just for all you guys that keep your spare on the roof rack, i wouldnt trust the stock roof rails to hold that much weight, they are only held down by 2 screws per rail. i was wheelin not long ago and ripped all 4 screws completely out of the roof sheet metal. Only thing keeping the rack from flying off the truck was the wires for the lights my fix was to drill my own holes and use 6 stainless steel bolts to hold the rails to the roof. its a much stronger setup, youd be amazed how thick the roof metal is when you drill through it. id say its at least 10X as strong now. ill get some pics up this weekend if anyone wants to see.

 

Thanks for the heads up, but I know mine are fine because my stock roof rack rails are held on by at least 5 screws, if not six, I can't remember, but I know it is not 2 because I just took them off last week. Sounds like something fishy is going on with your roof rails.



Brian

 

Just to clarify then... the Caution isn't with the spare tire and Surco rack, but rather with the spare tire and factory crossbars... is that correct?

 

I think you're right Jackson, sounds like he's talking about the crossbars and they are held on by two little screws that go in the little sliders on the side rails. Ain't no way I would trust those things to hold more than maybe a duffel bag bungeed down, certainly not a spare tire in a basket!



Brian

 

Yea, there is no way in hell I would bolt a rack , much less a tire, to the stock cross bars.. I have mine mounted to a Thule bar (bolted the rack through the top of the Thule bar and has nuts inside the bar) I also took pre-precautions once when I had the headliner out and replaced the stock well nuts with new bolts and fender washers with nylon nuts on the inside of the roof.. The only weak point is the chance that the track could rip out and leave the bolts in the roof.. I did it like that to keep the "slide motion" on the rack, but in hindsite I would add washers and pan screw bolts inside the track.

 

NCSU's factory roof rack rails were only secured by two sheet metal screws per side. Makes me wonder if it was something added at port by the dealer. We resolved the weakness by drilling six new holes, utilizing the braces in the roof, and six stainless bolts and screws. MUCH more secure and MUCH more stable...

J

 

The whistle for a break blew during that guy putting the rack on his rig and he forgot about it and just slapped the crossbars on it and sent it down the line. Then he went :pat: "what are these extra screws for?"





Brian

 

yea ive got yakima feet and cross bars but the rails that run along the roof of the car WERE factory and there were only 2 screws per side holding them down. i think its fine for road driving with a spare up there, but when you bounce it around offroad its just too much force.

 

I'd like to see pics.

Did you put silicone or anything down just in case of water leakage?

What kind of screws did you use? Size/type.

 

i drilled out 6 brand new holes so water leakage was definetly an issue, i used regular old silicone. . . couple dabs around each hole as i put the main rail back on the roof. i used bolts not screws. . . the screws are what messed up my sheet metal when the ripped out. the bolt/washer setup is much stronger cause to rip it out would require a HUGE hole to be created in the sheetmetal. if i can get ahold of a digital cam sometime this week ill put pics up. and the bolts were 8mm shaft w/ 10mm head, i think 1in long, stainless steel

 

ok i got pics of the new rack setup.

 

first pic shows the middle bolt

second shows how far forward i moved it, and the seal job on the old hole

last pic gets a perspective with the whole truck

 

Man...and I was going to try and sell my Surco rack. I hope people don't get the wrong idea with the words "CAUTION" and "Surco Rack" in the same sentence . Thanks Jackson for pointing out that this is not a Surco issue.

 

not a problem with the surco rack, its real strong. the problem is the weak rail mounts to the roof, i love my surco rack it just needed some extra beef to hold the kinda stuff i wanna put up there.

(the roof rails are OEM)