Dodge Journey Factory Roof Rail Replacement

[meadowinthewoods]

Ordered roof rail replacements. Does anyone have installation instructions?

[Dean H]

On my 2016 DJ, I wanted to paint the rails.

 

Remove the end caps, you have 2 bolts that stick up through the roof.

 

All these bolts are basically one time use factory bolts.

 

They don't have full threads machined on the bolt itself.

 

I loosened one nut up an could see it wouldn't tighten properly. If I removed the nut completely.

 

I hand brush painted the rails.

 

Left the other bolts and nuts alone.

 

The one nut, that I did loosen did not fully tighten. Just snug.

 

So to remove all 4 nuts. Would not work. They are not going to hold the rails tight to the roof.

 

 

 

Edited March 30 by Dean H

[Dean H]

Here is a picture of the "one time use bolts" .

 

This one is inside.

 

 

[John/Horace]

Awful fasteners those one time things. Shouldn’t be used anywhere on cars imo.  But roof rack fasteners might just be corroded fastener, can’t really see threads clearly.  Maybe a spring type lock washer (not the serrated flat ones) might change the spot where locking needs to occur on the nut. If there is enough thread, can’t tell from pic. So old nut could still be used. Another option is try to find a fine threaded nut close to same diameter, see if it will lock up.

 

Removing section of headliner to run new permanent style fastener up from inside could be a lot of work. Locosiete

is the most experienced interior guy on this site. Might answer a pm about roof rack removal.
 

 

spring washer pic.