Factory Roof Rack - Help / Screws (1 Viewer)

[Perfectmax]

On one side (in the front), my screws are very loose and need tightening. I don’t want to remove the roof rack, I’m happy with it. But how can I tighten the screws? Can I access them if I drop the headliner? Any ticks for tightening them? I’ve tried pulling it up to put pressure on the threaded piece, no luck.

 

[jpoole]

The nutserts are loose because of corrosion between them and the steel of the roof. In my opinion you need to pull the rack and deal with the rust regardless of what you decide to do regarding keeping or removing the rack long term.

Getting those bolts out when the nutsert is spinning/loose can be tricky. The bolt may be frozen in the nutsert due to corrosion and/or the nutsert may be pretty loose in the steel skin. I'd start by removing all of the bolts that you can get out and then strategize from there. You don't want to bend the roof panel but if there is enough corrosion a little upward pulling may pop the spinning nutsert out. Similarly, some penetrating oil on the bolt and then a little pulling to stick the nutsert against the roof can allow you to then unthread the bolt. If you can get the bolt loose enough to create space between the rack and foot you can also cut the bolt in the gap (mind the paint!) and then finish you repairs with the rack out of the way, etc.

Once the rack is off you can treat rust, repaint and replace failed nutserts before reinstalling the rack if you want to keep it. The plastic spacers between the feet of the rack and the roof can hold water that comes in from above, via the bolt holes and spacer/foot seams. Because of this water retention capability I recommend cutting a v notch at the low point in each plastic spacer, to serve as a drain and to help keep the inside of the foot dry. You can also use sealant under the bolts and between the rack feet and plastic pads/spacers to try to keep the water out. The combination of water, dissimilar metals and possible skipped metal treatment when the nutserts/racks were installed is why you'll often see rust under the rack feet on an otherwise rust free 80.

Somewhere I've got pictures of the waterlines from inside a few of the plastic spacers on my '97s rack feet, but I didn't find them when I just looked. It was clear that they held water up to a consistent height, to the point where a clear line had formed around the inside of the plastic spacer.

 

[leonard_nemoy]

Yep, the bolts screw into nutserts which are 99% probably rusted and spinning in the sheet metal of the roof.

Get the rack off, fix the rust, and move forward.

Even a simple set of Yakima bars would be 1000 times better than the crap they installed when these rigs were brought into the states.

 

[clx16]

This is the number one difficulty expressed when trying to remove the rack. They either are already broken loose or they break loose when you try to loosen the screws. I had two that were loose before i tried to remove them. Glad i didn't try to use the rack.

To fix the ones in the front. I believe you need to remove the sun roof if you have one, you can do a bolt through and some secure nut and washer but like mentioned above the metal is compromise from rust so stop the rust and make sure you are gripping good thick metal in your repair.

The rear ones are easier to get to with a headliner drop.

I removed mine. I need a rack that i can use, and the one i had was putting others lives in danger even without the rust issue. Had a lot of years in weather so it wasn't going to be strong plastic anymore.