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My local body shop finally removed the bolts that were stuck. They cut the bolts’ heads, drilled through them, installed rib nuts and added spacers to create pressure. The rack is pretty sturdy and it looks fine. If you are in the SF Bay Area and have this issue lmk and I can refer you to this shop.
So glad I was able to avoid this. I’d recommend anyone removing these bolts to use an impact wrench and hit them hard and fast. Worked for me.
Thats exactly what I tried and it didn’t work. Only one of the four bolts in the front came out this way. The other three got stuck. Frankly, I don’t think there is any reliable recommendation other than avoiding to remove the roof rails in the first place.
I just picked up my 2021 Defender X. Exact same problem. We were putting on our new rails for our Front Runner and ran into this problem. The dealership said I was not alone and it will take 3 weeks to fix!
Don’t forget to bless the impact wrench with a drop of fine scotch, throw salt over your left shoulder, and prepare to curse in foreign languages if it all goes south. Good luck!
Alright some learnings for anyone else who is about to attempt this (in order of install).
Defender
1) You should know that the black plastic caps that come with the OEM Roof Rails (those long oblong caps covering the bolts) are effectively disposable. Save yourself the trouble a drill a screw in the top and pry off with a hammer, they'll pop right off (but will break the tabs).
2) I went with and impact on the bolts. Throw the salt, pour out the liquor, do the pee dance, whatever it takes. I only had one scare, and I just applied more downward pressure and it came up no problem.
3) The bolts on the drivers left side of the car all had silicone on them, the drivers right side had NONE. I RTV'd both sides to just to be certain when mounting the FR.
Front Runner
1. Don't put the wind deflector on until you have the rack fully mounted on the vehicle. You will need access to the bolt holes for the mounting hardware and the deflector covers the track
2. Don't worry about those black plastic spacers, you do not need them to complete the install of the legs. They are shown in some of the diagrams on the instructions, but I did not find it clear in the slightest as to whether or not they were necessary.
3. The strange skinny bolt is for the last bolt hole (the one covered by black tape/goo), install it last.
4. Do not fully torque any bolts when mounting the rack, instead hand tighten all locknuts before torquing anything down. I recommend starting on one side, and getting all the hardware in place, and then continuing to the other. It you hand tighten you will have enough room to slide the bolts into the feet.
5. Measure and mount the rear of the rack first. You will have a much bigger area to measure for center if you begin at the back and then work your way forward.
Highly recommend a 13mm gear wrench as it will save you a lot of time when mounting the feet and rack, also the rack bolts are off camber, so no socket/extender will fit.
Shoutout to @newdefenderseattle (IG) and @afterthelandroverexperience (IG) for their help and guidance in the process.
Pics or it didn't happen.
Initial Damage and Final Solution
The Bolts Everyone is Talking About
God Bless This Impact
Drivers Left - Plenty of Silicone Drivers Right - No Silicone Removed Gear Wrench - Time Saver
Nutserts and rivets are extensively used in aircraft. Especially on fairings, non-structural items. Especially where you cannot get at the backside due to structure, or you would use a nutplate. Fairings are always put on last as they tend to be custom fit. So rivets are one of the few solutions. They are not, however, very good. We all know that you can install and remove the item two maybe three times before one spins. Then you drill off the head and then remove the rivnut, lots of different techniques, depending on access. Now putting locktite on the bolt makes the installation permanent. Rivnuts cannot take much torque, they, as seen, spin. I would use heat as opposed to a impact, but it seemed to work for the previous poster. I would hit my mechanics on the side of the head if he did that on an aircraft. Blue locktite will release if heated above 300°F. Almost every A&P mechanic in aviation has a rivnut tool, heck I even have two. The inserts are dirt cheap and you buy them in bags of 100.
Personally, and it is a personal choice, I will make adaptors to utilize the factory rails for my FR rack on the Defender. I made them for the Range Rover, since FR didn't. The Defender rails are much simpler to make adaptors for to use the FR feet than the Range Rover rack was. I like to keep the rails, as my needs for a rack are seasonal and I use different things for different activities. The rack rather sucks in the snow. We get 3 meters of snow up here every year. Using adaptors lets me pop the rack off in 15 minutes or less.
Last edited by Dogpilot; Aug 28, 2021 at 10:41 PM.
Glad the impact wrench worked as well for you as it did for me. I agree that heat is also a good method but I could not find a safe or fast way to heat the bolts, and gave up. Solder iron just didn’t work and no way I was going to use a flame. Impact is always preferred when loctite is present anyway. BTW, it’s loctite blue, an ester based adhesive, not silicone on the bolts.
loctite does recommend heat above 250 degrees to release stuck bolts, so if anyone does find a safe, fast way to heat the bolts, that would be a good idea too.
