some legs. So far I’ve just lifted it off and set it on the picnic table at public campsites. It’s so nice to flip in the swing base arms to make the base smaller. Side tables are also in the design phase (but i just got a canoe trailer and may modify the set up) I have over 10k miles on the exo system and am a happy customer so far.

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like pounce, I want to like the new open range more than I do. Like the innovation, but not sure dimensions, capacity, weight, and cost make sense for me. I’m on the fence if I would consider purchasing down the road or continue with a diy approach.

bottom line - I think the base is really solid and the cleats open a world of opportunity for diy.
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Yakima seems to have gone off the deep end.
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Yea, Bigfoot is definitely not a Tesla guy. Total miss.
I'm not sure it is a total miss. I know this guy drives a tesla.
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I'm not sure it is a total miss. I know this guy drives a tesla.
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Totally different families.

I purchased the Eco SwingBase as well and wondering more how people solved the anti-wobble hitch pin issue with the electrical connection bracket on the factory hitch.

@Vercingetorix I saw your post about using an older version of a hitch pin. Do you know what length it has, and does it have the anti-wobble threads at the beginning of the bolt?
I purchased the Eco SwingBase as well and wondering more how people solved the anti-wobble hitch pin issue with the electrical connection bracket on the factory hitch.

@Vercingetorix I saw your post about using an older version of a hitch pin. Do you know what length it has, and does it have the anti-wobble threads at the beginning of the bolt?
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Thank you very much @Vercingetorix ! So the hitch pin length should be just a little bit over 4 inches. I will start looking and when I find a suitable part, I will post it here.
Thank you very much @Vercingetorix ! So the hitch pin length should be just a little bit over 4 inches. I will start looking and when I find a suitable part, I will post it here.
Call ReRack.
@Vercingetorix after quite a bit of research I called ReRack and also Yakima. Both said they didn't have any other hitch bolts available based on the specs I was looking for. The closest historical Yakima bolt I could find that could have been promising seemed like Yakima model 8820052 which according to my research would have been 3-3/4 inches long.

After some pondering and reading some reviews I realized that the Yakima lock would be pretty much worthless anyhow. Given the huge size of the hitch bolt and the anti-wobble system, somebody would just need to start wrenching and the lock would most certain release like a pop-corn.

Since I have always been taught to help all walks of life, I decided to just drill the Yakima hitch lock and entirely remove its locking capabilities. I'm therefore left with the factory bolt (which fits just about with the 100Nm torque) a bridge pin, and the illusion of a hitch lock (modified). There's a little bit more to this story so read/see below.

Drilled hole all the way through to hitch pin could reach in longer (this is my NKS - No Key System):

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I also needed to grind a couple of mm from the hitch side to make it fit. I painted it with black paint so it would be a bit less noticeable.

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Here you see it "installed". The plastic cap was crappy and wouldn't stay on no matter how I tried. It should have been deeper with a longer plastic arm. Had I kept the lock core I would likely have put Tesa tape on it, which is what I did anyway. I figure why not, at least anyone curious would need scissors or a knife.
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Seen from a bit further away. It kind of looks legit doesn't it?

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I truly wasn't satisfied with this. The rack is fairly expensive to offer on a platter to potential thief, so I needed to make it a bit tricker, without having to modify the electrical connector bracket (which is what I was going to do at first).

Here's my recipe for what will make it a bit more cumbersome to remove.

1. One M16 Eye Bolt stainless steel 130mm ( I think buying a 120mm long would be better as I ended up having to shorten it a bit)

2. One M16 10.9 strength bolt length 120mm (I bought from McMaster with product code 95327A795)

3. Two narrow M16 hex nuts stainless

4. One CURT 22750 hitch cover

5. One M6 50mm stainless flat head screw (not in photo)

Additionally some Tesa tape, heat shrink and couple of stainless steel padlocks. (I spray painted the drilled holes just in case... the stainless should be good without paint but the 10.9 Zinc Yellow-Chromate Plated I felt would benefit from some paint)

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My idea was to use the backside of the hitch to lock the rack in place. I figured I could do this with the help of the Yakima no-wobble hex insert, by using a longer M6 screw and then somehow preventing you couldn't "pull" the hitch out, should you be so successful to "unlock" my Yakima hitch lock NKS system.

I was going to mod a hitch cap myself but found the perfect solution on AMZ. It's a steel heavy duty cap by CURT. Anything I plan to mod I always get from their warehouse deals which I did now too. Because there isn't a ton of room between the spare tire and the back of the hitch I needed to hacksaw it shorter. This CURT cap is a beast like 2-3mm thick and it was a bit difficult to saw straight. Oh well, it didn't really matter:

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I then driller a 16 mm hole in the center, filed it a bit and painted any metal that was unprotected. I didn't worry too much about the paint quality as I just needed it protected.

Here you can see my M6 screw in testing. The screw reaches to the other side (because Yakima made it so you could switch sides) but doesn't protrude.

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Here you can see the eye bolt placed for testing. The Yakima hitch insert doesn't go all the way to the end, thereby leaving threads still accessible behind the CURT cap when placed.
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From this angle you can see the M6 screws from the other side. This means the M6 50mm screw has "attachment" from both sides, so should someone try to pull or yank the rack out, they would definitely have some troubles (although nothing is impossible of course).

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To be continued with some final installation photos.
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