Author Topic: Thule sup taxi warning  (Read 17000 times)

jrchandler

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Thule sup taxi warning
« on: April 17, 2013, 06:23:52 AM »
For everybody that has a sup taxi. I just got one and realized after several trips with my board that the rear cam wasn't holding the strap tight. The springs on both cams were extremely loose. I took them apart and opened up the springs so the cams now put more pressure on the straps. Lift up on your board to check the straps before you go.

PDLSFR

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Re: Thule sup taxi warning
« Reply #1 on: April 17, 2013, 08:03:34 AM »
Also always lock them when the board is in the rack (even for short trips), then after locking give the straps a few extra tugs to ensure you have the tightest possible tension on the cams for maximum hold.

 I saw a guy toss his NSP on his Thule rack and drive away without locking it...sure enough I then saw him on the side of the road about a 1/4 mile away with his board on the ground.
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TN_SUP

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Re: Thule sup taxi warning
« Reply #2 on: April 17, 2013, 10:26:46 AM »
I bought another Taxi to use while I try to figure out why the strap won't tighten on one of them, even locked. I was thinking the strap was wearing down smooth and a new strap would solve it. Sounds like I may need to stretch the spring instead. Time to contact Thule before I disassemble it.
'13 SB Sprint, '15 SIC X-14 ProLite, RH Coastal Cruiser, Think EZE Ski, Kenalu Konihi 84  & Mana

PonoBill

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Re: Thule sup taxi warning
« Reply #3 on: April 17, 2013, 12:20:39 PM »
Stretching a spring is a temporary fix, it just increases the preload, not the spring rate. If you want to fix the problem you probably have to reploace the spring with something stronger. The stretch will relax in a short time and you'll be back where you were, perhaps without warning.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

jrchandler

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Re: Thule sup taxi warning
« Reply #4 on: April 17, 2013, 01:46:46 PM »
The spring is a double torsion with what looked like a 45 degree offset.  It wouldn't even hold the cam completely up with no strap on it.  I opened the spring up to about 120 degree offset. I'm going to look for some different springs to put in there.

Flores

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Re: Thule sup taxi warning
« Reply #5 on: April 18, 2013, 05:51:52 PM »
Ditto the locking statement.  Lost my SIC Bullet 14' due to forgetting to lock the cam in place.  Sadly, I was looking for an opportunity to get off the road to lock the rack when the front strap let go.  Expensive lesson learned.

ObviousSup

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Re: Thule sup taxi warning
« Reply #6 on: April 18, 2013, 07:04:44 PM »
I had to do the same "adjustment" with the taxi's I picked up on eBay. I suspected they were put on eBay with no use because one of the cams would never engage. It seemed like a quality control issue when I took everything apart to readjust things.

sup_surf_giant

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Re: Thule sup taxi warning
« Reply #7 on: April 19, 2013, 03:23:38 PM »
I sold my taxi before even installing bcs it was a monstrosity and because I couldn't achieve proper tension on strap in the garage.
Taller than most, shorter than others.

MJF

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Re: Thule sup taxi warning
« Reply #8 on: April 19, 2013, 05:01:05 PM »
Ok, for the non-engineers here, can you translate that  ??? I have a Taxi, wish there was an alternative to it. I haven't had too much trouble getting the straps to sort of tighten down, but they aren't confidence inspiring. They often have loosened up a couple of inches by the time I get home.

The spring is a double torsion with what looked like a 45 degree offset.  It wouldn't even hold the cam completely up with no strap on it.  I opened the spring up to about 120 degree offset. I'm going to look for some different springs to put in there.

ObviousSup

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Re: Thule sup taxi warning
« Reply #9 on: April 20, 2013, 05:36:21 PM »
Ok, for the non-engineers here, can you translate that  ??? I have a Taxi, wish there was an alternative to it. I haven't had too much trouble getting the straps to sort of tighten down, but they aren't confidence inspiring. They often have loosened up a couple of inches by the time I get home.


Do the locking cams spring up firmly to their highest possible limit of motion? One of mine only came up about half way to the upper limit and the other didn't move up very firmly. After opening everything up and adjusting they take much more effort to move them down which helps them grip the strap quicker as the strap moves backwards slightly. I haven't done any long trips with mine so my results might be different.

JT

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Re: Thule sup taxi warning
« Reply #10 on: April 21, 2013, 07:06:28 AM »
This thread reminded me to add another warning, though apologies for not being more timely, as it applies to winter weather.

I left my car outside overnight when my area got hit by some bad weather (sleet/snow/freezing rain), but decent surf conditions.

The next morning I tossed the board on top and was about to head off to the local break when I gave the straps a tug. They had frozen to the point where the cams had minimal traction and the straps could work loose with minimal effort. But they didn't really look like they were frozen and nothing appeared amiss.

My workaround was to fold the seats down and toss the board in the car, but it would have been a different story with a bigger board. I also now keep a pair of regular rack straps as backup.


TN_SUP

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Re: Re: Thule sup taxi warning
« Reply #11 on: April 21, 2013, 07:24:40 AM »
Keeping the cams / mechanisms lubed really helps too when they start to stick. I use my favorite bike chain lube. For some reason ice forms on the pads when theres a frost, so I throw a beach towel over them the night before.
'13 SB Sprint, '15 SIC X-14 ProLite, RH Coastal Cruiser, Think EZE Ski, Kenalu Konihi 84  & Mana

SaMoSUP

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Re: Thule sup taxi warning
« Reply #12 on: April 21, 2013, 10:21:56 AM »
I had both the Thule Taxi and INNO 446 and went with the INNO because it gives lower height clearance and the ratchet system was more solid than the strap/cam system on the Thule which felt quite flimsy.


Ok, for the non-engineers here, can you translate that  ??? I have a Taxi, wish there was an alternative to it. I haven't had too much trouble getting the straps to sort of tighten down, but they aren't confidence inspiring. They often have loosened up a couple of inches by the time I get home.



MJF

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Re: Thule sup taxi warning
« Reply #13 on: April 29, 2013, 02:13:54 PM »
I have had the SUP taxi for about a year.  It always has worked for the most part with some extra care. I would tighten it down, lock, tighten again.  would also stop after about a mile and give it one last tighten.  Usually, it would not loosen after this protocol.  I decided after this discussion to go back and read the instructions once more.  Well, I apparently have been forgetting about the secondary clip under the taxi that the strap goes into before you insert it into the base.  The caveat to this clip is that it is nearly impossible to feed it through this clip if your SUP taxi is set to the narrowest setting (still too wide for my boards). However, when I do feed it through the clips before the base, I no longer have any issues with the straps loosening up. The clip gives enough extra resistance to completely solve my problem.  I now no longer hate my taxi outside of the garish size and wind resistance/noise that it offers.

Mike

sup_surf_giant

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Re: Thule sup taxi warning
« Reply #14 on: April 29, 2013, 06:13:33 PM »
Did anyone note just how much the Taxi impacted your MPGs?
Taller than most, shorter than others.

 


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