Squeaky TrailRax Roof rack

[DStro]

I get this squeak sound as well and have narrowed it down to the body mounted portion of the pakrax bracket and the hard top, making contact on the rearmost passenger side. Looking at my hardtop, the rear passenger corner seems to hug the body more than the driver's side. I attribute this to the hardtop being slightly out of spec...unless the roof rack is somehow squeezing that side in more. I dab a little dish soap at the point of contact after each rain or car wash and it eliminates the squeak.

As far as the noises coming from the front of the rack, I get those too and will be adding some UHMV tape between the wind deflector and side frames of the rack. I think one more crossbar at or near the front of the top of the rack might have helped to eliminate a lot of the flexing at the front angled part of the side pieces, which is causing the noises in the front.

I purchased the Trailrax modular rack for my 2-door Big Bend. First few days didn't really hear anything and then noticed some suqeaking above driver and passenger front sides. When I put the weight of a ski rack and 2 pair of skis on, the squesking intensified. Wondering how bad it could get with some real weight up there! I've investigated and it seems like it's coming from where the wind deflector meets the forward most point of the side rails of the rack. I've gone up and given both sides a good shake and it's on very solid, but I hear the noise from that area. I've read about people putting some thin weather stripping or UHMV tape or soft velcro at the seam in that area to prevent the noise but wanted to know what @TrailRax reccomend having seen all this. What about the same stripping that goes on the win deflector (probably too thick) but they should send us a 'fix' and instructions fot this I would think. Also, if I am to put something in that seam, is it ok to fully loosen the wind deflector screws from the front to create some room to get something in between, or will that affect the rest of the installed rack somehow. A rack of this price shouldn't have a pesky sound issue like this.

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[TrailRax]

I purchased the Trailrax modular rack for my 2-door Big Bend. First few days didn't really hear anything and then noticed some suqeaking above driver and passenger front sides. When I put the weight of a ski rack and 2 pair of skis on, the squesking intensified. Wondering how bad it could get with some real weight up there! I've investigated and it seems like it's coming from where the wind deflector meets the forward most point of the side rails of the rack. I've gone up and given both sides a good shake and it's on very solid, but I hear the noise from that area. I've read about people putting some thin weather stripping or UHMV tape or soft velcro at the seam in that area to prevent the noise but wanted to know what @TrailRax reccomend having seen all this. What about the same stripping that goes on the win deflector (probably too thick) but they should send us a 'fix' and instructions fot this I would think. Also, if I am to put something in that seam, is it ok to fully loosen the wind deflector screws from the front to create some room to get something in between, or will that affect the rest of the installed rack somehow. A rack of this price shouldn't have a pesky sound issue like this.

Hello! Thanks for reaching out with your concern, We can look into this for you. From what we have seen and how we have helped fix this squeaking that happens in the front of the rack comes down to two things. One, the wind deflector like this one in the picture, is pushed too far down to the windshield and causing an angle and improper flush fit to the side panel. As you can see the deflector does not sit flat on the whole side panel, this causes stress between the side panel and the deflector at the very top of the circled area. Two, The wind deflector brackets are not perfectly squared with the rack causing out of alignment behavior. The rack was designed to flex with the body, so hearing noises is to be expected to an extent. Of course this loud annoying squeaking is not normal, hopefully these points help, if not, please email us pictures of your rack at [email protected] or PM us.

 

[Posey]

Not sure if this helps anyone here but I had a bad squeak after installing the Trailrax with Pak Rax. Took a lot of trial and error but figured out it came from the lower Pak rail between the body and the hard top. It was only contacting about 1/2” or so.

 

[JaxDiego]

Hello! Thanks for reaching out with your concern, We can look into this for you. From what we have seen and how we have helped fix this squeaking that happens in the front of the rack comes down to two things. One, the wind deflector like this one in the picture, is pushed too far down to the windshield and causing an angle and improper flush fit to the side panel. As you can see the deflector does not sit flat on the whole side panel, this causes stress between the side panel and the deflector at the very top of the circled area. Two, The wind deflector brackets are not perfectly squared with the rack causing out of alignment behavior. The rack was designed to flex with the body, so hearing noises is to be expected to an extent. Of course this loud annoying squeaking is not normal, hopefully these points help, if not, please email us pictures of your rack at [email protected] or PM us.

I was having the squeak only when my RTT was on, moving the deflector up fixed it. Thanks @TrailRax! I guess I had that deflector plate jammed all the way down thinking it would seal the wind noise extra or something. lol

 

[TrailRax]

I was having the squeak only when my RTT was on, moving the deflector up fixed it. Thanks @TrailRax! I guess I had that deflector plate jammed all the way down thinking it would seal the wind noise extra or something. lol

Naturally with weight on the rack, you will hear movement in the slightest as it is many small parts coming together as one and when offroad or under flex, you will hear chasis and suspension flex which does also move parts around up top. It is something that is out of the rack's control, but small squeaky noises should not be happening, which is why we are happy to help

 

[F-Spot]

I adjusted my wind deflector today and it seems to have eliminated the noise I get from the front of the rack so far. However, while making that adjustment, I noticed what appears to be “buckling” on the top flanges of my side rails…one on each side. I never noticed these bends when I installed the rack and have yet to load anything on the rack. So, I assume it’s likely due to flexing. This shouldn’t affect the integrity of the rack, right?

1st pic is the driver’s side panel, towards the rear…

2nd pic is the passenger’s side panel, towards the front…

 

[jc4203]

Solved a couple of noise issues.

The wind deflector squeaked even after being repositioned higher on the side rail.

The front outer clamp rubbed against the roof panel when I hit bigger bumps and over wash causing a chirping sound.

1/16” rubber tape fixed both problems.

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