Hello all: I have a 2007 expedition. I have a friend who has a 2005 expedition. He is going on a long trip and would like to borrow my cross bars so he can put them on his vehicle and mount a roof top carrier. So my first question is are these interchangable (will 2007 rails work on a 2005)? Which would lead to the next question. If they are how do you remove them? Is there any other issue with doing this that I am not thinking about? Thanks again for all of your help.

 

Take a look at both vehicles closely and measure make sure they're the same style. I had to find a replacement for one of mine that got damaged, and as I recall the earlier models attach differntly. My 2007 did not come with the cross bars so I had to order seperately and and install myself. The instructions required you to remove part of the plastic trim on the rear most rail bracket on each side, then slide in the crossbars in the channel. You can remove the crossbars without doing this, but it will keep the channel brackets will still be stuck in the channel.

 

I do not believe they are interchangeable. Call a dealer and ask the parts person.

 

I gotta admit I rarely ever see the roof rack used for anything but decoration and dropping fuel economy with air turbulence! Just how much stuff is this guy carrying?

Fuel mileage is going to take a big hit with stuff up there.

-- Chuck

 

I have talked to 2 different parts guys at two different dealer. One said they are interchangeable and the other wasn't sure. They do have different part numbers, which to me means they are not interchangable. My buddy will be driving to Florida from Michigan for a 12 day vacation with a family of 5 s I can see where he needs the extra space.

Does anyone know how to remove these? The parts guys did not have any info on how to do it. Any help would be great. Thanks

 

Just to clarify, mine was damaged because my wife tried to drive into our garage with our Yakima skybox21 still attached! oops! We use our cross bars frequently with our cargo box for about 9,000 vacation miles. An areodynamic cargo box doesn't affect the mileage all that much.

 

07expyel: So to clarify with what you said. You need to remove the plastic cap at the back of the vehicle. That is definately the way it looked to me. I tried pulling on this but was worried about breaking it.

 

Yes the plastic cap at the rear. As I recall from 2 years ago its pretty hard to remove, I mean you don't want it coming off going dow the road. I think I have the instructions at home and might be able post a summary tomorrow.

 

The directions would be awesome. Thanks so much.

 

You don't have to be carrying much to need the roof. My 08 expedition has very little room behind the rear seat for cargo. It is about full with 3 camp chairs and a couple blankets for soccer games. And stuff keeps falling out when the hatch goes up. We had about 5 times as much room behind the rear seat in our Chrysler Minivan and the shape of the gate allowed you to really fill it up. We will be using the rooftop carrier and a hitch mount carrier when we go on vacation. I had been thinking about picking up more crossbars so that I could put a soft carrier in front of our Sport20. I hope there is enough room for our family of 5 plus dog. My family does not know how to travel light.

Mylo did you get a price on those crossbars?

 

Exactly why I got the EL, that extra bit of room helps so much with cargo. .. .

 

I looked, but couldn't find the cross bar installation instructions. They'll come with new cross bars.