Roof rack, new wellnuts (>1983)

[Jurjen]

I had some water leaking into the passenger footwell, a good time to put new wellnuts in the roof rails.
The ones in the Eaglenest store are 1/4" - 20 and come complete with button head screw.

So I ordered some 1/4" -20 wellnuts (without the screws) and found out that the original screws are 1/4" - 28.
This started a search for 1/4" - 28 wellnuts. I found out that there are M6 x 1 wellnuts that have the correct AMC number. M6 x 1 has 25,4 TPI (instead of 28 TPI), but a M6 nut does fit on a 1/4" - 28 screw.
So I have ordered some M6 x 1 wellnuts and the 1/4" - 28 screws do fit.
Here is the table with the wellnut dimensions:


Here is the table with the wellnut dimensions and AMC and GM numbers.


Left the button head with corse thread, right the original one with fine thread


Line up with new wellnuts.


Wiggle the old wellnut out. Use the old screw.


You will pull out the brass nut. The rubber will stay in.


Pull out the rubber next.

Glue the new wellnuts with a drop of superglue into the holes, this will prevent rotation when you screw them down. Clean the plastic profile with some warm water and put the rail back on. Use the original screws and keep screwing until you feel noticable resistance. The wellnut is now compressed and the roof is sealed once more.


This is a good time to take the locking mechanism of the roof carriers apart.
Use a steel brush on the little anvil bolts and put it back together with some grease.
The thread is anti-clockwise.
Locking = clockwise (seen from above)
Unlocking  = anti-clockwise.

[eaglefreek]

Thanks for the info Jurjen, the metric well nuts worked perfect for me.