RE: Yakima Racks and Chrysler minivans

SactoCampers · Sep 28, 2003, 07:05 PM

Hopefully somebody here can help me.

I have a 1998 Chrysler Town & Country with factory roof rack. I am looking at purchasing a couple Yakima Bike Trays so we can take our bikes with us camping. Weight will not exceed roof rack limit.

My question is with regard to the Mighty Mount roof rack adaptors. They are sold in sets of four and I was wondering if each Yakima bike tray (Raptor), requires four mighty mounts or just two.

Thanks in advance!

abbear · Jul 15, 2003, 09:57 PM

SactoCampersEach Raptor requires 2 mounts - one at the front crossbar and one at the rear. I have the first version of this style of bike rack and have had good luck with it. Our caravan is the third car we have used our Yakima stuff with and it has really stood the test of time.

SactoCampers · Jul 16, 2003, 09:57 AM

abbear

QuoteORIGINAL: abbear

Each Raptor requires 2 mounts - one at the front crossbar and one at the rear. I have the first version of this style of bike rack and have had good luck with it. Our caravan is the third car we have used our Yakima stuff with and it has really stood the test of time.

Thanks Allen, big help!

birol · Jul 16, 2003, 10:12 AM

SactoCampersSactocamper, you are not going over the GCWVR of the T&C are you ? Just a friendly reminder ......

How does the bikes effect your gas mileage by the way ? I have a roof rack thingie on the roof of Windstar too, and was thinking of carrying the bikes above it. Unless our new PU has already have bike racks [

]

SactoCampers · Jul 16, 2003, 10:46 AM

birol

QuoteORIGINAL: birol

Sactocamper, you are not going over the GCWVR of the T&C are you ? Just a friendly reminder ......

Take a look here:
http://sactocampers.tripod.com/sactocamperswebpage/id18.html

Considering I m about 800-1000 lbs under my 8300 lb GCWR (weights on my web page taken on solo trip to NNC rally without DW and Sactotoddler), I think it s unlikely [

]. I m fine on front axle and rear axle I m coming closer than I d like. It s a drawback of owning a popup with a relatively high tongue weight that prohibits WD. Of course that also depends where we re camping. If we have hookups, I take off a battery reducing some tongue weight . If dry camping, I put the cooler in the trailer near the axle rather than on board the minivan. Yes, we re loaded pretty good, but not over our ratings. We also take out the rear bench, which removes about 100 lbs of dead weight and I can take out one of the second row captains chairs, if necessary (we re a family of 3 right now).

QuoteHow does the bikes effect your gas mileage by the way ? I have a roof rack thingie on the roof of Windstar too, and was thinking of carrying the bikes above it. Unless our new PU has already have bike racks []

I couldn t tell you, since I don t have the rack yet. I don t think the bikes would harm it that much since they only add a few square inches of wind resistance (think front of front tire, neck of bike and handlebar). I m always in 3rd gear even on flat highway so my mileage is never that great, usually around 15-16 mpg. I wouldn t expect bikes to drop it down to 14 mpg.

birol · Jul 16, 2003, 10:53 AM

SactoCampers15 mpg [

] Mine gets 25 or so non-towing, we will see how it will do when towing [&:]

SactoCampers · Jul 16, 2003, 11:00 AM

birol

QuoteORIGINAL: birol

15 mpg [] Mine gets 25 or so non-towing, we will see how it will do when towing [&:]

Is that Canadien mpgs? [

]. My wife s 2002 Windstar is a gas guzzler (as Windstars are known to be), nowhere near 25 mpg in mixed driving. My minivan is AWD, so I lose fuel economy versus the 2WD version. We average 19-20 in mixed non-towing driving. About 22-23 on the highway non-towing. I can put the transmission into overdrive while towing and, according to the real-time mpg display in my roof console, get around 18-19 towing on flat ground, but having personal experience with premature Chrysler transmission failure in my old Intrepid (non-towing related), I m keeping it in 3rd and letting the mileage suffer. So far, so good. For perspective, it drops my cruising range (defined as the fuel gauge dropping to about 1/8 tank) from about 300 miles to 250 miles. Not that big a deal for one weekend a month. It s really inconsequential considering we rarely tow more than 150 miles right now to camp.

birol · Jul 16, 2003, 11:23 AM

SactoCampersCanadian mpg s funny [8D][8D][8D] Ours is a gas guzzler too, but on the trip to Eastern Rally we avearaged aroundd 24 Mpg, which is very very good. In city driving, we get around 16 mpg or so

This beast hates stop and go traffic ....

SactoCampers · Jul 16, 2003, 12:03 PM

SactoCampersOkay, I just placed an order for two Raptor bike trays.

Abbear, apparently according to Yakima you need one set of four mighty mounts for each bike tray. That may have changed from previous generation Yakima racks. I had to add another set of mighty mounts to my order. No big deal.

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