Looking for fitting advice – Sahara TX3 roof rails on Skyline pop top (LWB)

[JJMG33]

Hi all,

I've got a Skyline LWB pop top and, following Skyline’s recommendation, I’ve ordered and received the Sahara TX3 roof rails.

I was aware these rails are originally designed to be fitted to the factory metal roof, but now I’m at the install stage I’m unsure of the best method for fitting them securely to the fibreglass Skyline pop top.

The kit came with plastic mounting brackets and bolts clearly intended for the original van roof, so I assume those are now redundant.

I’ve got various M6 stainless bolts ready and I'm comfortable drilling and sealing, but I want to make sure I’m not missing anything obvious before I commit. I’ve tried calling Skyline and two local Skyline-approved fitters, one fitter is away, and the other can’t squeeze me in until next week (and I’m away myself then). Skyline themselves didn’t have any technical support available to advise on roof rail fitting either.

All I really need is five minutes of advice from someone who’s done this before or knows the process. Happy to post pics or provide more detail.

Cheers in advance, any help would be massively appreciated.

 

[Paul565]

Hi all,

I've got a Skyline LWB pop top and, following Skyline’s recommendation, I’ve ordered and received the Sahara TX3 roof rails.

I was aware these rails are originally designed to be fitted to the factory metal roof, but now I’m at the install stage I’m unsure of the best method for fitting them securely to the fibreglass Skyline pop top.

The kit came with plastic mounting brackets and bolts clearly intended for the original van roof, so I assume those are now redundant.

I’ve got various M6 stainless bolts ready and I'm comfortable drilling and sealing, but I want to make sure I’m not missing anything obvious before I commit. I’ve tried calling Skyline and two local Skyline-approved fitters, one fitter is away, and the other can’t squeeze me in until next week (and I’m away myself then). Skyline themselves didn’t have any technical support available to advise on roof rail fitting either.

All I really need is five minutes of advice from someone who’s done this before or knows the process. Happy to post pics or provide more detail.

Cheers in advance, any help would be massively appreciated.

I can’t help you, but I’ll be watching this post. I ordered the wrong ones and they don’t fit!

 

[JJMG33]

I can’t help you, but I’ll be watching this post. I ordered the wrong ones and they don’t fit!

I've been told these are definitely the ones to go with by fitters and skyline so I'm just going to get a fitter to install them to save me the aggro. Also I just ruptured my MCL so that made the decision easier!

 

[Happy James]

I’ve just fitted some Turtle rails and it’s a fairly easy job. LWB so 4 rather than 3 fixing points.

Nice big stepladder.

Roof down for drilling, held lower on straps for fixing bolts and nuts.

Offer the bars up for position. I found it was better to just drill straight through rather than attempt to mark it and then drill.
Steps for height make it easier to line up and keep everything square and straight.

Use a bit of masking tape to help the drill take and avoid scratches (just because you can’t see it under the feet, it’s still there).

Vacuum to get rid of all swarf. A lot.

I drilled and fixed the rears. Then the fronts, then the middles ones. Check bar position before every drill. Check again, then, check again.

Vacuum any swarf every time you drill. You really don’t want to scratch your lovely roof.

I ordered some stainless steel bolts with nyloc nuts (m6 or m8, whatever matched the supplied size) and penny washers to spread the load. Use a drill bit for metal.
I can’t remember the length, but it’s pretty easy to do. I think they were 60mm, but I had to shorten the front and rear ones to about 30/ 40mm. I used a grinder and a file to tidy them up and a spare nut and a drop of oil to re cut the thread. You could just order the correct size for all of them. Even if you get it wrong, it’s not going to break the bank to reorder.

Tip… put a nut on before cutting so you can wind it back and cut the thread rather than try and screw it on from the cut end (made that mistake once).

The rears need to be shorter to eliminate any risk of fouling (I’m a bit obsessive, others might think it’s fine) the fronts just because it’s neater.

I added a second nut to cover the bolt end.

The cross bars didn’t need cutting, yours might, but if I did it again I’d probably mount the rails 5 or 10 mm in from the edge, which would mean shortening the cross bars. The bars slide into the mounts, so it doesn’t matter if you cut a bit extra off. But again, for strength, I’d be precise as possible so that they push all the way in when fitted. I might be wrong but more contact, closer to the corner should be strongest (I’m not wrong). I wouldn’t go too far in from the edge as the shoulder is the strongest part so will take weight better with out deforming.

Hope this helps.