I'm currently fitting Motion 3 XL onto the Expedition Roof Rack, just made one short trip around the block with the empty box. While fiddling with the crossbar for further fitting, I discovered that two out of four claws made dents in the crossbars - elusive for the camera, but very obvious for the naked eye. I hope that the structural integrity is not compromised *much* since there are inner walls as well, but it's still a disappointment. Mind you, those claws are supposed to be tightened until "the click", so this shouldn't have happened, but...

...I remember reading that for MY25 the design of rack crossbar end plugs was changed - photos below, does anyone have a photo of theirs to compare? Now that I'm looking at those dents, I'm thinking if the crossbars themselves were "improved" (as in, walls thinned), but that's just a wild speculation. It's also possible that G3 is more aggressive than G2 and previous (which I guess folks here had at the time).

In hindsight, this was bound to happen - the part of the claws that engage with the crossbar is absolutely straight, with a high stress focus on just one spot on the crossbar.

And, likely out of warranty on both sides - "unapproved use". Oh well.

Either way, got a bag of popcorn to watch what will happen next. Probably will end up manufacturing feet for those clamps at some point to spread stress, and move those two crossbars to a different spot and mark them as untrustworthy.

The dent:





The end:

 

Oh that is such utter horse ****. I’m sorry man, I would be so irritated. I’ve used those same exact style clamps on my Thule box and they didn't dent my bars. And I tighten them until they click. I can’t imagine the actual silver bars really changed or got weaker with the newer expedition racks... that would be really sucky. They’re just standard Thule wing bars or whatever they’re called.

BTW - You can use these too. I was looking into these. Instead of using the clamp-y feet these go in the slots. I think. IDK. What do you think?

 

Oh the other thing. My roof box is a 2020 model. But the clamps look exactly the same. Maybe they did get “stronger” although I’m googling around now and it seems that they are the exact same clamp between your roof box and mine. Who knows. The g3 clamp is the listed spare part for my roof box.

 

Yep, I am, very much.
Thinking again, I'll probably show the crossbars to JLR and ask them nicely, that might even work.

(T-track adapter pictures and video skipped) Yep, I saw these even before I saw the dents and thought it would be a good solution, but they simply wouldn't have arrived in time for my expedition, so I'll have to do with a makeshift solution until after.

Somewhere, don't remember where, it is mentioned that these bolts are M8, whereas the rack crossbars are M6. Makes one wonder. When I get more time, I'll see if there are standard M8 T-nuts that fit the Expedition rack rails - that will require more disassembly, though, and I'm not sure if it is worth the hassle to begin with - case in point, Gavin reported M6 bolts being just fine.

...or you'll see many starred words here

 

I also have M8 t-track bolts that work perfectly. I used them to fashion my propane tank mount. Amazon has nice ones in SS.

Tank-o-matic 3000. TM patent pending.

M6 bolts are what anchor the cross bars to the rack body.

I’ve also use M6 t-track bolts for my Rotopax, ski-rack, MaxTrax and my shovel mounts.

the mounting system that you are discussing above won’t work without causing the floor of the recessed boxes to flex. If you’re wanting to avoid that it’s ill advised.

I looked at all these options. Thought about cashing a spacer and trying to source longer bolts but it wasn’t feasible or practical.

I have very different tolerance level for dings I guess. Those minuscule blemishes on the rack bars wouldn’t bother me at all. They’ll have to replace the entire rack as they don’t sell individual bars. Each bar is a slightly different length due to the tapering design of the rack.

 

I'll take your word for it. Keep in mind, this is a new vehicle for me and solutions here look very, very different from brute force solutions I'm used to in the Jeep world; however, I've also seen things designed for space and was amazed by how well they perform despite looking all flimsy.
Time will tell.
Real life test soon.

Ouch. Thanks for the warning. Thinking about it a bit; the only mating surface there is the flat one on the ends, so I guess replacing the OEM crossbar with a makeshift won't hurt usability at all. Ends are reasonably easily manufactured if you have CNC access. And, since I don't hear complaints about crossbars going kaput (at least before MY2025), I'll just let it go for now and keep moving until it proves problematic.

 

This might work also.

https://www.thule.com/en-us/roof-rac...x-kit-_-611330