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Thule Force XT Sport roof cargo box installed.
- Thread starter Anser
- Start date
One of my requirements was to get a cargo box that I can drive in and out of a normal residential garage door without having to remove it. This cargo box with a height of 16.75 inches plus the height of OEM roof racks on which it is mounted met that criterion. It weighs 32 lbs which is actually pretty good. There are not too many to choose from when one is searching for a cargo box around 70 inches long to keep the front overhang to an acceptable level.
I’m currently researching cargo boxes and also want to be able to pull into our garage with it attached. We have a MYP, so I think that buys us another inch in height, but the height from floor to the lowest part of our garage door is 83 inches. That gets us about 19 inches of play, minus whatever the factory roof racks add.
What is the total height of your setup? In your garage clearance pic, how high is that opening for your garage door? Thanks!
What is the total height of your setup? In your garage clearance pic, how high is that opening for your garage door? Thanks!
I'm on a road trip, now in South Florida with my Tesla and the roof box, so I have to get back home to measure my garage door height from the ground. Originally, I had parked the car half pulled in to the garage with the highest point of the roof rack (at its midpoint) directly beneath the garage door and measured about 19 inches gap before rushing over to my REI to do further math. My MYLR is on 19 inch aero wheels. I had installed brand new Bridgestone Turanza Quiettracks the day before which are 800 treadwear rated and has thick rubber compared with OEM Contis. I don't know how much of a factor this would be. The OEM roof rack is 3 inches tall from the glass roof at its midpoint and about 2.8 inches towards the door frame. Interestingly, the Thule Force XT Sport roof rack per my measurements is approx 14.5 inches at its tallest section. I wonder whether the height measurement of 16.75 inches on the factory sticker is including the locking jaws installed. I believe that's the case from the clearance I have from my garage door which is a good two inches. Hope this helps.
Rshephorse
Member
The real question is what is this doing to your energy efficiency at highway speeds? I found that even mountain bikes on a hitchrack really changed efficiency to where we had to be much more strategic with charging on the road. Eventually dialed in the right efficiency in ABRP to account for it.
I am half way thru my road trip of about 4000 miles since Christmas day on brand new Bridgestone Turanza Quiettracks which are about five pounds heavier per tire than stock Continentals and the cargo box mounted on top. I shall post the energy consumption figures in detail comparing it to the exact same trip I did in March- April of 2021, starting the evening I took delivery of my car. The two variables are brand-new Continentals vs Bridgestones and roof rack vs roof rack plus cargo box. Weather patterns seem to be very comparable.
Not too bad Wh/mi with the box on!
I was able to figure out the height of my roof rack on our MYP using a 2x4, a level and a tape measurer. It's just about 64.75" from the floor to the top of the front roof rack (the higher of the two). I do have 19" winter tires on (255/45r19), but the diameter should be pretty close to the stock Uberturbines so I don't know if I have to factor that in. I re-measured my garage opening and the lowest spot is 82", so I'll need to go with a slimmer box like the Yakima CBX or something like that.
I was able to figure out the height of my roof rack on our MYP using a 2x4, a level and a tape measurer. It's just about 64.75" from the floor to the top of the front roof rack (the higher of the two). I do have 19" winter tires on (255/45r19), but the diameter should be pretty close to the stock Uberturbines so I don't know if I have to factor that in. I re-measured my garage opening and the lowest spot is 82", so I'll need to go with a slimmer box like the Yakima CBX or something like that.
I bought the exact same box for my Tesla S 2021 - the roof rack were installed by Tesla, but I wasn’t able to install the box as it seems like the racks are about one inch too far apart and do not fit within the box’s groove… did you get that problem? Tesla says I cannot move the racks as they can only fit in their specific spot because if the glass roof… i thought I bought the wrong box but see you installed it… thoughts??
Sorry to hear about the issue. I have a 2021 Model Y. I did not have the issue of the OEM racks being spaced too far apart for the 11 cu ft Thule Force XT. I took some measurements for comparison purposes. The distance between the inner edges of the OEM roof racks is 30 inches (back edge of the front cross bar to the front edge of the rear cross bar). The distance between the outer edges ( the front edge of the front cross bar to the back edge of the rear cross bar) is 36.5 inches in my case. I measured these close to the midline of the car, not exactly at the midline. I am wondering whether the Model S cross bars are further apart than a Model Y. I can't possibly think of any other reason.
Anser, Can you help me solve a mystery? My Model Y (made May '21) has Tesla OEM crossbars that measure 39 inches front edge (front) to back edge (rear). I'm wondering how yours are closer together. According to the instructions, the center of each mount point should be is 227 mm (9") from front edge of glass and 412 mm (16.2") from rear edge. Those match my installation. Can you measure yours and determine what's different about your installation? Did you mount where the glass showed the mount points (hard to see). Wondering if Tesla changed something with the roof during the year. Having a hard time finding a Thule box that has claws that support outer edge of bars (39").
MDelectric, I am on vacation and unfortunately my car is back home. The crossbars were installed by tesla service at the time of delivery, so I assumed they did a good job. Strangely, recently I noticed that they were not aligned parallel to each other and there was forward and backward sliding possible to the tune of nearly an inch at all four attachment points. I'm planning to bring it in to Tesla service and check it out. With this wiggle room of nearly an inch with each bar, I won't be surprised if they tighten them down and I end up with different parameters of the distances between the crossbars. If that's the case I may end up with numbers closer to yours and having to struggle with my Thule roof box. Hoping that doesn't happen. But I was definitely surprised to see that almost an inch of fore and aft movement at each "leg".
Anser, how did you end up resolving this? Another poster was unable to fit the Force XT Sport on their Y:
Thule Roof Cargo Box Size?
Wow! Driving slowly? I was going, at most, 5 - 10mph over speed limit. In some areas, speed limit is 50mph, and on those smaller highways, i just went about 50 - 55mph. On the 70mph highways, I stayed pretty much right at 70mph.
teslamotorsclub.com
Where did your crossbars end up after tightening them properly? What did you do to make the Force XT Sport fit?
Here is how to actually install the Thule Force XT Sport box, which is a unique half-width roof box allowing one to still to mount a couple bikes on the other side of the roof. The modifications do not effect any structural components, in my opinion. The box itself fits between the correctly installed OEM crossbars, but the problem occurs when you try to fasten the clamps to the front bar. The bars are very wide and even though the center-to-center distance should work according to Thule's website, in reality the width of the bars precludes that.
The box doesn't have to be cut at all. The slots are long enough _if_ one hold-down clip from the clamp is removed. After getting out the Dremel, the finished product looks like this:
Note the right side of the clamp is clean and flush, the left side still has the little hold-down clip attached. You can still use that clip to keep out moisture and critters. Correspondingly, remove the bit of plastic on the moveable shim where the hold-down clip would clip into. There is also a little knob on that shim that prevents it from sliding too far forwards - remove that, too. Once the little knob is gone, I pulled out the shim plate and cleaned up the slot in that shim a bit.
Only the 2 front clamps and 2 front sliding-shims need to modified. These mods do not effect anything load-bearing. The little clips are simply there to hold the clamps in place when the box is not attached to the car, and the shims also prevent water and dust to get into the box.
When the box is all the forward (i.e. back-feet hitting the back rail) then you have plenty of space to wiggle in the front clamps that wrap around the front bar. Start by clipping the front clamp into the 1 remaining hold-down clip on the left (in my picture) and wiggle the clamp/shim a little to keep it centered over the bar while you're tightening the clamp. This requires a little wiggling because the clamps get narrower while they are tightened.
Here's a view of the front-right side installed:
On the front-left side, oddly enough, the sliding shim isn't long enough in the back to fully cover up the slot when the shim is moved so far forward. (Maybe Thule reversed the shims on my box, or inserted that one backwards?) In any case, there is a ~1" gap that the shim isn't covering on the front-left side. Not a big deal for snowboards, but maybe something to keep in mind for bugs in AZ.
This is what the finished install of the Thule Sport box on the 2023 Model Y looks like. No interference with the rear hatch.
Clamps on front bar:
Clamps on rear bar:
Everything is snug. I did notice that the curvature of the rear bar in that the Thule Force doesn't sit flat across the entire bar when the box is empty. A little weight will push down flush, though (but may cause some rattling?)
The box doesn't have to be cut at all. The slots are long enough _if_ one hold-down clip from the clamp is removed. After getting out the Dremel, the finished product looks like this:
Note the right side of the clamp is clean and flush, the left side still has the little hold-down clip attached. You can still use that clip to keep out moisture and critters. Correspondingly, remove the bit of plastic on the moveable shim where the hold-down clip would clip into. There is also a little knob on that shim that prevents it from sliding too far forwards - remove that, too. Once the little knob is gone, I pulled out the shim plate and cleaned up the slot in that shim a bit.
Only the 2 front clamps and 2 front sliding-shims need to modified. These mods do not effect anything load-bearing. The little clips are simply there to hold the clamps in place when the box is not attached to the car, and the shims also prevent water and dust to get into the box.
When the box is all the forward (i.e. back-feet hitting the back rail) then you have plenty of space to wiggle in the front clamps that wrap around the front bar. Start by clipping the front clamp into the 1 remaining hold-down clip on the left (in my picture) and wiggle the clamp/shim a little to keep it centered over the bar while you're tightening the clamp. This requires a little wiggling because the clamps get narrower while they are tightened.
Here's a view of the front-right side installed:
On the front-left side, oddly enough, the sliding shim isn't long enough in the back to fully cover up the slot when the shim is moved so far forward. (Maybe Thule reversed the shims on my box, or inserted that one backwards?) In any case, there is a ~1" gap that the shim isn't covering on the front-left side. Not a big deal for snowboards, but maybe something to keep in mind for bugs in AZ.
This is what the finished install of the Thule Sport box on the 2023 Model Y looks like. No interference with the rear hatch.
Clamps on front bar:
Clamps on rear bar:
Everything is snug. I did notice that the curvature of the rear bar in that the Thule Force doesn't sit flat across the entire bar when the box is empty. A little weight will push down flush, though (but may cause some rattling?)
I'll have to get some pictures, but I ended up on a slightly different modification approach. I extended the forward end of the slots. I used a series of drills to create the 'new end' and used a hacksaw to cut out excess. A little cleanup with a file and we were good. no modification to the clamps needed. I did drill from the bottom.
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