I have had a mental debate about getting the cross bars since the day I bouth the XL7 but the truth is that on the 11 years I owned the Explorer that I traded for the XL7, I transported something on the roof once.
It was a ladder that my family bougt at Home Depot that would fit perfectly if I put the passenger seat of the XL7 down.
Yakima makes a kit that will mount to the factory rails that includes the 48" round crossbars and the towers. You can go on their website to find exactly what you need. I will warn you that I have purchased this kit for our XL7 and when I went to install it I noticed the factory roof rails are almost totally PLASTIC and very flimsy. It just didnt make any sense to mount a sturdy yakima rack to the top as it looked like the factory rails would just crumble. I decided not to mount it and it is still sitting in my basement. If you really want to put a load on the top I would look at another mounting option that clamped on the top of the door frame as the factory rails are really just for show. Yakima sells these type towers also. I wouldnt trust the factory rails with a load on the highway and I didnt want the liablility associated with something going wrong.
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Roof Rack Crossbar Alternative
Linear Mode
