What's inside the roof rails

[MyExceed]

Hey all,

Does anyone know what's inside the factory roof rails on a NS? Is there steel reinforcing inside the 'plastic' outer? Where does it gets its structural integrity from ?

I have a flat rack coming that I want to fix directly to the rails but I'm concerned I might crush them if I use a clamp type arrangement......

Cheers

[aussieintas]

From my understanding they are plastic coated steel beams that are hollow. Not sure of wall thickness on the steel bud but would think they could withstand clamping down onto them to some degree.

Sorry its not a definative answer.

[Alben]

I have my old ones off the NS at work in pieces from when I fitted the rack. I can have a look tomorrow and show you some photos too if you want.
Cheers
Ben

[Alben]

I have had a look inside the rails and got some photos and measurements.
The end sections are a plastic type material while the actual rail seems to be aluminium of about 2mm wall thickness.




Cheers
Ben

[Hatto]

good stuff

[MyExceed]

Thanks Ben, I always thought they were plastic with a steel inner, there you go !!

They look strong enough to handle a moderate clamping force around them. I'll use a nylock nut which should prevent them coming undone.

Thanks again mate

[Rodt]

Hello All, So it appears that you can clamp directly to the rails without crushing them but is this the correct way to fit a basket to your roof?

Had not ever considered doing it this way until reading this as I was always of the understanding that you should clamp to roof racks.

Not sure why I had never considered before as the height has always been an issue to me but that is no doubt an indication of my brain power

Cheers

Rod

[MyExceed]

Hello All, So it appears that you can clamp directly to the rails without crushing them but is this the correct way to fit a basket to your roof?

Had not ever considered doing it this way until reading this as I was always of the understanding that you should clamp to roof racks.

Not sure why I had never considered before as the height has always been an issue to me but that is no doubt an indication of my brain power

Cheers

Rod

Hi Rod,

In all honesty, I cant see that there's a difference in clamping your cross rails or your roof tray to the factory rails.

I need to keep my overall height to a minimum as my carport is only 2.1m high, otherwise I would just bolt my tray to the rhino roof bars.

my rhino rack clamps use a small piece of rubber around the factory rails so ill copy that when I clamp the alloy tray to the factory rails and Bob should be your uncle....

no doubt others will have different opinions, but ill give it a go and see how it pans out

ill post some pics when its done, hopefully the courier will be here today with the tray (he delivered the mounting feet yesterday).

cheers

[Rodt]

Thanks Mark,

Mate the logic sounds good to me but have just never seen it (or noticed probably). Definitely sounds a lot easier and less mucking around especially if the basket needs to be removed regularly (which mine does). Also the additional height is a pain the **** when having to lift up and down along with the height restrictions we have to face.

Cheers

Rod

[GHendo]

I need to keep my overall height to a minimum as my carport is only 2.1m high, otherwise I would just bolt my tray to the rhino roof bars.cheers

Mate if you replace the original rails with the Rhino tracks and put the tray on those, you will have no worries getting under 2.1mt. I have the Rhino flat tray set up that way and even with a 2” lift I easily get under 2.0mt – my max. height is a whisker over 1.9mt.

Cheers

Geoff

[MyExceed]

Mate if you replace the original rails with the Rhino tracks and put the tray on those, you will have no worries getting under 2.1mt. I have the Rhino flat tray set up that way and even with a 2” lift I easily get under 2.0mt – my max. height is a whisker over 1.9mt.

Cheers

Geoff

I had thought about that, but I've read where others have done it and I'm not keen on removing the roof lining. How much lower than the factory rails is the track system including the feet?

Could you post a pic of the track system and a measurement from the roof to the top of the feet?

Cheers