New buyer - Prorac crossbar additions?

[VailDan]

Hey guys,

I understand that all the new HW since July 2019 now come with the Prorac permanent mount crossbars. I always throw my bikes in the back of my suv, but does anyone know what else I need to order to use those bars correctly. I was asking my dealer and not sure he knew. Not sure what both of these are, but if it is something simple that grabs my bike and works good let me know what I need.

ProRac Systems Load Stops
ProRac Systems Tie Downs

Thanks,

Dan

[Cindya1]

My husband just installed crossbars and bike rack on our 2015 A122 and we used last weekend, taking our road bikes. It worked well, although we added bungees to secure the front wheels better than the straps included (wobbled a bit on big bumps). Swagman Roamer LT roof rack and Swagman Upright Roof Mount Bike Rack. The only thing he had to change was the bolts as the included bolts interfered with the spring on the underside. Here's some pics.

[FremontBob]

Quick note, we have the Prorac bike racks, love them. However, remember to lock the locks on the palm knobs after use. Realized I was missing both, likely in transit from non bike trips. Yes, I unloaded the bikes and forgot to lock the knobs on. If you need to buy a set or an individual, call Prorac, they are about $10.60 each, plus regular USPS snail mail charges, no markup. Happy trails.

[Servant]

I bought a 2018 A213HW in January, picked out partly because of the supposed availability of the Prorac system. I travel with a bike and a kayak and wanted a trailer that would carry them. The unit I looked at didn't have them, but the dealer offered to install them. However, because of the dormer, which adds a third layer to the roof, no one was sure where to install them. The service tech elected to put them in the middle, presumably to keep the weight centered over the wheels and not mess with the dormer operation. They installed the Swagman racks (like Cindya1's) instead of the Proracs. The racks are fine, except that the bars are square and I already had Yakima bike and kayak carriers, and the kayak carrier wouldn't handle a square bar that big. So I ended up trading the bars out for Yakima round bars (with the Swagman towers) and everything works well.

It seemed fine, but after a couple of trips, I realized that the extra 40 lbs. of rack was really putting a strain on the back half of the roof that has to lift the whole thing. (Note that there are already issues with the power roof system, well documented in other threads.) So I ended up moving the racks to the dormer roof. I also beefed up the gas springs on the front half from 40 lbs. to 60, to further compensate for the weight. Discovering that the extra weight made the dormer nearly impossible to raise from inside the trailer, I also kicked up the springs on the dormer roof to 60 lbs. While I was at my modifications, I took one of the removed 40 lb. springs and installed it on the back roof to balance out the actuator on the other side and eliminate the torsion caused by the imbalance. Now everything works great--better than new, in fact.

I'll try to grab a picture when I load up Friday and post it. After all the mods, I'm beginning to feel like a true RVer!

[pgandw]

Originally Posted by Servant

I bought a 2018 A213HW in January, picked out partly because of the supposed availability of the Prorac system.

It seemed fine, but after a couple of trips, I realized that the extra 40 lbs. of rack was really putting a strain on the back half of the roof that has to lift the whole thing. (Note that there are already issues with the power roof system, well documented in other threads.) So I ended up moving the racks to the dormer roof. I also beefed up the gas springs on the front half from 40 lbs. to 60, to further compensate for the weight. Discovering that the extra weight made the dormer nearly impossible to raise from inside the trailer, I also kicked up the springs on the dormer roof to 60 lbs. While I was at my modifications, I took one of the removed 40 lb. springs and installed it on the back roof to balance out the actuator on the other side and eliminate the torsion caused by the imbalance. Now everything works great--better than new, in fact.

I'll try to grab a picture when I load up Friday and post it. After all the mods, I'm beginning to feel like a true RVer!

Thanks very much for the info. I had been holding back adding solar panels to the dormer roof (seems like the best place) because of the weight interfering with the lift of the gas springs for the dormer roof.

Did you experience any bending of the roof panel side rails with the more powerful gas springs? I did (and somebody else did, too), although it's not enough to be an urgent fix.

Interesting that the one 40# gas strut on the rear roof (combined with 60s on the front, which I have already done) makes the roof work better.

Thanks very much for your report.

Fred W
2018 Flagstaff T21TBHW (same as A213HW)
2008 Hyundai Entourage minivan
camping Colorado and adjacent states one weekend at a time

[Servant]

Originally Posted by pgandw

Did you experience any bending of the roof panel side rails with the more powerful gas springs? I did (and somebody else did, too), although it's not enough to be an urgent fix.

The short answer is yes. But I couldn't find 60s in the same form factor, so I went to a larger diameter spring, which also required a 13mm ball connector instead of the 10mm ones on the trailer. The original mounts were deteriorating rather badly anyway so I replaced the whole assembly. (Also went to stainless.) The downside was that they stick out about an inch further from the trailer than the originals. That extra leverage on the mount in contributing to the bending of the rails. I watch it, but I don't perceive that it's any real problem, nor does it seem to be getting worse. I also note that the rail where the actuator attaches was flexing like this, and worse, before I made my modifications.

With regard to the comment about the spring on the rear, I noticed right away that the rear roof panel was twisting because of the lopsided support. That results in alignment problems when it comes down and it doesn't want to clear the door the way it should. I believe it also contributed to my skylight separating from the adhesive, which I have documented in another thread. I (and a number of others) think this was a real engineering mistake on FR's part. The routine failures of the actuator have caused a number of folks to junk it and just put two springs on the back and put the roof up manually. Having just replaced my second actuator, I may not be far behind them!


Don