Wolvee

I know of a few people here that have installed trimmed down Expedition Roof racks onto their Trucks. I'd like to see how they chose to install them; by RTV/Bolt & Pray or did they use special fasteners?

I'm going to use M6 Rivnuts with the factory bolts from expedition. This doesn't look too different than the way Ford installed them from the factory. I will use some kind of sealer as well as use the factory rail seal. Using a rivnut will also allow me to do a blind install so I won't have to remove the headliner.


Factory fastener with a Rivnut and Install Tool.

65comet

Just to give an example of the strength of those fasteners. Our 98 F150 was too tall for my wife. I got an A pillar grab handle from another one in the junk yard. Ours didn't have the holes, so I drilled them and used two of those fasteners. After a knee accident I used it every time myself. It has kept in place for two years with over two hundred and thirty pound people grabbing it many times every day.

01f1502wd

I looked at several expeditions at the local Pick-n-pull, thats all they had was the rivnut, and no extra support so I picked up one a set of rails. I will be putting some reinforcement plates around each rivnut for a little extra support. putting a basket on the roof with some gear, dont want it to tear out when off roading/hitting tree branches.

Tackle

That's good info. Thanks.

My first thought was that they wouldn't hold well enough.

blupupher

iTrader: (2)

Thing is the A-pillar where the grab handle is mounted is much thicker metal than the roof. If you use some large reinforcement plates it should be OK though.

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

A little preview. I had to stop for the day because of a tropical storm. ..and it's 100* out today. :0)

Wolvee

What do you think? It makes my truck look like a big Ford Explorer SportTrac.

BlakeA

I use to have a Sport Trac.. I think it looks great!

Tackle

Lol that is funny.

F150 Sport track edition.