[illuzion]

Hi,
I'm trying to ID a bronco roof rack that was destroyed by hurricaine Irene (along with half the truck). I'm trying to figure out where to get this rack from, and who originally made it.

Here are some pics of the original (damaged) rack. What I do know, is that it was dealer installed (not factory installed), it came with the truck when it was purchased new in 95. So it was definately available in 95, (its not like an OEM expedition rack from 97 etc). Some of the plastic parts have date codes stamped into them which looks like 93. It looks very OEM, but I do not believe it is:

Looking very closely at the crossbar extrusions, it looks almost identical to a ford explorer (even though the end connectors look different).

After looking high and low, I could not find this exact end connector, so I ordered a gen2 explorer rack complete. It is close, but not quite. The main side rails are definately usable and the correct length.

The main difference is the crossbars. The OEM Explorer crossbars are the EXACT same extrusion profile with rubber inserts as the ones I had, but they are way too short. I checked almost every OEM rack at a local boneyard and nothing OEM has crossbars as long as the ones I had (I checked excursions, expeditions, navigators, explorers, suburbans, etc).

Here are some pictures showing the crossbar difference:

Also the explorer end connectors are a much lower profile than the ones I had causing the crossbars to sit much closer to the roof, I can probably live with this, but I really need the longer extrusions.

Also the center slats are really different, the explorer ones are made of plastic and riveted to the roof and much shorter than the bronco ones that were on it. The Bronco slats were rubber and attached with double sided tape. Here are some pics showing the difference in the center slats.

I have been beating my head against the wall with this since that damn hurricaine. PLEASE HELP ME! I would much rather spend my time doing stuff like tech writeups here than trying to find a roof rack. But I really want this exact one!!! I'll tell you what.... You find me where to get a new one of these racks, and I'll do a tech write up how to turn your seats from this:

into this:

Thanks

 

[Mikey350]

Damn I wish I could help, I really need my seats reupholstered.

 

[Cheese5.0]

Damn I wish I could help, I really need my seats reupholstered.

x54676857 :toothless

 

[alaskan155]

dosent look to much different from the explorer, i don't know if its wider(you would have to look into it) but maybe a ford Aerostar minivan? just throwing a guess out,

 

[BIGBLACK95]

My seats need some help too! Another suggestion, maybe a station wagon?

 

[snookgetter]

Did they make Taurus wagon's back then?

 

[Northernguy]

I think the roof rack was an after thought by the original owner. It looks just like the one on my mini van.
They are easy to install.I would make one that can hold a spare and other stuff like a shovel and maybe lights.:beer

What does the rest of the truck look like?

 

[j. r. Nice]

Did they make Taurus wagon's back then?

Yep, back to '89. It does NOT look like the roof rack I had on my '94, which would have been gen II (1992-1995). Rails were riveted on too.

 

[weasel-like animal]

Wish I could help. My 94's roof rack has different cross bars.

 

[ModIt]

That looks A LOT like the roof rack that was on my wife's old Windstar Minivan. That was a Factory Installed unit (at least it came with the van when we bought it, and it was a company van before we bought it from dealer used). Wife's van was a '95 before she totaled it.

 

[fartman]

Looks like a aerostar rack.

 

[JScatt]

Looks like you have to get another top anyway, so why are you worried about getting the same exact rack that was on the old one? If half the truck was destroyed why you worried about the roof rack?
And the only way you'll do a re-upholstering write up is if someone tells you what roof rack you had?

 

[Traveler]

They don't make those anymore. It is most likely the nomadic glider series. They made 3 or 4 different series, and then there were some knock offs.
You will not find that exact one except in junk yards.
Best you can do is order something new that looks close and live with it.

 

[illuzion]

Definitely not a windstar, aerostar, or wagon, I checked all of them, none have anything close to crossbars this wide. I am fairly convinced this is not an oem rack although it looks very close to one (hence the reason I like it so much). I know I could put any rack on it, but that was not the question.... I am trying to find the one I had. Or at least something that uses these exact extrusions (they were very popular at the time used on oem ford explorers, oem Nissans, and many aftermarkets) that I could make my own crossbars from. All the oem ones I've seen are nowhere near this long, and I have looked at crossbars up to oem excursion size

 

[justin]

You obviously lose some storage space, but a few folks have mounted up a gen 1 explorer roof rack...looks pretty decent and just a bit narrower than your old setup.


Lets see a reupholstery write up on those seats...and some info on where you got the skins.

 

[snookgetter]

You obviously lose some storage space, but a few folks have mounted up a gen 1 explorer roof rack...looks pretty decent and just a bit narrower than your old setup.


Lets see a reupholstery write up on those seats...and some info on where you got the skins.

We havent answered his question yet, why should he share his info....:slap

 

[illuzion]

I know I can mount an explorer rack, the gen2 is much closer to what I had than a gen1, but as I keep saying it's too narrow due to the crossbar extrusions. As far as the upholstery job goes, I was not kidding when I said it would take time to write it up, I took close to 75 pictures detailing each step of the job, and I really don't have the time to do a writeup as I am spending most of my spare time trying to track down this roof rack. If anyone can help me, as promised, I'll do a full upholstery diy writeup including sources for all the parts. I've done a few tech writeups here already, if you want to see one i did not too long ago check out "the ideal subwoofer build".