Q: I’m looking for a canoe rack that’s removeable, and I thought my selection of the The Yakima Q Tower half rack would fit the bil but was told it would not work.. I assume the problem is the shape of the roof on the cab. I’d rather not do a permanent installation, although I’m not opposed to some drilling, as long as the front and rear racks are still removeable with minimal hassle.
A: Unfortunately the Nissan Frontier is a very difficult vehicle for us. We can do a drill in system with only one bar above the roof to match up with the Outdoorsman you’ve selected, and in this case I’d recommend the Yakima Control Tower ½ Pack System or as a full system with two bars.
You could always run two Outdoorsman out of the bed, but this does tend to skew items to be carried toward the rear of the truck.
An alternative is the Sportrack ABR527 which will need to be strapped through the doors of the vehicle but provides an easy on-off mounting system for the cab of your truck. We do not stock this item but can easily obtain it for you.
Q: Thanks for the suggestions. I don’t think I’m interested in the Sportrack, since I’d prefer a hard bar over the cab. Occasionally I wind up hauling lumber for small jobs, so I’m really looking for something that can do double duty and still be removable.
The Yakima Control Tower might work, but I’d like to see some schematics so I can understand exactly how it attaches. You mentioned drilling, but the only photos I saw online showed mounting to a pre-existing roof track. Would I be drilling into the roof of the cab? Anyway, some more details will help me know if it will work.
I have also considered going with two Outdoorsman (Outdoorsmen?) at the front and rear of the bed, but I’m hoping for a cab-mount rack to give me a longer capacity. I’m hauling a 14-foot ABS canoe (and sometimes lumber).
Can you tell me if the TracRac TracOne Truck Rack will fit my 2006 Nissan Frontier? I did the online Fit Guide and it came up TracRacG2, but I don’t want to spend that kind of money. If you can tell me if the TracOne will work, that will help me make my decision.
A: The TracRac TracOne will unfortunately not fit your Frontier, and it most likely is due to one of two reasons. Either you have a bed mounted track system that gets in the way (many Nissans have an item called the Utilitrac attached to the inner edge of the bed) or the distance from the top of your bedrail to under the bedrail is too great for the TracOne clamps to reach. I’m not sure which but in discussing this vehicle with TracRac, this is what I’ve learned. The TracRac Sliding G2 System is a fit, and it mounts into the stake hole pockets so we know that will work, but as you mention it is a great deal of money.
I realize the problems you are encountering with a short bed truck as I too have one. A single bar above the cab with something in the bed does usually answer all needs, and this is what I ended up doing. I use one bar above the cab, but I did not have to drill into the truck to put one on. If I was you, I would drill a permanent mount system into the truck cab (unfortunately I cannot tell you exactly where to drill) but we’ve had a lot of folks do so successfully and without issue. Here is picture of a Nissan Titan that one customer drilled in a track to have two bars on the roof: Permanent Mount on Titan. You would only need to drill four holes to mount a Landing Pad base, and then have the Control Tower rise out of that base, then you have forward support for your longer items!
