Roofrack Rust Monster (1 Viewer)

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Mar 27, 2003
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Jefferson
Okay, I finally got around to spend a few minutes to take the rack off to see how bad the damage was to my truck. I wasn't expecting much, but I was wrong. The monster found my truck. How dare he!!!

USDS Front
LinkPhoto


USDS Rear
LinkPhoto


USPS Front
LinkPhoto


USPS Rear
LinkPhoto


Sorry about the poor picture quality.

So, now what do I do? I need to get this fixed and don't think I want to redo the whole roof. What are my options? What have you guys done to remedy this?

Thanks... :D
 
For those procrastinators still out there that haven't looked, that is what you're going to find under your factory rack pads. The area that outlines the shape of the pad is not dirt or crud. That is where the plastic pads have completely worn through your precious clear coat, through your paint, into and possibly through the undercoat.   You may be looking at bare metal at the outer edges of each of the four pads.

What can you do about it?   Good question.  Any takers?

Rogue,
I'll tell you what I did if you promise not to laugh. I cleaned everything up (no rust) and put a thin plastic sheet under each pad to keep them from continuing their path through my paint. I sealed each bolt with silicone before reinstalling.  

Mine is a '97 and the damage wasn't too bad but it WAS there.  For now, the "head in the sand" is my approach; after the attempt at slowing down the damage. The good news is that the more I keep lifting the truck, the less likely anyone other than an NBA center is going to see it. :tear:

-B-
 
I'm about to redo mine again (as have now removed factory rook rack for goog - have custom (large) roof-rack).
Its pretty bad up there with rust on each post. I will post pics if anyone is interested. I'm gonna go down to bare-metal, de-ruster, primer, lots of coats, paint, clear gloss etc. to make it look new.
Had done some touch-up + de-ruster (hammerite) about 1-2 years ago but didn't have much impact.
Mine was overseas for awhile with lotsa rain so that didn't help.
Didn't really use the factory roof-rack much so its not from abuse..

96 TLC with 87K in CO
Lal
brendan.lally@ mail.com
 
B,

Plastic huh? :D

I went on down to a body shop and they quoted me ~$200 per mounting point. That is expensive for something that won't help me wheel any better.

I think i'll go buy me a dremel and some POR-15 along with some factory touch up paint.

Bootiefab is good...right? :D
 
Brian,
>> ... and eliminate the problem. <<

Please explain.
-B-
 
The gooey wax/grease type stuff will not allow the moisture to penetrate down to the metal - the seam/crack around the fastener is obviously the moisture trapping culprit, this stuff would flow down into it and seal out the water.

Just taking a closer look at those pics, and probably getting ahead of myself... it appears whatever type of fastener (probably a nutsert) Toyota chose to place in the roof was well thought out in many regaurds, save for the one you all know. They drilled the holes and did not take adequate rust preventitive measures. To really 'beat' the problem, the fastener should probably get extracted so the rust way down in the seam can be removed, which would enlarge the hole, and open up another can of worms.
 
Brian,
The nutserts are a problem. Another problem is where the pads were sitting and grinding down to bare metal. Those huge oval shaped scars are going to be hard to touch up.

Rogue,
C-Dan will be back on Friday. He removed his and can give full details on what he did. I know he had the entire roof repainted at the same time that the rack was removed.

-B-
 
speaking of rust and the high cost of repair,here is a pic of the former rust spot on my upper tailgate and even though the repair is not finished,i am quite happy to have stopped the crappy stain that would form and run down the gate while the weather would rain/snow etc....now at least it wont rust anymore till i can get it fixed all the way.....
the dealer quote was 488.00 and that did not include the "ahem" gold emblem as i was determined to change it(and the other three emblems) to black pearl during this repair........
Rust%20spot%20repaired.jpg


this was after all rust scraped/ground away and the area treated with POR15 for now(hell i dont even notice the spot now,as compared to when it was a rusty mess)

doug
 
-H-

It is the same plastic wrap, just cut a small piece to go under each pad. It is very tough stuff.

Pictures?! Yes, pics are available of Pristine completely shrink wrapped. Action shots in sets of 4 are available, some with me in them, some without. Your choice.

Send $500/set to Beowulf@PayPal.com :G ($400 for you H.)

-B-
 
Pulled my rack last season (as much as there are 'seasons' here in So-Cal). I used the wear marks from the pads to mask off the oval shaped area under each pad a little bigger than where the pad sits. Then removed all the rust with the dremel and roughed up the paint in that area. Then POR-15 in black, couple of coats to build it all up. Left a black 'pad' where the roof-rack mounts.

Then took the plastic bases and rounded the bottoms (sandpaper) and used Plasti-Dip to coat them up and help reduce the wear on the roof.

It worked ok. The POR-15 is fine, the bases still wear into them so this time I'm thinking maybe making some neoprene gaskets. I use it for surfboards, thats about it. It wears if you use it, it wears if you don't.

I'd really like an ARB that goes from the back to right behind the drivers door. If they don't build it maybe I'll have to do my own!
 
I like this idea of doing it myself with tape, a dremel, and some POR-15.

What if you used some sort of silicone rubber compound to lay a gasket where the wear is caused by the rack footings? &nbsp:Do you think that would work to stop the wear in the paint?

I will hopefully be fixing this soon, but for now I had to just put the rack back on to keep as much water out of the roof as possible.
 
What is this Por-15 ? I'm assuming it's some sort of rust stopper/primer> Bob
 
I had it bad. Did the sand, dremel, prep, prime, paint, SS metric bolts with silicone. Then a month later the wife backed into the garage with the hatch open. Insurance payed for the hatch and roof damage. While it was in the body shop I had them weld the rack feet and runner holes shut for a little extra $$. They did a nice job. Love it! No worries. Maybe you could accidently have an accident :D

Brian

Pictures are in my folder ("Lingenfelter") on the 80s cool Yahoo group picture section. http://photos.groups.yahoo.com/grou...com/group/80scool/lst?&.dir=/&.src=gr&.view=t
 
Rogue, if you use silicone, make sure it is for automotive/body, regular silicone sealants can cause rust due to the curing agent in it.
 
I removed the rusted inserts and had the body shop grind away the rust on the roof panel. I did not want to go thru droping my suspended headliner to weld up the holes so new inserts were installed in the roof and then the roof was re-painted, including the inserts. I then used stainless rosette washers with o rings under them, held down with stainless countersunk 5mm phillips screws. That was 5 years ago and I have had no problems since. Also, if I ever had a stupid attack, I could put the rack back on. I hope my wife tossed out some critical part of it at some time to prevent me from doing that........... :eek:
 
Just an idea....what about masking off the footprint of each mounting point for the roof rack and either having it Rhino Lined or using that truck bed liner from Walmart? It seems that would solve the rubbing problem. Also assuming you don't have major rust damage already. I have a 97 and am afraid to look...if you ignore rust, it goes away, right?
 
bderks,

I did Just that at one time. I used Duplicolor spray-on bedliner and templates slightly larger than the footprint of the rack feet. The paint/liner stuff was not very durable and did not last long. If you were to get a real spray in bedliner guy to do it I imagine it would be very satisfactory.
 Certainly cheaper than refinishing the roof.
  Regards......Dan :beer:

Rogue, this would work for you. I would replace the inserts first as they look a bit sad. A 20 piece riv-nut pack is still available it is a 00278-00931. It lists for $9.78
 

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