Anyone cut down Thule Xsporter 500?

My RTT sits a little higher than I'd like but the uprights are as low as they will go. This Xsporter is a little different than the last generation as it has 30 or so plastic height notches inside the aluminum upright.

Wondering if anyone has cut a few inches off the bottom. If so can you link pics and are you still able to install the key locks?

Thanks!!!

(And for the inevitable "you should use the search function", I did but came up dry.)

 

Other reason is there seems to be so much buffeting by the wind that it is causing some small fraying to the tent edges under the vinyl travel cover... Not sure this tent will last more than a year or two at this rate.

 

It is good to see you getting this together.

 

vtmactec,
Did you ever cut down your uprights? I want to do the same. The only thing I can tell that will really be effected is that the locks will not work because the grove will be cut out. Then again, how effective is a lock being held by a piece of plastic? Let me know if what you think.

 

Updates ? I wanna cut mine so bad !!

 

I just trimmed 9 inches off of the top cross bars and got rid of all of the overhang. It looks way better now, like it "fits" the truck instead of looking like a kid with an oversized pair of shoes. I plan on doing the vertical bars next so I can lower them below the roof line when I'm not carrying anything. What I'm hoping to do is remove the plastic piece and make a tenon joint with a small stainless steel pin to retain the lockability but it will depend on whether or not I can shave the plastic with a router. If that doesn't work, I'll just cut them and lose the locks which should be fine where I live.

 

got pic of cut crossbars on truck? i wanna cut mines

 

I just take the legs and crossbars off when not in use , becuase I don't like how it looks I liked the lo profile look when I had them on my full size pick up , still haven't decided how nor how much I want to cut them ..

 

Pahala,

I'll take some pics on the weekend.

 

I've cut mine down, probably about 9-10 off the legs

 

Just cutted mine 6.5 inch to be safe .. still need that extta height for kayaks and other toys .

 

This is what mine look like after cutting 9" off of the top crossbars.

I left about 1" of overhang to catch ropes and used a general metal cutting blade on my mitre saw to cut through them. It cut through the aluminum easily.

I also plan on removing about 6" off of the vertical bars. I want to retain the lockability, so I'm going to stagger the section cuts on the plastic piece so I can drill through both legs and re-pin it.

And for PahalaTacoma, a random pic of a Plumeria from Kauai growing in Canada. It's flowered 3 times in the last 10 years.

 

I did my cut over the weekend. Cut of 9 inches from the bottom for the RTT install. Want it to be parallel to the roof top. The only issue is the lock, but I think it is pretty heavy with the RTT on top for it to be hijacked. I cut my using the hacksaw.

 

are you still gonna be able to load yaks ?

 

Yes, both kayaks will be carried on the bed with the bed extender.

 

I was wonder has anyone figure it out when cutting the vertical bar down how did they manage to lock the bar? The above pic from wally shows what he intended to do but would like the see the final product. I search around online and couldn't find anyone was able to lock the bar after cutting down.

 

Do you have any photos at the lowest point and highest point??? Also A clear photo of the of the bar after the cut???

Thanks

 

Has anyone who cut their bars figured out how to reinstall the lock? I just picked up an xsporter and RTT on the weekend and I am planning to cut the legs 6" or so so the RTT can sit behind the cab a bit better. Can I just use a hacksaw to cut through the aluminum legs and plastic all at once, or do I need to do it more carefully somehow? Thanks Wally for posting pics but I don't understand the bit about staggering the cuts on the plastic piece.

 

Hey, wondering if you ever heard back from Wally about this or if you had gone ahead and tackled it yourself and made it work, i just purchased an xsporter for my 3rdgen taco and am wondering about the specifics of that cutting as well.