Just picked up a roof rack. (Ideas for cheap and easy DIY quick disconnect system?)
 

I picked up an OEM looking roof rack from the junk yard today, held on by 3 sheet metal screws on all for corners.
I do need a roof rack occasionally.
The only thing is I don't plan on leaving it on the roof that the 95% of the time when I don't need it.
So maybe we can devise a cheap and easy quick disconnect system that any one can adapt and use on most vehicle and roof rack combos.

I was thinking about using hinges, taking out the hinge pin and replacing it with a clevis pin, cotter pin or high end QD pin.
Doing this would leave half the hinge on the roof of the vehicle and the other half on roof rack.

Does any one have any other ideas for roof rack QDs?

Those twist-n-clamp things used on bicycle seats? Line it up, screw it in, clamp it over.
http://img1.buyincoins.com/show/8x60...release-03.jpg

If you don't mind some drilling, you could make a "hood pin" style hold down. I did that with some bolts and pins from our tractor supply store to hold down my kammback on my Neon.

http://i282.photobucket.com/albums/k.../Image0205.jpg

I put bolt up through the bottom, with 2 nuts, one on top of the trunk lid and one below to set the height that I wanted for the hole I drilled through the bolt, don't go too big or you may compromise the strength of the bolt, then a simple clip pin.

Then all you have to do is pull the pin and you're done!

If you have rain gutters and could spend more on the universal type kits, Yakima's clamps are an obvious choice. I think I was one of Yakima's first 100 customers :-)

For an oem rack, what about using Rivnuts into the roof?

Unlike self-tapping sheetmetal screws, Rivnuts have stronger machine screw threads, and make for a clean instal. They instal by drilling a precision diameter hole in the sheetmetal, then instal using a special rivnut installation tool, that is similar in purpose to a pop-rivet gun. You'll want to practice on a scrap piece of sheetmetal before going after your roof, but installing them is pretty easy to master.

Use the rounded-head stainless steel 'button head' allen screws and a dab of RTV (to keep the water out) to hold the rack in place. Use a cut-off ball driver in your cordless drill to speed instal and removal. After you remove the rack, just replace the button head screws, tightening them flush with the roof. Again with a dab of RTV to keep the water out.

I was thinking of dzus fasteners... Dzus Fasteners

I took a welding class when I was in college and my final project was a removable roof rack for my car at the time (97 civic sedan). I welded 4 "feet" on the carrier basket which were lined with foam, and had 4 pieces of flatstock that pivoted from basket down into the area where the door closes at which point they angled in, securely "locking" them in place by shutting the doors. install and tear down took less than 2min, and no modifications required to the vehicle!

I doubt something along those lines would be viable, so I'm on board with the others in a quick release cotter-pin system, or rain-guard hookups if either of those will work.

By the way, if you're going to be strapping anything nice or expensive to the racks, don't make it too easily removable, or else you may lock some nice tools down and find the whole rack missing.:rolleyes: