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2019 Transit Connect Roof Rails


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Hello from Charleston-

Noob 2019 Transit Connect owner as of Tuesday (1/7/20).  I love it and cant wait to start personalizing it and doing some road trips with my kids.  Quick question on roof rails.  It did not come with them and I see plugs.

 

Where is the best place to buy the rails that run down the sides?  I may have some Thule square crossbars available that will work once installed.

What is the installation effort?

 

Thank in advance!

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@sebestyen13 - Welcome to the forum and congrats on your new TC.

I'm assuming you have a wagon version vs the cargo since you're transporting kids.

 

Good place to start if you have a question is to use the SEARCH bar in the upper right corner of your screen. Very helpful.

If you type "roof racks" you will see numerous threads covering this topic.

 

Below is a link to a roof rack install I did on my cargo TC. You have a headliner in the cargo area so you have different considerations, but there are plenty of other posts covering wagon installs. Good luck!

 

 

 

 

Edited by windguy
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Factory rails are going to cost you big $$$, so go universal/aftermarket, instead. As I recall, the pair of factory rails with the mounting hardware - no crossbars, no installation labor - is somewhere around $600! But, if you had ordered a van (as opposed to buying one off the dealer lot) and ticked the checkbox for roof rails, it's something like a $55 option upcharge, lol. 

 

Aftermarket rack companies like Thule have rails available. I think I've seen prices around $200-$300 from other members that have gone that method. 

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@Don Ridley I guess that was my real question: what fits? It's a big purchase to guess. I don't need OEM ones, just something that fits right and is functional. May have to start taking some measurements and compare to 2014+. Are those measurements easily available that you know of to compare with?

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Looking at pics of the 2019/2020, I can spot a few cosmetic differences compared to 2014-18, mainly on the front bumper/grill. But the overall body structure still looks exactly the same for 19+, there may be some differences underneath because of the new rear suspension design (did they also redesign the front suspension? I don't recall now), and that certainly won't affect roof rails, anyhow. 

 

Maybe keep an eye out in parking lots for a slightly older TC Gen 2 so y'all can park next to it and see if anything looks different? I don't believe you'll find anything different up top, though. I'm in rural podunk Texas and I know of at least 4 TC2's when I go "into town" not counting mine (roughly 8K population makes it the "big town" with a Walmart, haha), so y'all should have no trouble finding one to park next to wherever y'all live.

 

Offhand, I can tell you that my rails are spaced something like 48-50" apart on-center and they're 1.25-1.5" wide (I measured 3+ years ago, so memory is foggy). I just looked through the BBLB (Body Builders Layout Book, aka "Upfitters Guide" to most), but it doesn't show the hole spacing in the roof for the factory rails - just limit 220lbs van, 165lbs wagon & 132lbs panoramic roof. If you have a LWB instead of the SWB, I can take the tape measure to mine, if you need numbers to compare to. If you did get the SWB, there's a couple of them in here, although I don't recall usernames. 

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  • 4 months later...

If anyone is looking for OEM roof rails, we posted them for sale in this forum, we almost always have them as they are removed from the vans coming in (2014 - 2020)  They will fit any year, there is no difference in the roof line between years, though the body panels changes (grill etc)

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  • 6 months later...

It looks like just Unistrut and brackets. Strutnut and hardware comes in different sizes.  Even the brackets have different sizes.  Were rivet nuts used? I want to save myself the homework of measurement and pouring through parts catalogs for hours.

 

image.png.a14fa6391c29f0f89f08e4bcdd0bf20f.png

Edited by Fifty150
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On a cargo van, without the headliner, you could use basic nuts, bolts, and washers. You could find rubber washers to help seal out water. Silicone works well. From what I remember, the holes under the black plugs are big enough for 1/4" bolts. I would want at least 3/8" bolts. When you start thinking about how much weight may end up on the roof, I may want 1/2" bolts.  If you decide to use rivet nuts, you will have to drill those holes out to a larger size. I could be wrong, but 1 or 2 more lengths across the width of the van may be even better.  Overall, it's a good job.

Edited by Double Nickels
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After I removed my ladder racks (2.5 MPG hit!!), I drilled out the holes for rivnuts for one-tool installation/removal when needed. Only the front pair of holes are round, the rest are oblong, so they have to be drilled for M10 rivnuts as that's the smallest size that will fill the hole. I wish I would have started with the back ones, because I had already put M8 in the the front pair first and then moved back & realized M8 would be too small for the rear holes. So now I need to change the socket for front/rear, but at least it's all done 100% from above the roof, which was my main goal. Then again, myself and Templar are about the only ones I've seen on the forum using the front pair of holes, most others are using the second set back plus the rear-most holes, so they'd be drilled out for M10 or SAE-equivalent, anyway.

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