Roof Rack RetroFit ?

[Wolvee]

Has anyone here retrofit or made a custom roof rack system for their Rigs?

I recently picked up an adjustable track system from an '05-ish Ford Expedition.  I'm going to trim it to the appropriate length and mount it to the roof of my Supercrew F150.

I have seen this done in the past on other peoples rigs and almost all of them leaked eventually, when they only drilled holes and used standard fasteners.

I'm going to use Rivnuts as blind fasteners with a little rtv and secure it down.

I ordered the Rivnut tool tonight and it should be here by tuesday or wednesday.  I'l take pictures as I go.

 

[Wolvee]

The tool arrived and I'll be doing the install this weekend.

 

[Michael]

I'm curious how this goes @wolvee ! I don't have any experience with this. I had a purpose built rack!

M

 

[Wolvee]

A few of the guys on Portal are saying that it'll never hold but since Yakima (sp), Thule, Ford and Toyota use rivet nuts I have to assume they'll hold well. ..especially because I'll be using so many of them. I'm doing all my measuring, cutting and painting tonight and I'll do the actual install tomorrow. #Long Weekend. :0)

 

[Erik_Harmon]

Don't get cheap with the RTV... I would even go as far as putting it around the edge of all the feet... my buddy had his leak and it was a real mess and ruined the head liner and head liner panel...

 

[Wolvee]

Just figuring out the length.

Trimming the rails.

I'm using Krylon Semi-gloss black to recondition the black color. I'm not cure if I'll use a UV protectant clear right now. I may disassemble it at a latter date and do it then.

I took off the rear plastic trim piece, then counted 5 mounting holes to the rear and made the cut.

Used a file to clean up the edges and then sprayed to cover the bare metal.

05+ roof rack

This is just showing how it slides in, not the finished product.

 

[Wolvee]

Because it was a 100* out today it had to be followed by a tropical storm, lol. I had to stop a bit early.

 

[Robert OB 33/48]

That looks very slick. Need to see more, hehe.

Greetings from Robert

 

[Wolvee]

 

[Michael]

Wow! This is looking good @wolvee!

 

[Wolvee]

Now I"m on the hunt for a low profile removable rack to mount a light to. :0) I'm not going to put much up there, this is mostly for the Kayaks and some additional lighting when I'm on the trail.

I imagine I'll have a retractable awning, light bar, my pioneer gear and maybe misc box.

 

[Wolvee]

8 hours of Typhoon and no leaks. I a winner.

 

[TxTerra]

Great job!

 

[Iubootgater]

Now I”m on the hunt for a low profile removable rack to mount a light to. :0) I’m not going to put much up there, this is mostly for the Kayaks and some additional lighting when I’m on the trail. I imagine I’ll have a retractable awning, light bar, my pioneer gear and maybe misc box.

I have used the rhino rack "X-tray" on both a mini countryman and XJ Cherokee mostly for the purpose of hauling kayaks. Fairly cheap and no complaints. Comes in small and large.

Truck is looking nice.

 

[stoney126]

Nice, came out really clean.