A friend and I are in the planning stages of designing/building a roof rack, and I have a couple questions I was hoping someone could shed some light on for me.

1- what secures the rack to the rails on the roof, keeping it from sliding front-to-back? A pictures worth a thousand words

2- is it possible to have a full length rack and still open the sunroof? I like to have it open on nice days, but I'm not climbing in or out of it, and I'm not air dropping anything into it, so I don't mind if the rack covers it, but obviously I don't want it too tall. I'm just not clear why all the racks have a removable piece for the sunroof.

Thanks in advance for any advice!

 

if it must be pretty, skip this.

1, 1/2 inch carriage bolts will slide in and snug up with a nut. you can build from there. $1 each x 4. i guess you could cover/paint the bolts to hide them.


2, yes, just make it to clear when window is tilted.

 

Depending what kinds and of racks your wanting to put on, myself just bought the Yakima kit that has the landing pads and towers. I used the 72" bar which gives me plenty of room for a yak and the larger ski rack which I use main for fishing rods. Also plenty of clearance for the sunroof.