Roof Rail Delete - going the other direction

Discussion in 'Renegade Modified Tech' started by TWX, Mar 20, 2017.

  1. TWX

    TWX Active Member

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    I doubt that we're going to put a roof rack on the Renegade, and I'm strongly considering removing the rails. I have a two-post shorty lift in my shop with a low ceiling and the roof rack is part of what's limiting getting the vehicle up into the air.

    I tried using Mopar's parts website but it flat out sucks. Can't search worth a damn and the way it forces you to use same-tab/window means expanding the lists collapses them.

    A third-party site shows these:

    http://www.mymoparparts.com/jeep/re...f-scat/?part_name=roof-molding&position=right

    http://www.mymoparparts.com/jeep/re...of-scat/?part_name=roof-molding&position=left

    This would be part numbers 5vx85lxhaa and 5vx86lxhaa. Can anyone confirm that these are correct?

    I'm probably going to keep my stock rails in case we ever change our minds and need to put a rack back on.

    Alternately, anyone with a Sport that later upgraded to having rails want to sell me their roof moldings? :)
     
  2. Nerdsmith

    Nerdsmith Member

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    Got me all excited for a sec... I was about to reply want to trade your rails for my moldings? But alas you're going to keep the rails... Anyways good luck finding what you need[emoji106]

    Sent from my SHIELD Tablet using ToasterJeep mobile app
     
  3. TWX

    TWX Active Member

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    Sorry. *grin*

    Been test-fitting the carseat and stroller, and with those installed there's not exactly a lot of room. We don't have any roadtrips planned but if we find ourselves wanting to do such then I might need some cargo capacity on top.

    I'm also strongly leaning toward a wrap or a plastidip on the roof, the black is going to be rather unpleasant in the sun and I'm thinking either trying to match the yellow paint or else just white, similar to how many modernish FJs had white roofs. Got one quote of $300 for a wrap, need to get a few more. If I have it wrapped I need to pull the roofrack anyway so that's part what's triggering looking at the rail-less moldings now, since I'll have it apart anyway.
     
  4. MisterSquared

    MisterSquared New Member

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    I actually had the rail covers replaced on my sport under warranty because the factory didn't install them correctly. I'll take a look tonight and see if those part numbers match from my receipt. They look like the right ones.
     
  5. TWX

    TWX Active Member

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    Cool thanks.
     
  6. TWX

    TWX Active Member

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    Sorry, no pictures, but I pulled the rails. One of the eight little covers over the 5mm bolts might not be reusable, will have to see. One side bent. I might be able to reinforce from below.

    Got a quote for $250 to wrap the black roof in gloss-white vinyl. Wife has been digging the color scheme on the FJ Cruisers that are a color body with a white roof, looks like it'll be cooler in the summer. We'd considered yellow to match the body but if that fades or discolors it then won't match, so we may as well start out with one that intentionally doesn't match but contrasts nicely.

    On ours, the two rear pieces inserted into the tracks are basically just foam that's glued in, and the passenger's side was only barely glued in such that I pulled it off. Didn't want to lose it on the freeway or something.

    The center part of the molding is still on the vehicle, looks kind of like a stock straight length of material that's just cut and dropped into the gap. Makes me wonder if there's an alternate supplier for it that would work. It looks like if I found a black-headed furniture-head bolt that uses allen that it might be good to hold down such trim. Will have to see. At almost $400 to put factory moldings on it may be worth seeing if there's something else that would do the job.

    Jeep was quieter without the rails too.
     
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  7. MisterSquared

    MisterSquared New Member

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    Confirmed with my service invoice, those are the correct parts should you choose to go with the OEM pieces.
     
  8. TWX

    TWX Active Member

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    Thank you sir.

    I'm going to attempt the junkyard route first, but unfortunately my normal source for junkyard searches does not have a category for roof moldings. I may just have to go OEM.
     
  9. Robot Penguin

    Robot Penguin Active Member

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    My Renegade didn't come with the roof rails. It looked... squished. At least to me. I finagled a Yakima roof rack on there and it looks more balanced now.
     
  10. LimitlessEAD

    LimitlessEAD Member

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    I went through the swap the other way, no roof rack to factory roof rack. It was quite the ordeal sourcing parts. The salvage yard did not send all the parts the first time, luckily after some time, they did sent the rest of the parts.

    These parts are very Expensive from the dealer, swapping either direction.

    If you have a factory roof rack, each side of the car has 3 separate ditch moldings.
    If you do not have the factory roof rack each side has 1 long ditch molding.

    The moldings are held on to the roof with a combinations of clips and double sided foam tape.

    Those do appear to be the correct part numbers. I am not sure if that part number comes with the clips to install the molding or not as many of the parts drawings for these parts are vague at best. There are about 5 or 6 more clips per side on the moldings that do not have the roof rack. So you would need to be sure to acquire these from the salvage yard or the dealer. You would also need to grab a roll of 3m double sided foam auto trim tape.

    I do have a set of these moldings, I have been hanging on to them as there are ridiculously expensive to replace if I wanted to go back the other way. I would consider selling for the right price, However, not sure shipping would be that feasible as they are 6 feet long and not that sturdy. Well, I guess they could ship inside a pvc pipe, either way, a small project to ship.
     
  11. TWX

    TWX Active Member

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    *nod*

    If you should decide to part with them, if I haven't already found a set I would be interested. Paying for a piece of PVC or ABS sch40 and a couple of endcaps would not be a burden.

    When I took off the rails I found the front molding, the back molding (one side was barely taped down, pulled it so it wouldn't come off in the wind) and the larger center molding. Tried taking that off, it popped free of the clips but obviously without having the rail-less replacements I wasn't going to pry the center up. The rack-equipped one comes with two of the clips on each side, it looks like at least two more would be necessary for a good fit, but I haven't seen how many actually came with the rail-less model.
     
  12. TWX

    TWX Active Member

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    Got the ditch-moldings off. Some pictures attached. I did not remove the inserts at the front at the windshield yet, and I also haven't cleared off the VHB tape residue in the ditches either, though those probably need to come out.

    I used the Harbor Freight plastic trim removal kit. Should've cleaned the tools first, left a bit of evidence of my work on the side of the roof ditches in a couple of places. Nothing too horrible though.

    To pull the ditch moldings, just carefully walk the tool side to side underneath, that'll get them to pop free at the ends.

    roof-ditch-molding-start.jpg

    In the middle, shove the tool up in between the sides of the ditch and just carefully pry around. Take your time, the tape will need to stretch before it gives. If you curve up too steeply you'll crack the molding or tear it, which is bad.

    roof-ditch-moldings.jpg

    Similar technique at the end piece, just wedge the tool in and carefully pry around. In my case one of them had almost no tape contact at all, when I pulled the rails I had to take it off so it wouldn't come off in the breeze.

    roof-ditch-endcap.jpg
    The roof ditches were FILTHY. We've only had the Jeep a year, and it was on the dealer lot perhaps another year or more. I can see this being a potential rust area in the future for those vehicles in areas prone to salt usage. If I lived in the rustbelt I'd strongly consider if any kind of liquid filler that dries to a glossy smooth solid finish would be a good replacement for these moldings, something like a dark epoxy with a lacquer finish. Just do away with the actual moldings altogether.

    roof-ditch-dirt.jpg

    A preview of what a rail-less Trailhawk looks like when it's otherwise factory.

    trailhawk-railless.jpg
    We're getting the roof black part wrapped in white vinyl. It's hot here in the desert and we want to reduce the temps as much as we can with our pending newborn since there are no rear HVAC vents.

    Interestingly, based on the overspray in the roof ditches and on visible tape residue marks, they painted the black roof first, then masked it at the front and rear ridges, then painted yellow. There's yellow overspray in the ditches that's covered up by the moldings, and similarly to how the PT Cruiser's unpainted bumpers had evidence that they were taped-off for the painted part, there's just a hint of tape residue on the black, about an inch and a half wide. Couldn't get a good picture of it.
     
  13. TWX

    TWX Active Member

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    UPDATE: took awhile but we finally had time to finish.

    Subsequent to pulling the ditch moldings off we had the roof wrapped in white:

    [​IMG]

    Yesterday I pried-up the last two moldings at the windshield frame, then used my plastic auto trim tool and some Goo Gone cleaner to remove the residue. There are three points where the ditch moldings have tape, basically at the front near the windshield frame, near the B-pillar, and at the back near the liftgate.

    I also cleaned up the residue on the new-used non-roofrack ditch moldings themselves, again using Goo Gone. Found the best approach was to take a tear-off from a blue shop towel, spray the take residue directly, apply the piece of shop towel, then wrap the thing down to the molding with tape. Once I finished the sixth/last one I went around and one by one took the tape off and scrubbed on the residue, alternating between a fresh towel and the one coated in Goo Gone. Then I rinsed the things thoroughly before letting them dry out in the sun.

    After bringing them back in I put the four large retainer clips and two small retainer clips needed on to the underside. There are seven total clips per side, one small one at the front, and the six larger ones.

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I also applied some tape. I used a Loctite branded tape, outdoor rated, rated for around 250 degrees Fahrenheit. It's a little bit wider than the stock tape was, but given how little contact the stock tape actually had with the roof of the Jeep I'm not especially concerned. I'm coming to suspect that they originally hadn't planned on using tape at all, but found once they got into production that they needed it to keep the moldings from coming up.

    [​IMG]

    I started at the front and worked my way back. Peeled the first bit of tape, positioned the front of the molding just under the windshield rubber trim, pushed it down to snap on to the mounting stud, then pushed the tape part down and then the front of the three larger clips.

    [​IMG]

    Once I had the first large clip set, I peeled the tape above the B-pillar, then pushed the second and third large clips down, and pressed the B-pillar tape down.

    [​IMG]

    Then I pushed the fourth large clip down, peeled the tape at the back, pushed the fifth and sixth large clips down, and then the tape down.

    [​IMG]

    After I was done I rechecked all of them, pushed down firmly on the tape points again, and moved to the other side.



    The final result:

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    [​IMG]

    I know that most people aren't going to do this, as nice racks are always fashionable, but this gives me a little more overhead clearance on the lift and was not that difficult to do.

    For the moment we're going to keep the rack, in case we later find a need for it.

    EDIT: Can anyone see images? I tried to cross-link to the gallery but they aren't working for some reason. Didn't want to upload them to the site twice to consume that much more storage space.
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2017
    Jimmy Lee Smith likes this.
  14. Jimmy Lee Smith

    Jimmy Lee Smith Active Member

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    Looks really nice! Job well done[emoji2]

    Sent from my SM-G920T using ToasterJeep mobile app
     
  15. notnalc68

    notnalc68 Moderator Staff Member

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    Only the first image is missing.


    Sent from my iPhone using ToasterJeep mobile app
     
  16. TWX

    TWX Active Member

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    That's weird, they show up with the image with the red X icon for me. I've fixed the first one (and second one) and now those two are working. Weird.

    EDIT: Heh. The first two worked on one computer, but not on this computer that I'm now on!
     
    Last edited: Jun 20, 2017
  17. TWX

    TWX Active Member

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    EDIT OF THE EDIT: Think I got them fully working now. We'll see.
     

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