Broke the stock roof rack on my Mounty

[Mesozoic]

About to go camping with my family tomorrow and noticed that I have broken the factory passenger rear support on the factory rack (2000 Mountaineer). I have a Yakima Megawarrior attached to the factory crossbars, but the writing is now on the wall. Does anyone make a very sturdy setup, all metal, like a safari rack, that could be fitted to my truck? I do not have the bandwidth for fabrication and am willing to purchase something pre-fab. I've Googled and searched a bit on this forum, but not found anything that wasn't custom made. Thanks in advance.

 

[2TimingTom]

I had an Eezi-Awn installed on mine for awhile. It’s now on my 3rd gen Expedition.

 

[Mesozoic]

How did you adapt that rack to your roof? Does it use the factory mounting points?

 

[2TimingTom]

Used the same nutserts the factory rack used- but also added an additional bolted location or 2.

This is the new rail that is bolted to the roof.

 

[2TimingTom]

You can get different lengths. This one is really long. But I like the added versatility the longer racks affords. It’s slightly larger than a 4x8 sheet of plywood.

www.equipt1.com

 

[Mesozoic]

I haven't looked at the situation very closely yet, so still have the rack mounted on the truck. I'm assuming all Ford Explorers and Mountaineers from this production period have the same factory mounting points. My truck has some kind of janky composite raised rail - is that what your truck originally had as well?

 

[Mesozoic]

What about these Surco roof rails? Do they look like they might work with the Mountaineer roof?

Roof Rails | Surco Inc Products

I measured the factory rail length and it's about 62", so the Surco R6200 might be an option. Not sure what other manufacturers make a universal roof rail. Perhaps Eezi-Awn?

 

[CDW6212R]

The 2nd gen Mountaineers have a different set of mounting holes then the Explorers, plus the side rails are unique and plastic. So the bolt holes are not in the same locations. I've been wanting to find an adapt another set of the Mountaineer rails to my 98 Explorer.

You should be able to adapt the Explorer side rails to the Mountaineer if new holes can be drilled in the rails. The nutserts are located slightly forward or rearward compared to the Explorer's. I think the hole width is the same, I only measured the other dimensions.

 

[2TimingTom]

However the Mountaineer rack mounts to the roof, the Eezi-Awn will accommodate. I took the factory Explorer rack off (cross rails and roof rails) and gently placed it in the garbage. The Eezi-Awn replaces everything. The only thing I used the factory rack for was to transfer the hole spacing to the Eezi-Awn.

I don’t know anything about the other rack posted.

 

[Mesozoic]

However the Mountaineer rack mounts to the roof, the Eezi-Awn will accommodate. I took the factory Explorer rack off (cross rails and roof rails) and gently placed it in the garbage. The Eezi-Awn replaces everything. The only thing I used the factory rack for was to transfer the hole spacing to the Eezi-Awn.

I don’t know anything about the other rack posted.

Does the Eezi-Awn system come with 62"ish rails? If they require drilling, that's perfect because there are 6 bolt holes retaining the stock composite rails on each side. I'm interested in replacing the rails with metal rails, for sure. I just couldn't tell what was going on with the Eezi-Awn stuff because their website isn't quite detailed enough. I did try to find some rails on there, though. Assuming that you are running their rails.

Nevermind... I did find the rails. Was just having a moment. K9 Roof Rack Rail Set

So once question I have for you is how/if I would be able to adapt my Yakima Megawarrior basket to these rails?

 

[2TimingTom]

Instead of the platform rack like I have and since you want to reuse your Yakima basket, take a look at the Eezi-Awn Load Bars. This basically makes an all metal factory solution.

 

[2TimingTom]

I don’t know how your Yakima basket attaches, but I’ve attached my Thule cargo box to my Eezi-Awn platform rack. It also easily attaches to factory style crossbars, so I’d imagine it’s similar.

 

[CDW6212R]

That's the ticket, remove the entire stock rack and rails. The lower and more secure it can be made, the better overall it'll be.

I have a nice aftermarket rack on my 98 Explorer, but the stock rails do not inspire confidence. The Explorer rack is metal at least, but the attachment points on the cross bars are not great. I had to play with the four for a good 10-15 minutes, adjusting the height of them and moving them as far apart as possible. The level was not very good, that's what made it tough, the rack laid flat on the garage surface, but on the roof it looked ****ed corner to corner. I'd guess the roof of mine is not leveled very well. I got it on and tight, since about December it hasn't needed anything.

But I would prefer the rack to attach to the roof. I was planning to make a rack, which bolts to the stock holes. I like a few of the aftermarket racks, but none seem to be ideal in size for the 2nd gen's. I would like it to be close to the full width of the roof, and possibly overhang the sunroof.

 

[Mesozoic]

To make the Eezi-Awn rails work for me, I believe all I would need to accomplish is install a set of cross bars on them. Assuming they make crossbars, of course, specific to the Eezi-Awn.

Upon closer inspection, it looks like I would need the load bars as you suggested earlier: Load Bar Set

And then these feet to mount them as well: K9 Roof Rack Foot

Cost appears to be about $500 for this setup. If it's as strong as is claimed, I'd say that's a fair price for just needing to adapt the rails to the roof. Assumption: rails can be drilled anywhere or are they pre-drilled?

 

[2TimingTom]

Rails have to be drilled to your specific application- comes with no holes. My platform rack has been installed on 3 different vehicles. I’ve had to drill new holes each time.

 

[Mesozoic]

Ordered

 

[2TimingTom]

Keep us updated. On my Explorer, I’m using 1st gen Expedition rails (about 12” longer) and 5 Explorer crossbars. Works. But I’m not totally thrilled.

 

[Mesozoic]

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions. I received my Eezi-Awn setup from Equipt up in Utah and machined the rails to mount to my '00 Mountaineer this morning. Very straightforward - used the stock rails as a hole template and then gently transferred them to the tip. This setup is extremely sturdy and I would recommend it to anyone needing a sturdy rack for their 2nd gen or any vehicle, for that matter!

The rails going on in the shop...

Completed setup...

Close up of rack mount...

Overhanging sunroof as someone mentioned earlier...

 

[Desert_AIP]

I broke the cross members on my 1998 XLT right where the plastic risers enter the aluminum cross bars.
I originally went to the junk yard and grabbed a couple replacements, but I wasn't really happy.

So I removed the stock crossmembers, and made up 4 new cross bars using half height aluminum unistrut.
They bolt into the OEM tracks using the original 6mm sliding nuts.

The entire rack sits 2 inches lower and the extra cross bars make it much stronger.

​

 

[Mesozoic]

That looks good! The stock rails had the basket mounted very low, but I got a lot of wind noise from that configuration. The K9 rack sits a few inches higher and has almost eliminated the wind noise, so not complaining about that. I would prefer a lower profile, though.