After a 5 month saga I finally got a roof rack for my KK. I tried ordering a Rock lizard rack but was jerked around after paying for 4 months and so I finally settled on a Rocky Road rack which I don’t like the as well but does the job.
Step 1: Removing the stock “rails”
My KK like many came with no rack, just the stock plastic rails which you literally just rip off to remove. They leave a huge mess of tape behind but conveniently there are stock bolts beneath. Not so conveniently they are painted over the threads leading to step 2.
Step 2: Cleaning off the stock bolts
I used a Dremal tool with a wire brush. This removes all the paint but didn’t harm the threads. At this point I was able to determine that ¼” nuts with a coarse thread fit nicely.
Step 3: Checking the rack rails for fitment, PROBLEM!
The rails arrived not able to fit into the channels based off of the location of my front passenger bolts. I don’t know if this was Rocky Road or Jeep’s precision quality control issue but it was back to the dermal tool to carve out the whole so it could slide over into the channel.
Shown below finished an in place
Step 4: Assembling the rack
Once I knew the rails fit I really wanted to roughly assemble the rack onto the rails on the ground as opposed to fighting with it on top of the car. I got it put together with all bolts left loose.
Step 5: Waterproofing
Step 6: Putting it on the car!
Once up in place I tightened everything down and viola!
Now I just have to paint the shiny parts black, clean off the remaining tape in the channels, and figure out how to install my off road lights. I don’t like the bar Rocky Road for lights uses because it won’t accommodate four 8” lights.
Hopefully this will help some folks looking at this set up. It is definitely very sturdy and I think it gives the KK a more rugged look.
Oh and then later I went to the zoo and saw this sweet Sloth Bear!
