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Roof Rack Installed

Discussion in 'Prius v Accessories and Modifications' started by gmyatko, Sep 3, 2023.

  1. gmyatko

    gmyatko Junior Member

    Joined:
    Sep 3, 2023
    4
    3
    0
    Location:
    Palm Bay, Fl.
    Vehicle:
    2014 Prius v wagon
    Model:
    III
    Hi All,
    Needed a robust roof rack to haul my kayaks around. I had purchased one on Amazon a while back and modified and installed it in my Hyundai Ionic for a few years then that got totaled. I just picked up a 2014 V 3. I bought the same rack because I was familiar with it. Mine is extremely robust, but took a lot of hand- forming the aluminum so it matched the contour of my roof. Since I was using blind “rivnuts”, I opted for 1/4-20 stainless. I wanted to do it the best as I could, so I removed the headliner, made sure of where the drill was going to hit, etc. also backed up the rivnut with a drilled out 25/64 drill for a 3/8” nominal hole. This made the rivnut draw up and lock up securely about the fender washer. There is a total of seven 1/4-20 stainless screws on each rail holding down the rack. The rack rails come straight, so I had to make a cardboard pattern as the roof is kind of like a french curve. (Aren’t they all). If you don’t get it perfect, you’d never be happy and it would look like crap. Anyway, I can grab these rails and shake the car side to side as hard as I can and they don’t move. The roof rail manufacturer would have you use sheet metal screws. The very first thing I do is throw those away as fast as possible. Everything is meticulously sealed with clear elastomeric. You have to be very handy, use your imagination and be very resourceful or don’t even think about embarking on this. Total time including removing the headliner was about 10 hours and the headliner isn't reinstalled, because I’m going to add soundproofing to the under roof while I have the headliner out. On Amazon, $111,
    Perrycraft DSXX65-B DynaSport Black 65" Drill-in Installation Roof Rail
     

    Attached Files:

    Air_Boss, xliderider and bisco like this.
  2. bisco

    bisco cookie crumbler

    Joined:
    May 11, 2005
    110,027
    49,993
    0
    Location:
    boston
    Vehicle:
    2012 Prius Plug-in
    Model:
    Plug-in Base
    looks great!(y)
     
    Air_Boss likes this.
  3. PriusPaddler

    PriusPaddler Member

    Joined:
    Oct 19, 2017
    150
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    Location:
    Twin Cities, MN
    Vehicle:
    2009 Prius
    Model:
    Base
    Wow. Handy.