Roof rack removal pics?

[Ellison Brown III]

Awesome information/ pics Franklin Jones!!! I’ve been contemplating this mod over the past week. Wasn’t exactly sure what it entailed until now. Makes more sense with the info you provided.

When I purchased my truck it was missing a roof rack caps on the passenger rear. The dealer ordered it for me; I installed it. I didn’t pay attention to the method of mounting before capping it off obviously.

I think it would clean up the look of the truck. Kinda how a Trailblazer SS looks vs a traditional Trailblazer. Also, since my truck is black the mounting hardware won’t be so obvious!!!

Thanks for the info, and pics!!! I’ll be doing this in the next few days!!! Btw, your truck looks good!!!

 

[Ellison Brown III]

Here’s what I ended up with… I like it!!!

 

[ChrisRCNY]

Any chance of a few pics from above? I'm especially interested in what the mount points look like, but I'm convinced that if I pull mine just to look, I'll wind up with a leak.

 

[Hamfisted]

When I pulled my rails off my '03 last week I found a big hole rusted through the roof. So at least on an older Expy it might be worth removing the rails just for inspection. If you want to leave the rails off just re-insert the Torx screws with some silicone sealant on them to seal the mount holes.

 

[1970Maverick]

Anyone have pics of any Gen 3 Expedition with the roof rack removed?

http://www.expeditionforum.com/f40/how-remove-your-roof-rack-18917/

I found that thread and it is exactly what I'm looking for. But I want more. More angles, more colors, more vehicle stances. etc. Maybe even a 2015-2016 with rack removed?

I'm contemplating removing my 2016's roof rack for cosmetics alone. We simply never use the thing, it would be the first thing to get dinged in a low head room garage and I'd bet that it causes some air noise on the highway as well as a little bit of drag too. No matter what, I think we'll benefit from the roof rack removal.
I cannot believe they are through holes where the bolts go, but some thread sealant/tape and a rubber washer at each hole should solve any water ingress problems.

I never used the rack since I got my 2017 XLT so I removed it and plugged the holes. I shoved a small piece of 3/8 round foam insulation(backer rod) into the well nuts to cover the threads, then I filled the space above the threads with a squirt of silicon sealer and smoothed it even with the roof. If the holes need to be used in the future, I can dig out the silicon and push the foam down to expose the threads. This is about as low a profile as you can make it.

 

[DAVID KJACK]

Thank you for the information. Was it hard to remove racks/hardware??

 

[Adieu]

Only in the sense of reaching all the way up there