I recently bought Yakima towers and cross bars from my Jeep and would like to replace the factory installed cross bars. My cross bars have a circular dial that spins to tighten them in place and slide them up and down the roof rack's rails. However, this doesnt seem to allow you to remove them from the rails all together (which is what i want to do).
Has anyone here figured out how to get the factory cross bars off of the rails on their Jeep? I dont want to break the things--any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
This is my small weekend project--Thanks in advance--i'll be checking back for help!!!
there are 4 very small pins that have to come out to remove the crossbars. they are on the underside of those tightening dials you mentioned. you'll need something small enough to fit in the holes then drive them out.
I got frustrated trying to get the pins out without scratching paint or damaging anything and just ended up removing the side rails with cross bars still installed together. I think it is 2 torx per corner under the plastic caps. Once removed you just have to fully unscrew the knobs and the cross rails come off
^^^^^ once removed like that, drill out the hole for the pin on both sides this way no matter what next time you can do it by removing the pins.
either that or get some more sealant in those torx bolt holes since they come like that from the factory. guess some white thread tape would do the trick too.
Nice, thanks for all the great advice. As a few of you had mentioned, its next to impossible to pull those pins out from the cross bar hinges. I ended up pulling off the front half of the rails. It worked, but i managed to break some of the plastic clips on the bolt covers.
A little superglue fixed those and they are back in place--hopefully to stay. If not i guess i can always reorder that part. whatever.. the rack looks way cooler now with Yak towers, crossbars, and fairing. Also have the fatcat 6 on there.. i'll try and get a picture later.
thanks again for all the help--wouldn't have known where to start otherwise.
Guys, removing the crossbars is a lot easier than you think. 10 minutes tops.
First from one rear side rail, remove the top plastic cap. I removed the passenger side rear. You can do this by slipping a flat blade screwdriver in between the front outside and the top cap. There are 3 small plastic loops that hook onto the bottom. Careful you don't break one. Once the cap is off, then using a Torx bit, remove the two screws that hold the rear rail onto the roof.
Remove all 4 black plastic knobs that hold the cross rails tight.
Lift up on the loose rail and the bottom clamp that the knobs screw into will fall out. They just need just a little more height than the rail provides before it is loosened to be able to drop off. They have a small hook to them that hooks over the pin others have said they drill out. When you have one side off, then lift the crossbar higher and the other side will drop off too.
Slide the front crossbar back, and repeat to remove it. Screw in the black knobs back into the crossbars so you don't loose any pieces and can then put them away.
Screw the two Torx back into the roof, snap back on the cap to complete the job.
Hello all! Hope this isn't dragging a thread back from the dead.
Just bought a 2007 Grand Cherokee CRD last week and am looking for crossbars to mount my Yakima basket. Does anyone have a set that they no longer want? I don't have much preference as to if its OEM or aftermarket, I just don't feel like spending $300 for a couple crossbars when I got my Yakima basket with extension for $250 on craigslist, I'll wait for a junkyard find before shelling out that much cash.
Also, I am struggling to find exact dimensions for the factory roof rails. Does anyone have a link/image showing this? Do the crossbars work across all WK models (2005-10)? Or did they change with the 2009 mid-model redesign? How about another model all together, are these cross bars used on other models (commander, compass, dodge durango even)?
Thanks! please PM me if you can help, as a new member I don't yet have the capability to PM you first.
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