Decoding Yakima MightyMounts and Snap Arounds
9V? 23H? Horizontal, vertical? Round, square, universal? Do I even still want to install this rack anymore? Yakima MightyMounts and Snap Arounds can appear unnecessarily confusing, but there are some patterns we can deconstruct and determine which mounts work for which applications.
Let’s start at the beginning. The first basic Snap Arounds or SNARs were designed to attach Yakima ski, bike, and water carriers to standard 1 ⅛” Yakima round crossbars.
Since these can rotate to whatever position they need to on a round bar, there is no vertical or horizontal designation. Some have an extra tab to keep them from rotating on the back of a bike rack tray. They even attach to the Warrior baskets to allow you to fit a carrier on top of the basket.
Later, they were updated to fit Thule square crossbars. But there are a couple problems: Thule “square” bars are actually 1 ¼” x ⅞” rectangles, and Yakima ski racks attach differently than bike and water racks do. So now there is a Vertical Snap Around for ski racks and a Horizontal Snap Around for bike and water racks. Note that the terms vertical and horizontal relate to the orientation of the clamp, not the direction of the bolt. Vertical SNARs are most readily available only in the PowderHound Mounting Hardware parts bag, not by themselves.
Vertical Snap Arounds above and Horizontal Snap Arounds below.
When attaching these to a square bar, there are tabs that are permanently removed.
But Yakima, what if I want to use my factory crossbars? Enter MightyMounts. MightyMounts have vertical and horizontal orientations also, but they are sized and shaped specifically to fit certain vehicle’s factory crossbars, so they have a nice low profile fit. Unfortunately, the naming scheme is kind of a mess, but luckily Yakima still has a fit list and some information published here.
There are some important notes regarding MightyMounts. For instance, the letter following the number indicates a Vertical or Horizontal MightyMount. However, the numbers do not directly correlate for the vertical and horizontal option for a given vehicle. For example, the 1998 Dodge Grand Caravan uses the 9V for ski racks and the 25H for bike/water racks.
There are some MightyMounts that do not have direct vehicle fits, but instead fit specific crossbars. These include:
4V & 4H: Thule square bars (essentially made redundant with the round/square Snap Arounds)
32H: Whispbar/Yakima FlushBar, RailBar, ThroughBar
34H: Whispbar HD Bar (not Yakima HD Bar)
39H: Yakima CoreBar & JetStream bar.
WingRider Vertical and Horizontal MightyMounts (Vertical sold as a set under part #8003600, Horizontal primarily available in the WingRider package)
Notice that there are only horizontal MightyMounts for the newer Yakima and Whispbar crossbars. Have an older ski rack and newer bars and want a clean fit? No such luck. (Keep scrolling for Yakima's solution.)
Vehicle specific MightyMounts were largely discontinued around 2006. The crossbar-specific numbers and some Subaru numbers sold as OEM parts lived on for a while. If you are looking for a MightyMount to specifically fit your vehicle after 2006, there probably is not an option unless the year range for that specific vehicle happens to overlap with the 2006 model year. No, we do not provide measurements of specific MightyMounts to see if it will work anyway. If it is not listed on the fit guide, we cannot recommend the fit since it has not been tested to fit securely - the shape is important as well as the dimensions.
Please do not use them in the below configuration.
The Universal MightyMount is the replacement for vehicle-specific numbered MightyMounts. This adjustable set of mounts can fit just about any crossbar and works with almost all racks that originally used Snap Arounds (there are a couple exceptions that use different conversions) at the cost of being big, clunky, and expensive. They even come as standard equipment on the Raptor Aero. Ski racks and bike racks that passively “lock” when used with Snap Arounds or MightyMounts now require the Accessory Lock Housing to deter theft. If you have an older rack and need to attach it to newer crossbars, this may be the only option.
Newer Yakima racks include universal mounting hardware out of the box that fit most crossbars out there. Some even have T-slot capability to mount seamlessly to compatible crossbars. But if you’re like us and prefer to keep your older racks in service, understanding the features and limitations of MightyMounts and Snap Arounds will help keep you on the road!
