Get more from your factory roof rack with t-slotted aluminum (8020) (2 Viewers)

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Learn from my mistakes folks. I ordered the 15 series thinking compatibility with frontrunner accessories and such and the bar is too thick and touching the roof :mad:. It doesn't work. So now I am stuck with a bunch of series 15. Ugh!!!
 
Learn from my mistakes folks. I ordered the 15 series thinking compatibility with frontrunner accessories and such and the bar is too thick and touching the roof :mad:. It doesn't work. So now I am stuck with a bunch of series 15. Ugh!!!

it touches the roof on your stock roof rack? (I see in another thread you did it on stock roof rack)


I would have thought there's more clearance on a stock roof rack than most of the lower profile aftermarket roof racks. maybe the 15 series isn't a good idea after all, it would require the rack to be taller.
 
I wasn't entirely thrilled with the t-nuts for securing the new 80/20 load bars and losing the tool-less adjustment of the stock bars was a bummer. I switched from the single L brackets to the doubles to accommodate the thumbscrews off the stock load bars. Added some nylon spacers and now I have the easy factory function of the cross bars with the extra strength and utility of the 80/20 aluminum. I picked up a OEM LC rack off another member here. Took a couple revisions but I am extremely happy with this setup now.

Crossbar.jpg


Fun Side Note: The previous owner clearly tried to install an after market roof rack and dropped the mounting plates into the headliner. The drivers side of my LX roof rack was held on with nothing but some RTV adhesive. :censor::mad: Glad I never went further than a drive around the neighborhood with my new cargo box on that rack before I removed it to install the LC rack. Luckily the LC rack does not use the front LX rack mount location so I only had to deal with the rear mounting point. A couple rivnuts later and I have a rack that won't go flying off the roof. o_O
 
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Got everything installed this weekend. Hit the bar ends with a little grinding stone on the dremel just to clean up the sharp edges from them being cut to length so they would slide smooth on the track. Wiped the rack down and sprayed a little silicone lube on the hardware and it made positioning the rails a breeze. No binding I could slide them forward and back effortlessly. Red Loctite on the hardware securing the L-brackets to the 80/20 crossbars.

The only thing I would change is using 1/4" spacers on the thumbscrews vs 3/8". The spacers I used worked just fine, but you have to back the screws out all the way to get the bars completely loose and sliding smoothly. 1/4" would give you a little more wiggle room on get the bars loose but not on the verge of dropping the nut off the threads.

Installed.jpg


One thing to note, with the upward bowing of the factory crossbars I could slide the cargo box rearwards a little bit further and the sharkfin antenna would fit underneath the cargo box (there is a channel in the center that cleared it by about an inch). Once I had the box loaded up however it was clearly bouncing and hitting the shark fin as the top of the antenna was beat up just a couple days of driving around the neighborhood with the box loaded. Just something to note for those of you using a cargo box with the stock bars. Being flat these bars cause the box to sit lower and there is only maybe 1mm of clearance on the shark fin antenna. Rather than risk impact and noise transfer I just moved the box forward about 4 inches and now there is no possibility of contact. The front of the box protrudes over the sunroof more but it also looks nicely centered on the rack this way. Good enough for me.

Cargo Box.jpg
 
So I’ve had 4 1x2 8020 10 series “crossbars” installed in my factory bars (LC200) for a two months or so. Haven’t really had a chance to use it much, though I did space it out and test fit a Front Runner Double Jerry Can Holder, ground down some button head bolts to fit in the track and anchor some eye nuts for tie-downs.

No Loctite during the install, and so far, nothing seems loose and no rattles. I do notice a little wind noise above 65 or so, so I may look at the 8020 quarter round and see if that helps at all, but I’m not in any hurry. I did purchase the T-Slot covers and have had them installed the entire time. I can’t imaging they are hurting at all, but the wind noise is noticeable, even with the sunroof shade closed.

All in all I’m happy with the product. I don’t really have much of a need for a full time rack and this seems to be a great solution. 15 series would make accessories easier, but I doubt there’s enough clearance with the roof to make it work.
 
Awesome thread and idea. I think I’m going to do this (rather than an full rack).

Couple questions…

How do you recommend mounting rotopax (4 gallon)? Does the rotopax mount line up to the slots? Which width/series of 80/20 work best?

Also would like to mount a 3.8 gallon or 8 gallon WaterPort. Has anyone else done this? Which brand/type of mounting bracket do you recommend?

Thx!

Grumvee
 
The half-height 15 series wouldn't interfere with the roof. It is more clearance than 1020. An extra .25" might allow for the claw of a yakama/thule to slide through.

It isn't double stacked, and you would need to fab a flat bracket instead of L brackets. But that flat bracket would allow for them to be doubled up, and you could cheat it a bit higher to allow for desired roof clearance.


or this with a bracket...I'll keep looking for a bracket.


 
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couple of thoughts..

1) I reused my inside tab plates to mount my 8020 bars too. the thread is m6 1.00 and a 20mm button head from Lowes fits fine. I did not reuse the knobs.. you could as above though.

2) 8020.net sells M6 tapped blocks which are 10x15mm - they should slide into the factory rails like the OEM ones, using the economy T-nuts is a pain on the OEM rack since you have to orient them vertically..
 
couple of thoughts..

1) I reused my inside tab plates to mount my 8020 bars too. the thread is m6 1.00 and a 20mm button head from Lowes fits fine. I did not reuse the knobs.. you could as above though.

2) 8020.net sells M6 tapped blocks which are 10x15mm - they should slide into the factory rails like the OEM ones, using the economy T-nuts is a pain on the OEM rack since you have to orient them vertically..

Reusing the inside tab plates makes a big difference, I originally used the T-nuts and even oriented vertically they don't have a lot of purchase on the inside rail. I was a bit worried that with bouncing around offroad with a lot of weight on the bars they would deflect or rotate enough to pop out and come slamming down on the roof, no worries of that when using the stock plates inside the rails.
 
Update on my #2 above.. the 8020 tapped blocks are too small.. so I'll use those elsewhere.

my plan is to just fab up some plates via 3/16th steel and drill/tap them for M6-1.00 - should do the trick. Probably should have done that to start.
 

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