OT: Re-drilling holes in Yakima SpaceCase 4 mounting

Sasquatch · Since 09 Mar 2005 2057 Posts PNW Bigfoot

I've come across a lightly used, but older Yakima space case. I have a newer one that has moveable mounting locations so I can use it for multiple cars.

I want to give this Space Cast to one of my nephews attending college who skis.

The problem is the mounts are fixed. The location of the mounts places the box back to where it inhibits the hatchback opening fully of my nephew's car.

It seems simple enough to drill news holes in the floor of the Space case in a new location to push the placement of the Space Case closer up to the hood/drivers area.

Some wood blocks probably are in order for one of the new placements as the floor of the Space Case isn't/won't be flush/ level. There probably is a 1/3'' difference and if I don't do this the case/nose will angle/tilt up some. I'll look into some longer bolts at Rack Attack, but I don't want to put a lot of time or $ into this. Its often the case easier to buy new and throw perfect working stuff away, unfortunately.

Has anyone ever done this before?

How much of a concern would you have moving the mount locations back making the front mount location farther from the mfg's original location; giving it a much longer nose. I've thought about placing a piece of 1/2 plywood slightly bigger than the two front mount U bolt mounts that go around the cross bars to help distribute any load caused by headwinds from driving.

Thoughts?

Singlemalt · Since 21 Jun 2015 460 Posts White Salmon Obsessed

I did exactly that with a Thule box. It originally impeded the old 95 Subaru Legacy hatch. That was a pain in the butt.

I just shoved the box forward until I had a bit of clearance when the hatchback was fully open, eyeballed the cross bars and drilled new holes. The old Subaru had fixed cross bars on the standard roof rack package.

Used the same hardware. Half an hour of messing around. The box is floppier at the front, but no issues in years of use. I contemplated adding a padded pillar at the front but never felt like it needed it.

No big deal.

HRnico · Since 22 Mar 2008 260 Posts Da Hood Obsessed

Did th same with a thule i got used. Drilled new holes and used some small blocks' of wood to spread the load of the bolts. Been using for over Ten years