roof rack holes

M

mendozer

Member
I recently ordered a longer track from Rhino Rack to help with extending my roof rack capabilities. In doing so, I need to cover the square holes that were at the front/back of the OEM tracks. I can't find these parts online and I emailed a local dealer about it as well, waiting for response.
I plan to just pipe some butyl sealant into the round threaded holes and place my rhino rack track over them, drilling holes for the necessary 3/8" rivets where needed.

Fun fact...the OEM crossbars actually fit just fine into the Rhino Rack tracks once you grind a bit off both edges of the metal squares that slide back and forth along the tracks.
 
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I removed my factory tracks and used E6000 to seal any opening and have yet to have an issue: E6000 Industrial Adhesive

I used to work for a custom roof rack installation company and this was our go to sealant for its flexibility.

Good luck!
 
even for the bigger square hole? My concern is that one's not going to be covered, so I wanted to paint it too. How about E6000 stretching across the hole, then a backing of some sort like tape then Bondo on top of that?
 
mendozer said:
I recently ordered a longer track from Rhino Rack to help with extending my roof rack capabilities. In doing so, I need to cover the square holes that were at the front/back of the OEM tracks. I can't find these parts online and I emailed a local dealer about it as well, waiting for response.
I plan to just pipe some butyl sealant into the round threaded holes and place my rhino rack track over them, drilling holes for the necessary 3/8" rivets where needed.

Fun fact...the OEM crossbars actually fit just fine into the Rhino Rack tracks once you grind a bit off both edges of the metal squares that slide back and forth along the tracks.
Click to expand...

Are you talking about the holes that have (or should have) the yellow inverted caps? Those are sealed if so. I drilled a hole in one of those caps and ran my light bar harness through it and sealed it up.
 
Yeah those. You mean they're sealed with the cap right? Or do you mean the space underneath is sealed

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mendozer said:
Yeah those. You mean they're sealed with the cap right? Or do you mean the space underneath is sealed

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Click to expand...

They're sealed. Between the roof and the lip of that yellow insert is a little rubber gasket. If it wasn't sealed the roof would leak because those roof rack end caps aren't water tight
 
Oh well...they're not sealed anymore. I pryed those off and they were flaky and destroyed. Put em back on with sealant then cover them with bondo then? I want it to be smooth really

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For the bigger square hole I actually used the Yakima track as a "cap" with E6000 as the "gasket". This spring when it gets nicer out I'll take down the headliner and just go over the whole thing from underneath as "security (plus I have a rattle that I can't figure out).

But I haven't had any leaking since putting the rack on last summer. I DID have leakage damage from the factory rack. The Truck actually came with a blank rack (just the smooth non-rack) thing and the track allowed me to gain an extra foot+ of rail versus a factory rack.

I'll end up putting two more bars up there this spring for a total of 4 including a fixed point ahead of the sunroof as light bar/load carrying.
 
I'm kicking myself for not getting the longest track I could and go up around the sunroof. Live and learn. I do have a mig welder so if I had thin sheet to stick in the hole and pull up I could weld it. Bondo wouldn't be enough? This is a 5/8" or so hole

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I'm not much of a welder (or a welder at all), but I would be super afraid that the roof steel would just buckle with the heat from the welding.

And I didn't go all the way forward with the rails, btw, didn't want to get too close to the internals of the sunroof.
 
Speaking of going around the sunroof. Has anyone installed tracks along side the sunroof?

I need tracks as far forward as possible and do not want to use the crossbars that clamp between the roof and top of door.

Yakima makes 60in tracks, but that isn't long enough to replace the current original tracks and add much length. Plans are to add a shorter section in addition to the originals. Yakima uses a "plus-nut" to secure their rails, and from what I've read, the nuts need a 1/4in below the sheet metal for installation.

I need a x-Ray of the sections on either side of the sunroof before drilling. I don't know if there's sunroof parts, support beams, etc in that area. Any help?
 
Yeah I've seen two ppl on here do it. One guy just used another OEM track cut to size to go along the sides and used an OEM crossbar. I'm using rivets so in reality the odds of you hitting something vital are slim. You only need a small hole.
 
I'm planning to cut some OEM roof rack rails in half (so there's 3 mounting holes down from 5) and add those forward of the existing tracks to extend it up to near where the slope of the roof really changes and makes the track not mountable anymore. I'll need 6 rivnuts to do this, I will pick them up tomorrow form Fastenal, plus a lot of extras for practise and spares. I'll practise lots on scrap sheet metal.

I wouldn't weld those holes closed unless you really needed to, first you have the interior panelling below, plus I tried welding some thin walled tubing over the weekend and the welder just burns right through it. You have to use special techniques for thin sheet, so if you're good at it go for it.

Who is going to look at your roof? Just bondo it up.
 
ooh post pics of your job. I'm waiting to get a canopy to start mine. It's been fairly wet here and I don't want to start a job I can't finish due to weather.
 
mendozer said:
ooh post pics of your job. I'm waiting to get a canopy to start mine. It's been fairly wet here and I don't want to start a job I can't finish due to weather.
Click to expand...

I remember seeing a post here months ago from a guy in New England who did exactly what I plan to do, on his red 4runner. Cannot find it with the search though. So much information on this site, you have to bookmark things when you see them or there's a good chance you'll never see them again.
 
Ooh great find. I wonder if structurally there's an advantage of threaded vs rivets

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So I wasn't able to put the oem crossbars back on with my rhino rack tracks. The bondo patches weren't nice enough so there are mounds that get in the way of the tracks. So I ordered longer crossbars to widen the track spacing

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