Roof Rack Adhesive Story

[Brentbba]

Took off the roof rack this evening in prep for Durabak. The flares came off Sunday afternoon for the same reason. The flares are going back on...because I like them.

Pics are being taken to document the whole thing.

The purpose of this thread is for a good laugh.

I have to start by thanking the guy/gal on the line in Japan or the port in Los Angeles that installed the roof rack 12 years ago. All of you that have taken off the rack and the four strips in the middle know that the four center pieces are held in place as much by the screws in the nutserts as the PITA adhesive that holds them down.


Well........the person that installed mine left the protective plastic on the adhesive strips! Yep - they just came right off w/o one hint of adhesive left on the roof. For those that have mightly struggled to get all that adhesive off I have just one thing to say....... NaNaNaNaNa Laughed my arse off when I pulled them up.

The rack itself was just slightly harder. I'd hit all 16 screws on the rack and center pieces with PB Blaster twice over the past two weeks in prep for this. Only had problems with two of the screws in the rack itself, stripped the head on both when they wouldn't come out. Just slipped a hacksaw blade between the rack and the plastic foot and cut the screws off. The offending screws then easily unscrewed when clamped and turned with a vise grip. None of the nutserts spun.

For a truck that's lived it's entire life in SoCal, I have the same rust issues on the shiatty nutserts that everyone else has experienced in addition to the standard paint being worn down to the metal where the plastic feet met the roof. I truely feel sorry for those of you living in rust belt areas and have taken off your racks. Wow!

Since I'm going to Duraback, I just stuck some rubber backed plumbing washers and SS screws into the nutserts to seal them until I'm ready.


W/O the rack on, I can now put her back in the garage....as soon as I put everything from the Death Valley trip in March away!

Updates and pics in a few weeks when the Durabak is on the roof and flares and flares are reinstalled.

 

[IdahoDoug]

Are you going to do something stylish like Tyler did on his roof, or just cover the roof entirely?

DougM

 

[Brentbba]

Are you going to do something stylish like Tyler did on his roof, or just cover the roof entirely?

DougM

Going Tyler's route.

I really like the way both his and copycat Clarkrw3 turned out. Clark borrowed Tyler's idea and I'm not ashamed to either. One used LinX and the other Rhino - I'm DIY with Durabak is the only main difference. Pinging both of them for better descriptions of how they 'sealed' the nutserts and still ended up with a smooth finish.

Will post pics in a few weeks when all is complete. PHH is this weekend and river rafting is the following weekend with the scouts, so it may be awhile. Plenty of time to take some black paper and 'mock up' some shapes to cover the rack feet area and strip like these two have. Like Tyler said, I don't want just straight lines. The shaping these two had done turned out very well.

 

[Boston Mangler]

For those that have mightly struggled to get all that adhesive off I have just one thing to say....... NaNaNaNaNa Laughed my arse off when I pulled them up.
.

Well, i laughed my arse off when i first checked out my rig and figured out that it didnt have the factory roofrack, so i dont have to deal with any of this nonsense!!

NaNaNaNaNaNa to you!



p.s. your rig is coming along nicely, i look forward to seeing it in June!

 

[Brentbba]

Boston - too funny!

 

[NorCalDoug]

Let me know how the durabak goes on. I'm considering doing the entire roof with it once I take my roof rack off -- top and A-pillars.

I'll need to determine where to stop on the rear of the roof for the best look...

 

[Brentbba]

Let me know how the durabak goes on. I'm considering doing the entire roof with it once I take my roof rack off -- top and A-pillars.

I'll need to determine where to stop on the rear of the roof for the best look...

No problem. What color? Black in the Sacramento heat wouldn't work too well.

Damn - finding wire edged tape has been a PITA. Only local auto paint store didn't stock it but ordered it - $31 fricking dollars for one roll.

Tempted to take the sliders off as well and do the rocker panels up to the level of the mud flaps on the flares so long as I've got the wire tape. Still chewing on that one.

 

[e9999]

yup, I would just do the whole roof, not any weird shape...

 

[RavenTai]

Well........the person that installed mine left the protective plastic on the adhesive strips! Yep - they just came right off w/o one hint of adhesive left on the roof. For those that have mightly struggled to get all that adhesive off I have just one thing to say....... NaNaNaNaNa Laughed my arse off when I pulled them up.

LOL

I did a few inches of the foam when I pulled my rack, have not get back to it, it is too easy to procastinate and pretend it is not there just like my c pillar cracks.

 

[NorCalDoug]

No problem. What color? Black in the Sacramento heat wouldn't work too well...

Yep...if/when I do it it'll be black. Sacramento heat be damned

 

[IdahoDoug]

Dougie,

So, you're going with the 'black vinyl roof' look? Slap on some landau bars from an early 70's Ford LTD and you'll be stylin....

Seriously though - don't you think it will look better if the load/cargo area is coated for a functional look for that area and the rest is left painted? Kinda goes with the current vehicle surface treatments where a given need drives the specific surface vs the entire area is done.

Anyhow, I think if you look hard there was some model of that era that not only had the landau bars but the center actually lit up. Heh....

DougM

 

[Slomo]

Brent you inspired on Saturday and I took off my roof rack also when I got home. Unfortunately the people who installed mine at the port did remember to take off the plastic backing. Nutserts were not rusted to bad thank goodness. I think I will take my time getting to applying the Durabak to see how yours comes out.

 

[Brentbba]

Brent you inspired on Saturday and I took off my roof rack also when I got home. Unfortunately the people who installed mine at the port did remember to take off the plastic backing. Nutserts were not rusted to bad thank goodness. I think I will take my time getting to applying the Durabak to see how yours comes out.

LMAO! You'll certainly see my results. Durabak should show up this week, but I've got a scout outing this coming weekend, so it'll be a couple of weeks before I put it on the flares and roof.

 

[Brian Macgyver]

Odd! I took off my factory rack and never noticed until you brought it up. All of my former rack parts still have the factory backing on the adhesive tape. I wondered why everyone complains about getting the adhesive off of the roof! I had no problem at all!

 

[TroutRunner]

Going Tyler's route.

I really like the way both his and copycat Clarkrw3 turned out. Clark borrowed Tyler's idea and I'm not ashamed to either. One used LinX and the other Rhino - I'm DIY with Durabak is the only main difference. Pinging both of them for better descriptions of how they 'sealed' the nutserts and still ended up with a smooth finish.

You can add me to the list of copycats. I went with Line-X. Looks really good.

As for prep....I got all of my nutserts out and knew I was gonna cover the area so I didn't care how I pulled them out. Dimples be damned. When all were out, I took the dremmel and smoothed all the holes out with the grinder. I put duct tape over the holes and if it looked smooth I was done.

The local line-x guy wasn't sure it would look good but when he was done he really liked it as well.

I've got no holes or bumps or remnants of the old rack with just a little bit of prep time.

TR

 

[Koffer]

Well, i laughed my arse off when i first checked out my rig and figured out that it didnt have the factory roofrack, so i dont have to deal with any of this nonsense!!

NaNaNaNaNaNa to you!

Mine was untouched by "port installed" hands.
It came loaded from Toyota Japan with just the 3 opitions from the factory. Leather ,3rd row seat and lockers.

No crappy roof rack, runningboards, rear wind dam, trailer hitch/trailer light hack harness, alarm , cell phone or dealer crap like the getto front bar and tail light gards or window etching.

I did get the etching when i bought it used for free as they did it, then tried to make me pay for it after the fact to the point I was almost out the door when they "tossed it in"
I told them there was no way in hell I was pay $199 for some wax paper, a small bottle of window etch and some overpaid ass taking 5 mins to do it .

 

[clarkrw3]

Brent did you get the templates yet??

 

[Brentbba]

Brent did you get the templates yet??

They showed up in the mail yesterday.

THANK YOU very much for your time and stamp! Wish I had time to do the Durabak this weekend but headed up to Kernville to do some rafting with the scouts. Durabak showed up yesterday also. Flares are sitting on the garage floor all sanded down and ready to go. Just waiting on some wire edged tape I ordered to make a cleaner line on the roof.

Trout - so you didn't drop the headliner to oust the nutserts. How easily did they pull out? Dremel? Inquiring minds want to know.

 

[Slomo]

Trout - so you didn't drop the headliner to oust the nutserts. How easily did they pull out? Dremel? Inquiring minds want to know.

That makes two inquiring minds. I was thinking of leaving them but doing a rust killing treatment first. I figure they wont really be visible up high and this sure as hell isn't a show truck. Anyone have any experience wit rust neutralizer? Is it too risky to seal rust in with Durabak?

 

[FirstToy]

Dougie,

So, you're going with the 'black vinyl roof' look? Slap on some landau bars from an early 70's Ford LTD and you'll be stylin....

Seriously though - don't you think it will look better if the load/cargo area is coated for a functional look for that area and the rest is left painted? Kinda goes with the current vehicle surface treatments where a given need drives the specific surface vs the entire area is done.

Anyhow, I think if you look hard there was some model of that era that not only had the landau bars but the center actually lit up. Heh....

DougM

LOL, good ol' Landau roof.

Doug, I agree w DM. If you do the whole roof I think it would look alot better in white or light grey and staying within the 'flat' part of the roof and not going over the rounded sides to the gutter.

If you do black, maybe only on the strips.

my .2