1999.0 Roof Rack Mounting Studs

[Precise1]

Ok, nothing miraculous here, but I ran into something trying to get new cross bars for our 1999.0 R50. When the 1997 R50 at the pick and pull had already been scavenged, I looked at an '01, but I was unable to unscrew them and was running out of time for a destructive method (read theft proof and it was getting hot!). I spied a Quest wagon a few rows over (forget the year, but want to say 93 or 95) that had what looked like the same cross bars on it. I grabbed them and went home. At home, I couldn't get them to mount, meaning I couldn't get the thumb wheel screws to properly engage the pathetic little T nut in the roof rack frame. It took longer than I care to admit, but I did figure out the problem and fix it.

 

Do you see it?

 

 

Do you see it now?

 

Yep, the only real difference I could find was the thumb screw thread length and the retaining method. The Quest screw had 7/8 length but the thread is rolled off into a chamfer or relief at the end so you don't really have that full length thread engagement while the Pathy is threaded full diameter for full length, 1&1/16. The Pathfinder T nut has what looks like a pathetic 4mm max of thread in the T nut and I never stopped to look at the Quest T nut, but I suspect it is much taller to make up for the deficiency and hence the shorter thumb screws. So, all of that said, a Quest cross members will work just fine as long as they are the same style, just measure the length of the screws, or be prepared to swap them out.

 

 

Under side view of the Quest crossmember

 

 

Removing the catch clip for the thumb wheel screw. Oddly enough, I couldn't get it to release with a slim blade screw driver, but I could get it to with a heavy bladed knife. Find your tool and be patient, the plastic flexes and doesn't seem brittle.

 

 

Pathfinder underside, a screw driver and good thumb pressure got them out readily.

 

 

The worst thing is that yesterday afternoon I glanced at some sheity 90's 4 door Xploder parked next to me and... the roof rack cross member looked exactly the same!! I started to try to unclamp it to take some measurements but managed to stop myself and merely drive home twitching...

 

B

[JamesRich]

My 01 quest has both ford and Nissan stamped right next to each other on most of the body panels so it wouldn't surprise me if it is the same rack on the Xploder. I just hope it was Nissan making the parts for ford, not the other way around!

James