Accessing roof rack mounting holes from interior

[upper_tanker]

Hey everyone. I have a 97 2 door Tahoe. Long story short, my kayak ripped the bolts out of the roof on the driver's rear bracket. I lost the bracket, and am now left with two gaping holes.

At first, I was just going to buy the rubber well nuts for the rear one, buy a replacement, and put it back on and just not haul anything. I was going to use a small utility trailer for my kayaks.

Now, I'd really like to remove the remaining 3 corner pieces, pop the riv nuts out, drill the corner piece holes larger, and put a bigger bolt through each hole with some nice thick steel plates under the roof with washers and lock nuts. This way, I wouldn't have to be scared shitless hauling anything such as kayaks.

My question is, is the roof double walled where those bolts go through? If so, is there enough room to get my hand in there with a piece of plate, nut, and washer? I'm trying to think of how I can do this the right way to still be able to haul stuff.

Any ideas?

 

[mars2878]

I don't have a Tahoe, but this was my experience when I put a roof rack on my crew cab.

over the front seats was double walled, over the b-pillar is single wall but w/ a brace w/ access to the area, the c-pillar area had 2 layers but w/ a bigger gap between them.

I suggest to either pull down yours or one in the j/y in order to see exactly what you are working w/.

I made 1in access holes in the inner skins so that I could put in larger washers to help re-enforce the rack, then used the body plugs from the doors of gmt800's to fill the holes before putting my headliner back up.

don't forget to seal up the holes when the hardware in so that you don't get any leaks.

 

[upper_tanker]

I did end up getting my rear plates up under the roof. Now, I'm going to start working on the fronts today. I did see a few pictures that somebody had posted on Facebook, and it looks a hell of a lot easier than the rears were. I have a 200 mile trip I have to make this weekend with kayaks, so I'm hoping to get it done for piece of mind. Then, my next worry will be if the plastic part on the corner pieces where the rails slide into break. I'm hoping they wont, but only time will tell.

Thanks for your post!

 

[mars2878]

did you ever finish this?