Rod racks revisited

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Tom

Tom

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When we changed our toad from a Chevy Suburban to a Ford Explorer, my home-made in-car rod racks no longer work. Here's a description and pics of the racks in the Suburban.

The issue with the Explorer is that it doesn't have rear grab handles or coat hooks. I'm still experimenting, but the best I've come up with so far is a pair of straps with velcro to hold the rods. The straps hook onto the front grab handles and, in the rear, I used suction cups on the rear corner windows. Not the best solution, especially in the rear, since that's where most of the weight is located. I've looked at additional Command strip hooks, but the interior roof/sides of the Explorer are fabric, not conducive to Command strips.

I've procrastinated on adding Ford front coat hooks to the rear, concerned about drilling holes.

Anyone come up with a solution to this?
 

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Not in the cards Rene. Prefer to read solutions.
 
Is the headliner cardboard or plastic? If plastic, I personally, would not be averse to drilling small mounts into the angled part as at nears the sunroof openings.

If cardboard I might consider making a couple of flat aluminum "S-hooks" to hook in where the headliner cutout meets the sunroof/sunshade opening.

In fact if you used like an S hook design the cross piece could also be made from 1/4 or 5/16 flat aluminum and have less to no sag compared to the straps.
 
Thanks for the comments.

[quote author=Ex-Calif]Is the headliner cardboard or plastic?[/quote]
The headliner is like a felt material glued to, I think, plastic. If it wasn't for that felt headliner, I could glue hooks up there, although screwing them up would be more secure.

If plastic, I personally, would not be averse to drilling small mounts into the angled part as at nears the sunroof openings.
Click to expand...

It's my other half's car, so I'm a little leery of inadvertently hitting something like a wire I didn't know was there  :(
the cross piece could also be made from 1/4 or 5/16 flat aluminum and have less to no sag compared to the straps.
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That sag in the rear strap is the real issue of course. If I was able to put, say, coat hooks up there, I could probably use the original rod/rack from the Suburban.
 
There are several fabric glues that are pretty powerful. Available at craft and sewing stores.  Might one of them allow you to fasten to the headliner fabric?  Liquid Stitch, Fabric Fusion, Loctite Vinyl Repair adhesive, etc.
 
Totally understand your reluctance - a #8 X 1/4 screw most certainly would not hit any wires in the red area I circled.

The crummy blue drawing is what I was thinking when I said fold up a strip of 1" wide aluminum. The advantage is you get the rods a bit higher and it is easy to put in a take out when not in use.

Heck an even easier deal would be to buy a few S hooks off the shelf at walmart, bend one end 90 degrees and hook them in the forward or rearward lateral gap of the sunroof valance - then just lay the rods in the S hooks. They also wouldn't have any tendency to roll around.
 

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Aye Gary, I've considered that, but I'm concerned if I need to remove/replace them. I didn't notice the lack of rear grab handles or coat hooks when we bought the Explorer. The issue came to light when I tried to set things up for last year's fishing season.
 
Thanks Marvin. I'll take another look, take a deep breath, and possibly go for it  :eek:
 
Today's temp fix - no glue, no screws, no hooks, no velcro, no straps.
 

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If this was something you want to be sorta strong and permanent... if it were me and I didn't care about "putting screws in and such.... I'd check under the headliner.  I'll bet there are some frame members.  Could but some very short screws of a very small diameter that would barely leave a visible hole in the felt if they were ever removed.

I like mechanical attachments, & I'd hate to have things hanging over your head ready to fall at a moments notice when you're driving near me on the road ;)
 
Tom said:
Today's temp fix - no glue, no screws, no hooks, no velcro, no straps.
Click to expand...

That's pretty much how my rods travel all the time - LOL... Except they go to the center console so as not to poke the co-pilot.
 
Aye, my temp solution wouldn't work well with a passenger or the doggies.

I posted a question on the Ford forum, and one response suggested I'd find a boss or something similar under the headliner, and could screw into that (same both sides).

Many moons ago I used racks that clamped to the gutters of the car, and the poles rode outside. Not how I want them to travel nowadays, and I'm not sure we even have gutters now.
 
Don't ask why, but I have 10 fly rods along on this trip - different lengths/weights. Chris allows me to store some of them behind the crown molding on the slideouts.
 

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Aye, I tried the shower curtain rod, but it didn't work. I seem to recall it had something to do with the interior geometry of the Explorer.

FWIW a shower curtain rod was my first solution in the Suburban and it worked fine.
 
What about mounting some of the Berkley rod racks with foam inserts to the cross members under the liner? They are cheap and it keeps them secure. They might swing a little, but they won't slide.

My brother used to use 4" PVC with caps on his truck and it worked well; but it looked a little tacky.
 
[quote author=cerd]What about mounting some of the Berkley rod racks with foam inserts to the cross members under the liner? They are cheap and it keeps them secure.[/quote]
Thanks. If you look at the pictures of my Suburban install, they used the rod racks with foam inserts attached to a pair of cross-rods (initially curtain rods, and later clothes rails); Worked very well for a number of years. Hadn't thought of attaching them to the cross members under the headliner of the Explorer. But, since this is my other half's car, I'm reluctant to do that  :-\
 
Tom said:
Thanks. If you look at the pictures of my Suburban install, they used the rod racks with foam inserts attached to a pair of cross-rods (initially curtain rods, and later clothes rails); Worked very well for a number of years. Hadn't thought of attaching them to the cross members under the headliner of the Explorer. But, since this is my other half's car, I'm reluctant to do that  :-\
Click to expand...
Rivet nuts are a wonderful thing. If she will let you install them, they will only leave a 3/8 head in the liner and you can unscrew the racks if they are unsightly.
 
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