Front Exterior Accessory Mount Broke Off

[TX21BRONC]

So, this happened. I have had a Raket Designs roof rack for over a year now. I love the rack, it is awesome. I have wheeled pretty hard with a 100lb FSR Aspen Lite RTT on top of the rack with no issues...until I started hearing a noise near the passenger connection point. I though it might just be the tiny little bolts at that mount point were lose but they appeared to be OK. I then wiggled the rack and noticed movement at that accessory point. I pulled my RTT and Raket roof rack off and noticed that the lower portion of that mounting point with the two studs was loose/not fully connected. I figured I would do a quick JB Weld DIY to see if that would hold it down. Then back on with the roof rack and RTT. Out for some more wheeling and all of a sudden, I start hearing that clicking sound again, get out push up on the roof rack and now the entire accessory mount has separated from the vehicle. Back to the house, remove the RTT, remove the roof rack and sure enough, it had completely broken off from the vehicle. See attached photos of the mount with the JB Weld mess on both the mount and Bronco and then photos after I cleaned everything up. I just contacted my Ford service adviser. He sent it to his shop manager, and they indicated I will need to take it to their body shop to determine if they will fix it under warranty. If not, I am sure my welder could make the repair fairly easily. Just thought I would post this to see if anyone else has had this happen to them and what they ended up doing to have it repaired. I looks like just a few spot welds, and it will be back on, but I am wondering about the durability of it. So far, this front accessory mount is one of the big misses with the Bronco. This should have been done differently and definitely should have been done beefier.

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[PWillette]

Wow, that sucks. Certainly not a good design. I can hear the dealer now..."sorry, your aftermarket rack caused the failure".

If you decide to have your welder try to repair I'd be concerned with flammable materials and wiring on the back side of the panel. Plan to remove the inside trim and top seal to be safe.

 

[TX21BRONC]

Wow, that sucks. Certainly not a good design. I can hear the dealer now..."sorry, your aftermarket rack caused the failure".

If you decide to have your welder try to repair I'd be concerned with flammable materials and wiring on the back side of the panel. Plan to remove the inside trim and top seal to be safe.

That's a great point. If I can't get Ford to repair it, I will make sure that they take caution with removing the inner trim before hitting with the welder. Thanks.

 

[cr117]

Yeesh, check out the wobble on the rear and front brackets when installing the basket. I wouldn't be surprised if this rack's design lends itself to applying more torque on those front mounting points when the weight's shifted forward than a traditional roof rack design.

 

[TX21BRONC]

Yeesh, check out the wobble on the rear and front brackets when installing the basket. I wouldn't be surprised if this rack's design lends itself to applying more torque on those front mounting points when the weight's shifted forward than a traditional roof rack design.

Yeah, it could be that there is movement with the rack. Quick video wheeling where it does not appear that move movement is happening up front. The rear section does move side to side quite a bit. So, you are correct that the rear moving side to side is putting pressure on the front portion, but really should that result in breaking off that mount? Maybe? But Ford should have built this better knowing that owners would be using these to mount roof racks and tents along with wheeling with those items attached to the vehicle.

 

[cr117]

Yeah, if the rear section moves side to side, that's going to be applying a twisting force to that front bracket. Could Ford have attached these front mount points more strongly to the roll bar? Probably. Maybe they designed them this way so they break off under a certain amount of force so the frame doesn't get tweaked, who knows. I just know that I haven't seen this issue happen yet to roof racks that are mounted to the roof in some way.

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