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Lightwater

Member Since: 21 Aug 2014
Location: Sydney Northern Beaches
Posts: 4722

2013 Freelander 2 2.0T SE Auto Fuji White

Roof rack rail repair heavy load upgrade.

I've had the roof rails off & decided to reduce squeaking between the roof rail bracket & the extrusion for the remaing corners of the car. These last corners were reasonably ok but will get worse & it's easier to fix at home.

After removing the rail I noticed the centre support which normally has a self tapper to hold the bracket onto the aluminium rail, which I replaced with a bolt. The bolt with a Nyloc nut had come loose.

So it you are driving on corrugated roads double check this screw or upgraded bolt as I have done. I have now added some Loctite to the thread as well.

Click image to enlarge

More photos in this thread for this modification. https://www.freel2.com/forum/topic31435.html?

I have also noticed that the extrusion has a small crack about 10mm into the extrusion. Probably a combination of thousands of KMs of rough roads & a lot of weight on top, even though most of the weight is towards the rear of the roof rack. The front mounting is not the most stable at the best of times.

A piece of 0.5mm teflon about 60mm x 100mm wrapped around. I sat it in the end of the extrusion about 2/3 of the 60mm & hammered in the bracket with a block of wood. A little bit of trimming of the Teflon after.

On closer inspection I found the bracket bolted to the rail had actually deformed & cracked the bottom of the extrusion, from corrugated roads.

I have used M4 bolts to hold the bracket & extrusion together in as many places as possible. If this fails I will make a large T shaped bracket, probably about 6mm thick plate & shorten the cross brace by 12mm to allow for the extra thickness.

Thinking this out further, I worked out I could cut a piece of plate to size & put it inside the extrusion.

I made a section of 5083 alloy (mill rolling grain along the 200mm length, so as tough as it can be) to fit inside the extrusion so I can bolt the rail bracket into it to spread the load along the extrusion. Will also tap all the M4 bolts into it as well.

Beyond this I'm not sure what else to do. I don't want to go back to a roof platform as it a lot more dead weight, & I would want to build 6 custom mounting brackets. Also rather machine & bolt. I've seen a number of welded platforms which are cracked in too many places.

The 4 cross bars keep weight to as low as possible & work really well. Just got to strengthen the rails in key areas.

Threaded rod in the end to position the 200mm piece & then will be unscrewed. The 2 holes are to bolt the 200mm part down to the bench to make fabrication easier.

Another day to file the second piece down to size. Very happy with that.

Second side done. Photo of stress cracking.

I am fastening the rails to the roof with M6 bolts as the originals. But will will keep a few M10 bolts & washers in the car just in case a bolt snaps off & I can't remove the M6. I can then remove the M10 adaptor & use a M10 bolt.

Another thought, I might make a simple M10/M6 adaptor with a slot on the top to screw in & out. You need backup options in the outback. Procrastination, mankind's greatest labour saving device!

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2nd May 2020 10:20 am

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