Chevy Avalanche Club - Articles - Adding a Roof Rack

Adding a Roof Rack

Submitted By: oHIobellboy Date: April 10, 2011, 11:49:15 AM Views: 3835

Summary: How I installed an OEM roof rack

MY '04 did not come with a roof rack and I picked up a used one from a junk yard. I painted the metal with a flat black rust resistant paint and treated the plastic with Refinish Restorer before installation.

I used some nutserts purchased from Fastenal and SHOULD HAVE just went to a dealer to get the factory ones. It would have saved time and a few bucks. You'll see in the following pix why I say that.

First off, assemble the rack on a flat surface and make sure it's square that way it's on straight.

Next I applied painters tape on the roof to make some markings.

I used my wife's Avy for measurement. It isn't hard. Center it side to side and move it forward of the top of the sail panel about 1/2" to 3/4"

Get your rack lined up and while someone holds it still use something to make a mark in the CENTER of the holes that the mounting bolts go through. I used a torx driver and tapped it to make a mark in the tape. On the one side I added 2 extra layers of tape to make a soft surface for a better mark from the driver.

Now comes time to drill the pilot holes. I used the nutsert tightening tool as a depth guide.

After the pilot holes I used a unibit to get to the correct size for the nutserts.

Insert the nutserts You'll see here why I had to mod the ones I used. They were too thick. I had to shave the top rubber off of them.

Lay to rack on top and bolt it down. I started all of the bolts first and then tightened them.

It took me about 3 hours and I'm sure about and hour of that was dealing with the nutserts I used instead of ones from the dealer.
The front holes I did hit some insulation while drilling and I know on the middle and the rear mounts there's a double wall that should keep you from drilling through the headliner but always exercise caution while drilling.

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