Broken Roof Rack Connection Claw

[KnightsFirst]

Hi,

My plastic connection piece that mounts the roof rack bars to the front of the bronco cracked. (See Image below). I've reached out to Ford customer service, and the dealer, and they said I'd have to spend $1000 to buy a whole new rack.

All I need is this little plastic part, but apparently they don't replace that individual piece. Are there any 3rd party alternatives?

Thx,

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[da_jokker]

Wow..how did that break? I just installed an RTT in about to go camping for the first time...sure hope you did something stupid

Honestly, short of buying a used factory rack or a aftermarket (both of which will run you $400), I might try to repair it.

JB weld is some really strong stuff. If you drill some holes in the ribs on both side (think plug welds), then take JB weld putty and smash it on both sides of each rib, making sure it goes through the holes and sticks to the puddy on the other side....it may turn out.

I mean once it hardens, you could stand on it and see if it holds. Being the entire rack is only supposed to support like 500 lbs, if that one bracket can hold an adult man... You'd probably be okay.


Now this is assuming Ford won't cover it under warranty? I mean if it cracked under normal conditions, then I think it would be a manufacturer defect.

 

[Lowcountry Bronco]

I'd try a different dealer, it's a Ford part and should be covered under the vehicle warranty so I'd have them explain why they wouldn't cover it if it didn't break under misuse.

 

[KnightsFirst]

Stupid break on my part . Thanks for the tip, I’ll look into weld putty!

 

[da_jokker]

Stupid break on my part . Thanks for the tip, I’ll look into weld putty!

Or was it...maybe it just broke as you we're standing there looking at it


Good luck... Yeah that JB will putty hardens like steel... The only trick is to make sure that it has bite on the two halves of the broken ridges...heck, you could even put some small screws or bolts through the edges and then the putty would wrap around them like anchor studs.


It's all underneath so no one's going to see it

 

[KnightsFirst]

Haha, I hear ya, and I don’t like dealers, but my fault , so my responsibility.
Bro addict sells the whole rack for $300, and I could swap the claw part out. I’m going to try the weld putty first though. Thx again!

 

[5GENIDN]

Here is another thought.... cut the rear (driver to passenger) fins on the first line back from the break. then cut some 0.080 aluminum (I would think 1/8 would be overkill) and supplement the front to rear fins with the aluminum (4 fins). add a couple pop rivets or small bolts and also use the adhesive (yes I like the JB weld as well) to adhere the 4 aluminum "replacement fins" to the current plastic. 0.080 aluminum is easy to cut to shape with a jig saw or band saw. Would probably be stronger than the original.

 

[da_jokker]

Haha, I hear ya, and I don’t like dealers, but my fault , so my responsibility.
Bro addict sells the whole rack for $300, and I could swap the claw part out. I’m going to try the weld putty first though. Thx again!

Careful with Brodict (sp?)... There is at least one thread on here where someone has had some real bad juju with their roof rack... Now maybe you're specific part you want to steal would hold out...but the rack as a whole doesn't sound to good.

You may want to keep an eye out for an OEM rack. You could literally pay the person for their asking price and tell them to just ship you both those ends and throw the rest away.

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