G1 Roof Rails -- ??

ISO Truck said:

... And if anyone knows the answer to my question about the OEM roof rails (can they be purchased without the cross bars?) I'm all ears. Thanks!

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ROC Brother, we meet again on another thread and hopefully I can help, at least a little. Your answer is no, you cannot purchase the OEM accessory roof rack without the crossbars. It's sold as one complete set. Honda does not recommend hauling anything that sits directly on the roof due to how they designed the roof structure. --Given we have moonroofs/sunroofs, the roof can't handle the same amount of weight than those without.-- However, if the weight is put on the side-beams, where Honda wants us to put the weight, our roofs can handle the load. So they purposefully do not offer their racks without the cross-bars and they have numerous OEM attachment systems for those cross-bars.



I've noticed the mileage hit, which I agree is about one MPG. As for the wind noise, I've not noticed any difference with our without the rack. Although bulky, the OEM roof rack has an aerodynamic design, so I'm not certain where this "noise penalty" is coming from. When you open your moonroof/sunroof, the only noise you get is from the wind deflector that automatically deploys when the glass is retracted. I tested this by holding the wind deflector down while the moonroof/sunroof was open as I drove down I-95 and there was no noise at all (very careen).

I've seen some ROC members with VanTech roof racks, but it's a cross-bar only system (no side-rails) which may not be what you're looking for.

I have Yakima tracks mounted to aluminum hollow square stock that is custom bent to fit into the contours of the rain gutter. The square stock is bolted to the roof using the mounting studs for the factory rack. It provides a low profile track that Yakimas landing pads and towers / crossbars can mount to at any position along the tracks. You can also remove the towers / crossbars whenever you want to without tools. The small landing pads are all that are left behind. This setup puts all the weight in the sturdy portion of the truck that is designed to hold up in a rollover accident. I personally find the OEM rack to detract from the look of the truck and its 100 (ish) pound weight rating to be grossly insufficient for my construction needs. My Yakima track setup has held up to 10 years of construction duty.

I also built a rear section to my rack using 1x2 solid aluminum stock. It bolts in the front of the bed to the existing upper and lower cleat mounting points (cleats are kept) and bears its vertical load on the bottom cleat. I wanted to have available a wider spread between my cross bars than I could get from the available real estate on the roof. Its a bit like the "Back Racks" that are available for most BOF pickups. Aesthetically it leaves a bit to be desired but it does the job, and doesn't limit bed utility or my rear view.

Installing the front Yakima tracks would probably suffice for most peoples roof rack needs, allowing for a clean look (and clean aerodynamics) when the rack wasn't needed and then allowing for a quick tooless install when needed. That said, fabricating the aluminum hollow square stock adapters and then mounting the Yakima tracks was not particularly easy.

Hope this helps . . .

I can take some better pictures and post shortly.

You won't be able to see the aluminum square stock because it is hidden underneath the Yakima tracks. Here's a link for the Yakima product that I used.https://www.yakima.com/42-tracks-w-plusnuts

This was all done 10 years ago BTW. . . I first removed the rain gutter cover trim. The rain gutter and roof rack mounting studs are then exposed. I then took 3/4 x 3/4 (aprox) hollow aluminum square stock (heavier wall thickness stock probably 1/8 wall thickness) and bent it to the curvature of the rain gutter. I also recall having to clearance it a bit (using sanders / tablesaw etc) to fit completely down into the gutter. Where the rack mounting studs where I drilled tight fitting holes through the stock on the bottom and then enlarged the continuation of those holes on the top so that I could put a washer and nut on the stud. I think I used some clear silicone to bed the square stock into the gutter with prior to bolting it in place. The square stock can now act as a resting surface for the Yakima tracks and they can be attached to it using their plusnut system with the plus nuts expanding into the hollow of the aluminum square stock. Basically this was my way of bolting the tracks to the truck without drilling holes into the roof.

Ill attach some pics later . . .

BTW, I ordered the square stock on line. It was probably two 48" lengths of hollow 3/4 aluminum square stock with thick (1/8ish) walls.

PS: I also cut the front portion of the rain gutter trim off and reinstalled it (similar to how you would with the factory roof rack install) in front of (and just tucking under the front part of the track) the Yakima tracks to finish off the install.

Here are some pics . . .I guess you'll have to turn your head like Linda Blair in the exorcist

The square stock is completely hidden under the Yakima track

The Yakima track won't fit down into the rain gutter so without the aluminum square stock, it would be bearing its weight on its edges. The factory studs are also not long enough to go up through the track where it will naturally rest. It also would be attached only at the front and back where the factory studs are rather than the whole length.

It would probably be adequate to install something like the square stock at each stud pair area (2 on each side for a total of 4) and then to attach the tracks using the plus nuts at those points. This would avoid the need to bend / fit (lots of trial and error) the square stock as one long unit. The tracks come pre drilled for the plusnut attachments, but you should be able to align the tracks to get at least two plus nuts at each mounting point. For the rest of the run I suppose you could bolt the button head screws directly to the track prior to install so that it looks like you bolted it down the whole length.

With the above approach, the track might squirm a bit in the middle if you happened to mount a tower there but its probably unlikely that you ever would.

Overall, installing a full length piece of rigid square stock helps to distribute the load regardless of where the towers are mounted and holds the Yak track along its entire length like Yakima intended. I put lots of weight on my roof rack (my cross bars even have an extra pipe inserted inside) so I wanted to make sure that the weight was well distributed on the roof. If things are really heavy I use a prop I built out of 2x4s that fits at the rear of the bed.

I really wish that car manufactures would build something like the Yakima tracks into the rain gutter system so that it would accept towers along its length but look completely clean when not in use.

One final thing here . . .I haven't looked much at Thule options but I am pretty sure they have a similar product to the Yakima tracks. Some people prefer their rectangular crossbar racks

Good luck!