Yakima SkyLine FX JetStream Aero Crossbars Roof Rack Installation - 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee

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Full transcript: www.etrailer.com/tv-install-y...
Hi, Matt with etrailer. And today we're talking about the Yakima SightLine FX bars on top of our 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Now, this can be a great option for you if you're looking for something that's gonna give you more of a clean design up on top of your roof so you can haul those longer accessories that can't fit in the back of the vehicle. And if you don't want this on all the time, you can remove this really easy. So let's check it out. And what I mean about this being more of a clean look, we just look at it right now, we don't really have anything sticking out off the side and that's gonna be 'cause of the design of this.
This is a flush rail system. So what that means is with a lot of crossbars, you'll have some overhang on the side of it. And with this not having any, that's what provides this more factory look we have today. Now that can be a pro and a con. The pro is if you have anything like roof boxes, you're gonna be able to put that extra storage on top of your roof.
Now anything like kayaks or skis, that's gonna be a little bit harder to put up here because you're gonna be limited on space. And a lot of time with that overhang, you could either tie off to that, or with skis, it's a lot easier to reach and take your skis off. This rack's gonna be comprised of two parts. The first part is gonna be the crossbars and the towers that are mounted to 'em. The second part is gonna be the fit kit that attaches your system to your roof.
So taking a closer look at the roof rack itself, or the crossbars, I mean, we're gonna have this channel at the top of it that runs all the way through, and you're gonna be able to use that for T track accessories like those roof boxes. What's nice about that is if you're not a big fan of any clamp-on accessories or if you're limited on clearance underneath here, you can just put your items into this track instead. That track's also gonna have this built-in weather strip. And I'm a fan of the built-in weather strip because the ones that don't have the one that is built in, you have to cut it down to size to accommodate whatever gear you have. This, you don't have to cut anything down, and that weather strip's gonna keep a lot of wind and debris from getting in there.
So it's gonna help it from getting all clogged up and you don't have to deal with that wind noise. Another thing that's gonna reduce wind noise too is gonna be the shape of the bar, so it's thicker in the front and thinner in the back. So that's gonna allow air to flow over this a lot better. And it's gonna also help reduce that wind noise. On the back of them, we're gonna have those towers. And if you remove that cap, you'll be able to see all the hardware that's underneath here. And if you remove that cap, we'll be able to see all the hardware that's underneath here and that's gonna be the system that helps hold this into place. That's one of the nice things about this cap is you don't have to look at any of that, and it still provides that clean look. And underneath that tower is where we're gonna have our fit kit attached to. And the fit kit really just grabs onto your vehicle's factory rails and it's gonna have this rubber section in front of it. That rubber section's gonna allow it to sit more flush, give you more of a clean look and it won't scratch anything up. And they're gonna have specific points where they attach to. So this is gonna be a fixed-mounting system. So what that exactly means is if you notice, right underneath here, we're gonna have two bolts that go through and grab your fit kit to your rails. You're gonna have some other sections you can attach that to on top of your roof, but that's gonna depend on what your needs are. Whether if you have maybe a longer box on top of here, you're probably gonna want a larger spread. Or if you have some smaller baskets, then you're gonna probably want the shorter spread. What that spread is gonna be exactly is if I measure from the front of my front crossbar and the front of my rear crossbar, that's gonna sit at 23.5 inches. So if you need something larger than that and you attach to these second points back here, that's gonna be more around the ranges of about 34 inch crossbar spread. A few other measurements I'd like to get is gonna be the overall height it's gonna add. So the tallest point are gonna be these towers. So if I measure from our rails to the top of the tower, that's gonna be about 4 inches, which is honestly pretty low profile. What I still recommend doing is taking the total height of your vehicle