Removing the Roof Rails

[FirstToyota]

Has anyone permanently removed the roof rails from their LC? Most of the pics I see of LC's in Australia do not come with roof rails, and I like the look better. So, I would like to remove the OEM roof rails from my LC, but I am wondering if the 2 bolts (as I show in the pics) go through the roof sheet metal? If they do, is there a nut on the other side of the roof metal, so that if I remove the bolts, will the nut fall into the headliner? That would be a supreme nightmare. You can see in the 2nd pic, I removed the plastic cover from what appears to be another set of mounting points. I wonder if the space where the main bolts are looks like this after the roof rails are removed?

Any advice on how to proceed? Much Thanks.

 

[sleeoffroad]

yes we have, but be careful. Those bolts have locktite/sealant on them and if you spin / break the nutplate inside then you can damage some airbag wires inside the roof.

 

[donjuanmiguel]

I've done mine and was very nervous. Turned out to be easy but I do have a major suggestion - break all the bolts first before you attempt to remove one. Once you break the bolts, back out the pair little by little moving from one to the other. This way you know the captive nut will not fall into the headliner. The rest was easy. Thie suggestion was provided by IPOR.

 

[FirstToyota]

Christo & donjuanmiguel, thanks for the reply's. Do you recall if the nut plate is similar to the picture I attached? Does it sit under the roof sheetmetal? In other words, is there anyway the nut plate/clip could fall into the headliner?

I tried turning the bolts, and they are fairly tight. They do turn, but I could easily tell something was holding them firmly in place, like you said, either locktite, or possibly a nylon lock nut.

Don, do you have a upclose picture of what the area looks like after the rails have been removed and, did you reuse the same bolts to fill the holes? Thanks Again.
-

 

[donjuanmiguel]

I did not re-use the bolts as I replaced my rail with an ARB rail and roof cage, nor did I take pics. The nut does sit inside the sheet metal, no way to get to them from the outside.

The bolts are in there tight, don't be afraid to use muscle just be sure to apply pressure evenly during the turn. Once you have turned one a full rotation move on to the next. I backed mine out equally.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

Christo & donjuanmiguel, thanks for the reply's. Do you recall if the nut plate is similar to the picture I attached? Does it sit under the roof sheetmetal? In other words, is there anyway the nut plate/clip could fall into the headliner?

I tried turning the bolts, and they are fairly tight. They do turn, but I could easily tell something was holding them firmly in place, like you said, either locktite, or possibly a nylon lock nut.

Don, do you have a upclose picture of what the area looks like after the rails have been removed and, did you reuse the same bolts to fill the holes? Thanks Again.
-

 

[KJun]

oh shi$&

So I screwed this up litteraly and almost lost the nut/plate behind the sheetmetal. Luckily for some reason the plate did not completely fall in and I was able to use a flashlight to see the plate, realign, and then use a long 8mm screw to thread into it and pull the plate back. Actually it wasn't me but was definitely my fault for not researching this properly before having the rack removed. In a panic I took it to the dealer and they wanted $500 to go from the interior through the headliner which is extremely labor intensive and a major PITA. Luckily I was able to reach the plate myself.

After the scare will give it another try tomorrow. Hope to have the new Front Runner rack installed before noon. Anyone doing this themselves should definitely follow the guidelines posted here to alternate torque on the pair of bolts frequently.

 

[anderaa13]

I know this is an old thread but...

I'm wondering if you can buy correct plastic plates from toyota to cover the exposed mounting points once the rails are removed?

In the pictures above, I can see some plastic plates just behind the front feet of the roof rails. Could you just order more of these and use them to cover the exposed gaps? I wonder if they fit?

Thanks!

 

[xkennx]

Anderra13 - Send me an email with your address to kenn.walker(at)armored-cars.com and when I put some roof rails on a TLC G9 model I can send you the plastics covers we take off.

I should have a couple G9's mid/to end of march for options to be installed so should have some by then if I cant find the ones we took off last month.

That is pics showing the plastic cap and what it looks like inside without the head liner. (sorry my cell phone camera doesnt have a flash and we are in a sand storm right now)

 

[anderaa13]

Wow, thanks for the offer!

But I think I've got it figured out. In the second pic at the top of the thread, there is a plate that looks identical to the one you show. Since these plates are on the usa trucks already, we should be able to order additional from a dealer.

Thanks again!

 

[Softride62]

wow, this is much more complicated than the 100 series, I removed the last three I had, piece of cake. I like the no rack (Aussie/Latin America/UN) look, but this one freaks me out, think I'll just leave it alone. Are there any other success stories since this old thread started?

 

[shelby95]

I have not attempted this removal, so forgive me for speaking on a topic of which I am not well versed. However, would magnetizing the tool you are using to remove the bolt aid in holding the captive nut/plate in place? Just spit-balling here.

 

[FirstToyota]

oh yeah, 4 years later, here is a pic

 

[T4Runner]

I realize it's an old thread, but it was pretty much the only one that came up when I searched prior to removing my factory rack.

The dealership where I bought my LC couldn't figure out the parts required to remove the rack. Apparently, a parts search doesn't show all the parts...

Anyway, if you want to remove the rack you will need the following parts (which I sourced thru Beano):

6 x Cover, Roof Drip Moulding
(P/N: 75596-0E040)
6 x Bracket Roof Rack
(P/N: 63185-0R010)
12 x Bolt, w/Washer*
(P/N: 90119-08C47)



* you don't really need these, but my thinking was that I didn't need the beefier bolts from the rack to hold the covers on...

 

[khalil khan]

Good day All,

I have need for plastic cover that fits on to the securing bolts for the roof rails. I am new to this forum and came across this posting. I was going to remove the roof rails all together but after reading above it seems complicated or can get complicated to me .

its a plastic cover that fits on to the roof-rail passenger side front , for a 2005 toyota landcruiser /prado 120 platform long wheel base.

I had a price from local Toyota dealership they wanted over £80 !!! Can any one help me source this at a reasonable cost?

thank you in advance and best wishes
KK

 

[Dharma Bum]

First Toyota, your truck is beautiful. What are the wheels, and how do you wax or care for your paint?

 

[highrisk]

Does anyone know the part number for the parts in this image? I broke mine.

Anderra13 - Send me an email with your address to kenn.walker(at)armored-cars.com and when I put some roof rails on a TLC G9 model I can send you the plastics covers we take off.

I should have a couple G9's mid/to end of march for options to be installed so should have some by then if I cant find the ones we took off last month.

That is pics showing the plastic cap and what it looks like inside without the head liner. (sorry my cell phone camera doesnt have a flash and we are in a sand storm right now)

 

[mark71]

Make sure you follow Mr. Toyota's directions on the leg bolts: loosen the first bolt, loosen and remove the second bolt, then go back and remove the first bolt. If you don't, you will twist the retained nut device.

 

[mudtracker]

Ok unfortunately I didn't research enough and read about this prior to installing my roof rack and breaking off the nut plate ugh!!!
I hear it rattling around the headliner just above the passenger door. Is there an easy way to pull the panel and headliner out? I'm a bit nervous due to air bag there. I can't find much on how to do this. I'm afraid of what the dealer will charge me

I guess I shoulda paid someone to install my new rack errr!

 

[ekberger]

Make sure you follow Mr. Toyota's directions on the leg bolts: loosen the first bolt, loosen and remove the second bolt, then go back and remove the first bolt. If you don't, you will twist the retained nut device.

Just a follow up question on these instructions. I understand the loosening sequence described, but what I am confused about is that once you have both bolts out. Does the plate inside just drop down somewhere or sit in place if not moved or bumped allowing you to reinsert the bolt back in?

If you had them loose in the sequence described couldn't you leave one bolt in by a couple threads and then slip the original top piece to the side and capture the hole again. I need to install a new full rack so the new mounts need to bolt into those plates. If they drop out of sight it's bad.

 

[highrisk]

As someone else that made this mistake, the plates are held in place with a retaining clip. If don't loosen both sides you end up twisting it out of the retaining clip.

On the question of the dealer charge to fix it. Mine was about $150