Anyone try removing the factory roof rail on a D2?

The parking garage at my place is 1950mm... I'm thinking to remove the rails (since I never use them) so I can fit in the parking.

Is this a pain? I'm no genius with repairs so maybe I should get a pro to do it. Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

Yes, it is a pain. Plus, I don't know that it'd give you the necessary clearance... The roof-line is slightly lower in front, so before you go to all the trouble of removing the rails be sure you measure from the ground to the top of the truck in back. If it is less than 1950mm, it won't be by much. If the absence of roof rails gives you enough clearance to fit, it'd still be awfully tight and I'm not sure I'd be comfortable with it!

 

You have to pull the headliner loose from the sides to get at the bolts that retain the rails.
Once removed it will leave four large holes in the roof that need to be plugged.

 

Wow sounds like a job and a half!

Antichrist, any idea as to how best to plug the holes?

Disco_fever, thanks for the advice. I've seen some vans that are 1935mm tall in the parking garage, and there's plenty of headroom... not sure why they limit it to 1950mm (there's a wooden sign thingy hanging at the entrance, though looking around inside the place looks a lot higher than that... maybe they measure the lowest point which is prob some corner with a low hanging pipe?)

 

You will have a good time getting the headliner out. if you are going to proceed I would suggest you either paint the headliner or recover it with new fabric. What year is your disco? You should also check the seals on the drains from the sunroofs to make sure they won’t be leaking any time soon. As for the holes I would treat them like body work and patch it., dependent on how big the hole is. But then again what do I know I have a big @ss scratch/dent down the side of my D2….

 

i think a Discovery without the stock roof rail looks awful. I would park that rig out side and leave the rails.

But to answer your q, like Anti said, you have to remove the front half of the head liner to get the nuts. and cover up the holes.

and like hilltoppersx said, if you do get to that part, check the drain tubes on your sunroof.

 

measure the hole and go to an electrical supply house. They see rain tight plugs for electrical panels that you can pop into the holes. Might want to add a little silicone when installing, but people have done this to fit full roof racks to their trucks.

 

like okdiscoguy said, it has been done before to allow the low profile roof racks but that would be the ONLY reason I would remove them. =)

 

you can plug the holes with bondo and paint over them, but there is NO way I would do that to my disco just so i could park it under cover. If you want to park it there that bad maybe consider running smaller tires to get your height down. BTW you could also cut your coil springs to lower it some but I wouldn't do that.

also, running lower tire pressure will lower it but will eat up your tires faster.

 

I removed the rails on mine. You don't have to remove the whole front of the headliner, just pull it back from the sides. The bolt heads are pretty close to the side.
Discoveries are ugly with or without the OEM roof rails, so I wouldn't worry about that.