Free (!) advice on how to remove a balky OEM roof rack!

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So I'm looking for SS M5 button heads to fill the nutserts, what kind of non-silicon, body shop-friendly sealant did we decide on?
 
you can use 3/16-32 AKA 10-32 it fits fine and a whole lot easier to find and with much more selection

I used black RTV but just realized I will likely have problems getting pait to stick to it, if AA has employee sales you could pick up a tube of 1435 b_ , I would get at least B2 for 2 hour work time
 
e9999 said:
darn, this thread must have hit a spot. About 100 views already in 2 hrs.
Dang thing!
E
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Ha, I feel blessed, my truck never had the factory roof rack installed.
 
cruisermaine said:
Ha, I feel blessed, my truck never had the factory roof rack installed.
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nice! you are blessed I wish I could say the same
:flipoff2:
 
cruisermaine said:
Ha, I feel blessed, my truck never had the factory roof rack installed.
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Mine neither, reportedly it's the darn port guys that did it.. :mad:
E
 
RavenTai said:
you can use 3/16-32 AKA 10-32 it fits fine and a whole lot easier to find and with much more selection

I used black RTV but just realized I will likely have problems getting pait to stick to it, if AA has employee sales you could pick up a tube of 1435 b_ , I would get at least B2 for 2 hour work time
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do you still need to use goop if you use a rubber washer affair?

E
 
e9999 said:
do you still need to use goop if you use a rubber washer affair?

E
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you could use both but if the rubber get a good firm compressed seal it will likely be OK by itself, I just used some tapered washers and sealant

the nutserts sit a little higher than the skin of the roof, I had to "adjust" :doh: the roof to get everything to sit flush
 
There are other tips for hardware and adhesive removal in that other roof rack thread... Like others, the screws in my center rails came out easy, it was the ones in the 4 corners of the main rack that were the pain.
 
OK, going back to the original post above where I was suggesting to drill everything out right away to avoid trouble down the line, it is fair to note that I just saw that this was also what Raventai had suggested a couple of months ago in a related thread. Goes to show you that great minds think alike, eh...! Or alternatively, that I should have paid more attention at the time? Or that there some logic to all this madness? I know, I know.... Well, sometimes things only sink in best under duress... :D :D

Anyway, I will watch with great compassion yet amusement when the next victim will have to go through all this as well...

Enjoy! NOT!

E


oh yes, again, even if you don't want to deal with any of this now, at least go and check to make sure that your mounts are tight. It's when they are a bit loose that they start to dig in through the paint... You should see mine...!
 
So I'm the next victim to remove the POS racks. I have 4 screws that back out and 4 spinners.

My options: drill out screw head of 4 spinners and deal the the nutserts OR pry (apply leverage) to rack and hope to remove rack,bolt, and nutsert from the 80.

Then deal with the holes.

I suppose I need to know if leveraging the rack will remove the nutserts cleanly or will this damage the roof.

Ultimately my goal is to remove the racks and nutserts rather than reusing the nutserts to seal.

Any ideas? Thanks
 
rolliges said:
So I'm the next victim to remove the POS racks. I have 4 screws that back out and 4 spinners.

My options: drill out screw head of 4 spinners and deal the the nutserts OR pry (apply leverage) to rack and hope to remove rack,bolt, and nutsert from the 80.

Then deal with the holes.

I suppose I need to know if leveraging the rack will remove the nutserts cleanly or will this damage the roof.

Ultimately my goal is to remove the racks and nutserts rather than reusing the nutserts to seal.

Any ideas? Thanks
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If you leverage the rack the nutserts will pop out, bending the hole with it. It all has to be filed down, sanded, ground, de-rusted, prepped and finished anyway so its not the end of the world. Probably better than spending hours like I did tryingto carefully remove the rack only to lose a nutsert to the void...

Good luck,

David
(the guy with the DIY Multiliner patched roof rack scars on the LX 450...)
 
anything is better than removing the headliner, I can tell you that.

One good thing about these nutserts is that they are so flimsy (Warning: do not look at them if you ever want to carry anything again on your OEM rack) that they pop out with alarming ease. And may not even bend much the roof sheetmetal. This may be the best way to remove them yet! There is bunch of info on their dimensions in one of my threads someplace if you're interested...
 
Thanks guys. I'm thinking that a spinning nutsert should popout easier than the others.

The plan is to fill the holes (silicone&plastic plug) then cover with Hydro-Turf Traction Mat. I have a white roof so the white mat should blend in well.
 
If there is a silver lining to my truck being in the shop for a month (still not back :mad: ), the body shop had to remove the roof rack on my truck to paint.

While they are fixing the rear quarter panel (huge job), I had them go ahead and R/R the windshield and fix a small rust spot on the A-pillar. It sounds from the estimate like they're going to paint the whole roof, rather than blend in front and rear and have two spots to match in the middle. I noticed on the estimate that there was some extra paint prep time involved associated with the R/R of the rack, so hopefully they fixed any rough spots or problems under the rack.

As soon as I saw that they were removing the rack, I called and told them DO NOT PUT IT BACK ON!!!! I should save a little on the labor of putting it back on, but I did notice that they buggered up a few of the nutserts and have a few new ones on the estimate. Hopefully they listened and didn't put it back on. We should see tomorrow.
 
I had 1 of 8 screws that got stuck, odd too since I'd had the rack off 2x before. The last screw was removed with a sawsall. Cut right through the rack base. Then ground it flush with a grinder. That's how you get-r-done.
 
Just got the rack off the vehicle.

Whew, only one foot came off with a screwdriver, the other three had to be cut off then I had 4 bolts in spinning nutserts to take care of. Eventually just rocked them back-n-forth fairly agressively until they came free. It takes some force.

I've got pictures that I'll post up later in a different thread. Right now I've got to get a beer or two and figure out how to patch the 8 holes in the roof.

Also did the Fiamm horn mod today. Nice sound.

The truck looks nice w/o the racks (may even pull the load rails)!



Oh yeah, what's the best way to get the rim of the empty nutsert hole down fairly flush with the rest of the roof???
 
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