2005 CR-V - parking brake adj & roof rack attachment

[ballard770]

1) Our toad is a 2005 CR-V with a parking brake that is not only hard to release but doesn't hold well on an incline. Shortly after getting it rigged I had a 'senior' or 'Norwegian' moment and I towed it about 8 miles without releasing the parking brake. After $250 (seems high to me) I had the parking brake repaired - it needed shoes and most of the hardware as it was toast. Fortunately the rotor/drum was not warped from my lack of attention. That was in October and the brake didn't hold well then and my wife had trouble releasinng the parking brake. We went down south for the winter and all was well.

When I took the CR-V to the brake shop they told me that this type of brake doesn't hold well on hills without putting it into park (puts strain on transmission?). I will take it in and have the p brake adjusted.

If any of you have any experience with this type of p brake (rotor/drum combination i would appreciate any feedback.

2) Roof rack for CR-V. I have concerns about the rack that Honda makes as it has a 70# weight limit.

In checking out the factory roof rack for a 2005 Honda CR-V I found that there is a weight limit of 70 pounds. The roof racks that I have seen on cr-v's look puny. i could probably get a thule or yakima rack but that is about $400 or so. I would not use this rack for long distances or when pulling the toad, just to get the inflatable and/or paddle board from a campground to the beach at Birch Bay Washington.


I am considering making a rack system where I put screw-eyes in the 4 attachment points on the rooftop longitudinal rail on the cr-v. It appears to be 6mm thread. Each of the 4 attachment points has 3 nuts incorporporated in the structure. I would then use the attachment points to tie down my Porta-bote, oars, seats and/or inflatable with the weight on the roof with foam cushions in two to four places across the roof.



I already have a roof top set-up that has straps, gutter hooks and large foam pads to carry the weight but I need to modify the attachment points because the cr-v doesn't have gutters. The other places would have foam tubing ( pipe insulation or water weanies) to carry the weight.



To get a larger distribution of weight I would first connect the front and rear points straight across the roof, Then I would run diagonal from left front to right rear and right front to left rear with foam pads or tubes to hold the weight.




If anyone out there has any ideas about this subject please send me your comments.


Lee