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.
Yakima Exo install
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@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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Nice and inexpensive.
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That is fantastic! Thanks for the tip.
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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.
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It does fit.
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EXO OpenRange Deluxe
The EXO OpenRange allows you to oganize and stow your camp kitchen gear so It’s always ready to grab-and-go and turn into a fully functional camp kitchen.
yakima.com
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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.
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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.
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.
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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