What better fun than to install my new roof rack on my 2023 Defender 130 this holiday weekend. Step one is to remove the plastic tabs that cover the 12 Torx bolts (2 at each of the 6 anchor points). I got to work breaking off all of the plastic tabs. For those that haven't done this job, the easiest way is to drill through the plastic, get some leverage, and break them out. I'll attach a few pictures here so folks can see. It surprised me that this was the "easy" way, as the genuinely great Voyager rep I spoke to on the phone said.


The next step is to unscrew the Torx
The anchor point without the tab

I was cruising right along until.....11 out of 12 of these things came out just fine. But one of them is just spinning in its socket. I tried the following things:

1. Freezing the bolt with a can of compressed air to get locktite to seize up and get "grabby" - recommended by Voyager Roof Racks
2. Heating the bolt with a lighter to get it to expand - when the above didn't work, instructions recommended this
3. Using Needle nose vice grips to pull up on the bolt while torx-ing it
4. Wedging a small flathead screwdriver in between the bolt and washer.

It seems like the female end of this thing is a rivnut that might be spinning in there? If that means that I need to drop the headliner to get ahold of it, I will be really frustrated....Does anyone know what might be going on here? I called Land Rover of Boston, and the dude said to bring it in on Tuesday for a look, so that's where I'm at so far.

Happy Thankgiving all

 

the headliner has to come out.

 

Bummer. Lucky8 for the win, wish I’d seen this ahead of time. Any videos floating around about headliner work? Thanks for the reply

 

When you reinstall the rivnut, add a dab of jb weld to it before you pull it with the rivet tool. Wipe off any that gets squeezed out. It'll keep the rivnut spinning from happening again.