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FrontRunner Slim Line II Racks Installed

8K views 12 replies 7 participants last post by  swolliosis 
#1 ·
When I was researching which racks to get, I couldn't find any information about the FrontRunner Slim Line II rack for the WK2 platform. Now that I've received mine and installed it, I wanted to share for the next person.

I ordered from FrontRunner in California (they are headquartered in South Africa). Steve was very helpful and got the racks sent out right away with free shipping after I decided to pull the trigger. I'm pretty sure I'm the first to install them on a WK2 in the US as Steve had them in stock, but they weren't technically for sale because they wanted to install them to make sure everything fit on a US-based WK2 (they've been installed on So. Africa WK2, but Steve wasn't sure if there would be any minor differences.)

In short, the installation went fine and the racks are really high quality, light, yet very strong. The bolts they sent me were a little too long, but a trip to the hardware store resolved that.

To install these, you take off the OEM roof rails. Then you install the FR rails and then install the rack on top of that. I would say I spent about 1.5 hours doing the whole thing -- all in all, very straightforward. Although I do recommend having a rubber mallet handy to do some tapping to get things snug.

Wind noise is present, but pretty minor; I don't think my wife has noticed the slightest bit and she drives our Diesel JGC more than I do. I notice the noise once I hit about 55-60 MPH. The verdict is still out on the MPG hit, I believe there is one, but seems to be pretty minor. Tomorrow I'm doing about 100 miles on the highway and I'll have a much better idea of the hit.


Here are some pics of the rack installed. All in all, I'm very pleased with the look and quality of this rack. My plan is to get the underside sliders and camp table and shovel mount, along with the some jerry can holders. In the future, I might add a roof top tent.

Land vehicle Vehicle Car Automotive tire Motor vehicle

Land vehicle Vehicle Car Automotive exterior Roof rack
 
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#3 ·
Looks great. I am trying to fit a large roof box, and need my front bar to go forward more. This will allow the tailgate to go up without contacting the box. I've seen the factory diagram of the factory roof rails and believe I can simply trim some of the black plastic trim cover to allow my rail to slide forward another 4". Since you have actually removed them, can you tell me if the metal part of the rail is the same shape all the way to the front of the trim piece so that I could slide the cross rail forward more?

Thanks
 
#7 ·
Since you have actually removed them, can you tell me if the metal part of the rail is the same shape all the way to the front of the trim piece so that I could slide the cross rail forward more?
Ok, I just took a look. The metal piece is significantly shorter than the trim piece, in the front and back. The metal structural peace as pre-drilled holes that allow to match to the existing holes in the roof of the vehicle so I don't think just sliding it forward will work. I hope this helps and I'm understanding correctly.
 
#10 ·
macro, nice setup, thanks for posting this. I haven't decided on a rack yet but so far I like Gobi, though it's expensive. This FrontRunner looks like a good alternative, and I like that it's of light aluminum. It looks strong, too.
 
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