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Yakima Gear Box Repair

JohnJohn

Member #42
Location
Austin, Texas
Some butt holes in the mountains tried to open or steal my Yakima box today. I guess they thought there might be skis in it.

They got it open and found out there was nothing in it…but did some damage. The front and side look like a screw driver was used to pry it open. If you’re familiar with these boxes, they also broke two of the inside “ball shaped snap clips”. Those are riveted on and should be real joy to try and find. Anyone got a damaged Yakima box lying around I can steal from…I didn’t think so.

Anyone have any ideas what I can use to seal up the plastic shell? I think I will try heating it up with the heat gun to get the plastic back in place, but I need to use something to seal up the tears. Any ideas? I would prefer to use something black to keep the box looking decent.

Thanks for your help.
 
If it's plastic and not fiber glass, plumbers GOOP is actually (I've heard) Lexan glue and isn't expensive. They also have tail light Goop and E-6000 in cartridges. Stuff holds better on plastic than Epoxy cements. But does have a long drying time and has a tendency to run. I've used fiber glass band as a backing material. It is as strong as fiber glass/ polyester resin bonds or stronger.
 
is the plastic damaged? if so i wouldnt use it. my family had a thule box that had some small cracks arround the rivits. we thought it was fine. in utah it flew appart on the road, i was driving and could feel the top part break and fly off, and all out sleeping bags, matresses, and assorted crap were all over the road, some rv hit a therm-a-rest, and put a hole in it.



bottom half of the box
 
Yup it's plastic, ABS plastic. I think I'll remove just the lid today and try a repair. The tear in the front is only about 4" long.

I emailed Yakima to see if they can send me just the snap clamps so I can re-rivet new ones on.

What sucks is that it's the 21sqft box, around $425 to replace.
 
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