Tuesday was a snow day... or as I referred to it, Install-my-roof-rack-day since it was a free day that was unexpected.
I ordered my Front Runner slimline Full length Rack from Josh at Apex Overland in NC. He has a great price, is very communicative, and super helpful (I had a question during install). Also super nice guy (met him at the Cove in November).
Anyway. This is not a detailed step-by-step writeup as I'm sure someone else has already done that.... but I took a few pictures along the way.
I started by dumping out the big bag of hardware to make sure everything was accounted for. I liked the little cards that were included with all the bags of hardware saying who packed them and to have fun on your adventure. Just a cool personal touch. Everything was accounted for. I read through the list of tools needed. The only thing I did not have was the rivnut setter tool. I did a quick google search and learned you don't necessarily need it as the same thing can be accomplished using a bolt and a few nuts to tighten it down. I did make a run to Lowe's for two drill bits. I wanted new bits since my existing bits were pretty chewed up.
First thing that happened was removing the old rack. I parked in the garage the night before, so the truck would be dry with the impending snow storm. I flipped on the heater and opened the door to the house to heat it up. It was probably 55 degrees in there. I made a note that once the stock rack came off, I would not be driving anywhere with open roof holes. At that point I was pretty committed.
After the stock rack came off, I used a small bucket, some car wash soap and a couple rags. I carefully washed the roof and rinsed and dried it, making sure to ring out my rags as to not drip any water into the roof holes. There was a lot of mud under the stock rack foot from my previous mud-baths at the Cove and Rausch Creek, so I made sure to clean around the existing roof holes well. I then applied a coat of Meguiar's Gold Class paste wax. The roof itself was in pretty good condition. There were a few scratches, but overall looked to be in good shape. I had only used my stock rack a few times.
I measured out the markings to drill the holes in the gutter using the provided instructions. I used the new rack feet to measure for the holes instead of measuring in millimeters.... as I did not have any metric measuring tape to do this. I drilled the 5mm pilot holes, then used my shop-vac to clean up the metal shavings after each holes was drilled. While I was drilling the last hole, my friend Rick arrived. His power was out due to the storm and he wanted to help with the project. I let him drill what seemed to me to be the GIANT holes (11.5mm) for the rivnuts. He used a bolt and a couple of nuts to get the rivnuts set.
We put the rack supports together, applied some water proof sealant around the roof holes (and on the bolts) and placed the spacers over the roof holes.
Canine helpers
We fastened down the center support first and noticed there was quite a bit of play between the front and rear feet (like a see-saw). This is when I called Josh from Apex. He called a friend of his and got back to me. We loosened up the center bracket to give the support a bit more play in the center, and as the bolts on the front and rear got wrenched down, it straightened itself out. Around this time Tyler showed up. Tyler and Rick pretty much finished the rest of the install while I watched. Tyler had already installed the same rack on his 5th Gen, so knew how everything was supposed to fit together. Honestly if Tyler hadn't of showed up, Rick and I might still be trying to figure things out. Both Tyler and Rick were a huge help.... and what better thing to do on a snow day!!!
While it did take us a long time to get it all done from start to finish, we weren't exactly rushing through it. We did BS a lot (A LOT) and refer back to the directions every now and then. We wanted to make sure it was right.
Finished.
Here is is in daylight.
Corey's Pros:
1. The rack is aluminum (won't rust).
2. It's flat.
3. It's lighter than a Gobi or a Baja.
4. It didn't have to be delivered to a commercial address.
5. No welds.
6. Easy system for tying things down (slide a bolt into the channel and make your own tie down points).
7. It's versatile (you can have fewer slats, or many making the deck completely solid).
8. It is attached to the roof in the front, being completely supported.
9. My truck still fits into my 80" garage (truck measured at 78" with rack)
Corey's Cons:
1. The time it takes to be put together probably varies depending on your skill level and experience.
2. I don't particularly like the way the fairing is shaped. I think it should be longer, tilted forward more at the bottom, and not have a center gap (although it did not whistle at 70MPH on the freeway so there is that).
3. Drilling into the roof (for many this is a no-go, but after owning this truck for four years, I think it's fun drilling new holes into it lol). The whole drilling into the roof thing is not difficult by any means, it's just nerve wracking (I definitely broke into a cold sweat drilling the pilot holes).
