AXN-RXN

Yeah, of course that works. But why not design the damn rack so a 4 x 8 sheet fits WITH the load supports?!?! What I'm going to do is design a shorter version of the load support, or copy what VanTech does. They have a flat endcap plate that extends upa few inches with an eyelet. It won't move, but you can push the sheets up against that and then have enough room for one side of load supports.

Hi All, I purchased a TracRac https://amzn.com/B01FZBJOQE for my 2014 Trans Connect Wagon. First off, I'm a little pissed that the rack is quite a bit smaller than shown in the amazon picture. They don't give a width spec on Amazon, but it is 53" wide. Wide enough for a sheet of plywood, until you put the load supports on the rack. With the load supports, the useable width is 43.5". It would be helpful for a utility rack to be design to fit a standard sheet size and they only had to cut the extrusion a few inches longer. Oh well...more modifications I can make! The feet are made by Thule. I think that TracRac is owned by Thule. When I emailed customer support, Thule was on the return email. I had a few issues with the installation, so I thought that I'd post pics as I go along. I've read many places that the OEM roof mounting points are not accessible on a wagon. That may still be true, but I was able to access the second position mounts in the sliding door area. In the instructions for the rack they say not to use the forward-most mounting point. I think this is due to air bag or headliner location. I've watched videos of people driling out the roof and installing RivNuts. I'm willing to try this if I need to, but I'd rather not drill holes in the roof. Attached is some pictures of my front rack installation. No headliner removal, you just have to get a little creative: First get under the caps with a pocket knife to get them started. Then uses a panel fastener tool. I got this one at NAPA for $6.00. Second: Fashion a fishing line for your mounting screw. Route it from the top out the side of the recess in the track / headliner covering in the sliding door. I just used stranded wire. I think it is easier to mount the racks with the screw coming up from the bottom. This makes it easier to get the thick fender washer in the mix. You want a thick washer on the inside because it needs to resist the bolt tension and support the surrounding sheet metal. Twist or tape the screw to your fishing line and guide the fastener up through the hole. Here is a pic of the fastener up through the second OEM roof mount hole. They supply the rack with 6mm bolts. Kinda scrawny if you ask me, but we'll see how it goes. Anything bigger would require drilling. You could sub out the provided fasteners with 1/4-20 hardware. It fits. I ended up using the stuff they sent. But, my guardian angled was telling my to install 1/4-20 x 2" stainless hex head screws and lock nuts. You can get up in that area with a 1/4" ratchet set. That gray paint there is Cold galvanizing compound. I hit a few scratches that I made when I was prying off the cap. This is also what you would use if you drill. As per the instructions, goober a bit of silicone around the screw to keep water out. It should be pretty well sealed by the rubber foot, but this should help. I used clear because I usually end up getting that shit all over myself and would have silicone fingerprints all over my van if I didn't. Oh, remember to but a nut on your screw so that it doesn't fall into the interior of the van. That would blow. This is the tricky part. You have to find the hex head up at the roof rack in order to hold the screw as you turn the nut. It takes some practice, but once you do it 500 times you start to get the feel for it. Just get the nut started at this point. You'll want to leave all the fasteners loose. I started by just mounting the rubber feet and brackets...no cross-bar yet. Then add the cross bar and start all the screws. Once you have all the screws started, you can begin to torque them down. Here is a pic of the crass bar mounted. You can see that the roof mounting fastener has the nut on top. I added some threadlocker on the nut before install. I tried torquing all the fasteners per the instructions, but some seemed to keep on turning before I hit the spec. They all seemed more than snug, so I called it good. You can also see how long the load supports are. I like the twist knobs and the eyelet for holding down a load. But, it kills me that the space between them is not 48". I have a few ideas on how to solve this issue. The rear mounting points are under the headliner. It wasn't too bad getting to them, but if you think you have to take your racks on/off frequently, you wouldn't want to go this route. First, you pull off the rubber seal all the way around other than on the bottom. Use your Trim Panel Tool to pop out the white plastic pop fasteners holding the rear of the lower trim panel to the sheet metal. Use the T-50 bit to remove the seat belt mount. After you hunt down all the pop fasteners, you can remove the upper trim panel. It's not easy, but with a little patience you can get to all the fasteners with your tool. There are four pop fasteners on the panel. You can reach three from underneath, but you have to nab the top one from between the headliner and the trim panel. Pull the three little grey X-mas tree fasteners to loosen up the headliner a bit. They come up looking like turd, but they do install again just fine. As with the front rack, I used a little length of wire to come down from the roof mounting point. These mounting points are visible up in between the headliner and the sheet metal, but you need a pretty long extension to get in there. Fasten both sides loosely until you get the X-bar on. Then, torque everything down. Install all the panels and replace any of the fasteners that you busted. I bought some new ones at NAPA. An entire pack costs about $5. Woohoo! Yer Done! I'm still a little suspicious of only an M6 screw on both sides holding this on. But, no drilling or Rivet Nutting which I would be afraid would lead to rusting or loosening over time. Space between the mounts is about 60".

Just bought a new-to-me Ford Transit Connect Titanium in white. 46k miles for $16k. I plan on adding TracRac Roof Racks and a Seat Delete / Flat Floor Modification. I'll document what I do and post pics/vids!

Good! This Auto-Fold bugs me as well. I'll be sure to use this solution in the winter.

Hey All! I just bought a 2014 TC Titanium Wagon. The first thing that I did was buy a TracRac rack for it. It seems like a nice unit...smaller than pictured on Amazon. https://amzn.com/B01FZBJOQE It's 53" wide. But, once you put the load braces in there, you have under 48" of width. So, no plywood on top! But, I'll probably just make some smaller eyelets for one side so that it will fit. Anywho, I'm getting into the installation. I've read this thread and watched videos. I can go the RivNut route and drill in through the top...but I was wondering if anyone made progress on getting access to the OEM roof mounting points on a Wagon version by removing the headliner? If you drill in through the top, it seems like you should be able to use the forward-most mounting point. I think the only reason that some instruction say to not use that one is because it's under the headliner (for a cargo) and behind the side airbags. Anyone try this yet? Thanks for any updates!