[rivbluenoma]

I picked up a 92 4dr 2wd blazer last friday. Ive already yanked all the trim, chrome wheel well junk, lost the rear spoiler, and am in the process of taking off the roof rack.....er..so I thought.... There's two screws at each corner of the roof rack. Ive gotten one screw out of each corner but cant get the other four screws to come out, they all sit there and spin like the screws are stripped. Is there something that Im missing? Do I need to drop the headliner??? I hope not because I didnt want to drop it till I was ready to tweed it.

 

[rivbluenoma]

I did a search on another forum and found that theres some kind of clips on the bottom side of the roof rack under the headliner. So I guess the question is can I just go ahead and sawzall this thing off and grind down whatevers left in order to get rid of this thing?

 

[95tahoelt]

use a dremel and grind off the head.

 

[BravadaAWD]

There are no clips under the head liner, they are threaded inserts. You may be able to pull up on the rack and get the screws to either loosen or maybe tighten, which will tighten the insert then allowing the screw to remove. If you use a sawzall it will trash your roof panel and the insert may just rotate back and forth not actually cutting it. As a last resort you could do as 95taholt suggest's and cut off the heads of the screws, but you will still have the inserts in the panel. If you remove the insert there will be approx. 5/16" hole at each. On mine I reinstalled the mounting screws and painted them to match the truck, they are noticable up close if you are looking for them.

 

[tom3]

Once those inserts turn you're screwed mostly, need to remove headliner and hope they aren't into a cross brace. Just bought the wife a new Blazer, two door two wheel drive. First thing I did was remove those bolts and put Neverseize on them, for future plans you know. The screws on hers had some blue compound on the threads to lock them in.

 

[rivbluenoma]

Thanx for al of the helpful replys, everone. The fact that everyone here is so helpful is what keeps me coming back. It was late and I was tired (and fairly pissed) when I decided to sawzall the rack off. I waited till morning and decided to drill the heads off of those screws. Pulled the rack straight up , then used two pairs of vise grips, one to hold the retainers and one to turn whats left of the screws. The blaze is looking 100% better than when I got it home, removing all of that extra trim really helps.

Does anybody know if I can grind the retainers down and throw some fiberglass filler over them till I get ready to paint the truck later this year?

 

[Rapid Ron]

Those (8) holes are a little large to use filler on. You eventually have to weld a piece in those spots before using filler. Remove the inserts and purchase some plugs from the hardware store to temporarily cover the holes. BTW, where you located in K.C.?

 

[blazinred87]

What I did was purchase allen set screws to go inside the retainers with a thread lock. I then hammered the retainer to where it was slightly lower than the surrounding surface. Then I ground it down to bare metal, then used a good product called All-Metal. This is a very durable material, and not plastic. It's been since March, and It still has held up well. I would have welded behind, but I already did my interior, and the headliner wouldn't survive if I took it out again. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Supachubb]

What about a 97 zr2 roof rack

Are 97 blazers the same with having to remove headliner to get the roof rack off

 

[rivbluenoma]

BTW, where you located in K.C.?

Depends on the time of day. I live out in the bonner springs area and work in belton so Im all over the place....