Any way to remove roof rack "rivnuts" from outside?

So I'm pretty sure that the rivnuts are the cause of my leaks and I'd like to just pull them out since half of them spin and wobble. Any way to get them out from the top? I doubt it but figure asking won't hurt. People sometime get ingenious and figure this stuff out.

They appear to be aluminum or other soft metal. I could always drill them or grind the top off and let them fall into the head liner, but if they bounced around and made noise it would drive me nuts. I don't want to pull the head liner until I'm read to recover it and I just don't have the time to redo the head liner right now.

My other alternative is just cover them with silicone and leave the rack rails off. I have gutter mount Yakima's for my roof rack anyway.

I would just use a dab of sealer, and put the bolts back in until you are prepared to pull the headliner, and do it right.

Maybe not the same for your year but you can see what they look like here.

http://www.teamgrandwagoneer.com/parts/Detailed/3683.html

So, maybe you can use a longer screw (or a bolt even) and washer to crank down a bit harder on them and tighten them up a bit.

I've peeled off a couple of roof racks - they were just rubber well nuts.

The brass insert had a funky thread, which took a funky screw, but when I peeled the roof rack off of my 88 to just get quit of it, I was able to use a standard machine size well nut (don't recall which size,) brass pan head screws, brass washers, and a bit of clear silicone inside & outside of the nut to seal up the holes - problem solved.

The screws were countersunk flat heads on the rack rails, so you could probably do something similar - just use a flat head screw instead of a pan head screw to reattach the rack rails.

Silicone inside/outside, and you can probably pick up everything you need at the hardware store for about half of what the dealer would want...

The RENIX were rubber well nuts, from about 91+ they are nutserts. You can use a dremel to cut the top off and they will fall inside the car. However the good thing about nutserts as already pointed out, is you can just crank them tight again.

I swapped a couple of mine that were far gone, the only place I could find with the right threading and diameter was the dealer.

I've got the solid, what I believe is aluminum, style. I've tried to tighten them back up but they still spin. I could crank more on the them but I'm pretty sure they would strip before gripping properly.

I've given up on them and switched to a gutter mount. I managed to get all the bolts out and I have some of those plastic retainers that they use to holding the front fender liners and such. So I'm going to silicone the crap out of the plastic retainers and just use them as plugs until I get a chance to pull the headliner and do something about them permanently. The retainers will look decent (for anyone tall enough to see them) and should solve the leaks.

stoneattic said:

I've got the solid, what I believe is aluminum, style. I've tried to tighten them back up but they still spin. I could crank more on the them but I'm pretty sure they would strip before gripping properly.

I've given up on them and switched to a gutter mount. I managed to get all the bolts out and I have some of those plastic retainers that they use to holding the front fender liners and such. So I'm going to silicone the crap out of the plastic retainers and just use them as plugs until I get a chance to pull the headliner and do something about them permanently. The retainers will look decent (for anyone tall enough to see them) and should solve the leaks.

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If they're aluminum, you can probably remove them the same way you can remove drywall molly anchors of a similar style - thread a long screw in so it grabs all of the threads, then tap the head with a hammer.

This should straighten out the bent bits that keep the anchor in place. Once you get it straight enough, you can then pull it out by pulling on the screw head.

I use this for drywall anchors all the time.

5-90 said:

If they're aluminum, you can probably remove them the same way you can remove drywall molly anchors of a similar style - thread a long screw in so it grabs all of the threads, then tap the head with a hammer.

This should straighten out the bent bits that keep the anchor in place. Once you get it straight enough, you can then pull it out by pulling on the screw head.

I use this for drywall anchors all the time.

Click to expand...

I may give that a try, but I'm afraid that the roof would dent before the rivnuts straighten. I'll try grabbing it with pliers and give it a shot. That would be great if it worked.

Keep in mind that those nuts need very little structurat integrity. Which is why they are made out of either rubber or aluminium. They just hold the rack in place... With the number of them in the Heep, all told the strength is there for roof mounted accessories.

Each one though? Not much to them.

I jut drilled them out. I don't remember what size bit I used but they came right out.

I tried to "uncompress" them and gav
e up, afaird of denting the roof. I just stuck the plugs in and siliconed them for now.

I'm getting ready for a trip so I needed a quick solution, even if it's temporary. After the trip I'll pull and recover the headliner and get rid of the rivnuts, maybe weld a flange nut on.