Swapping OEM Side rails (silver for black)

good evening all,

thinking about swapping the silver oem side rails for black ones, when installing the black ones, what type of loctite do I need? and is silicone necessary? I've seen people using silicone but mostly when installing aftermarket racks, not oem.

thank you.

 

My Trail Edition came with the Chrome Running Boards. I bought the OEM Black Trail Running Boards and swapped them on day one. I believe the new hardware already had the blue locktite applied. I just installed them and torqued them to the recommended spec on the installation sheet.

 

I'm pretty sure OP is referring to the roof rack, not the running boards...

 

Hahaha - I see it now !

 

You will need to get some mastic patches or mastic in a tube when you put the bolts back in. You need to take care when removing the rack bolts so that you don't lose the internal mounting bracket. Realistically, by the time you go through all the steps to remove and paint or replace the side rails, you could wrap them in black vinyl for less money and less time. You could even remove the caps, mask off the surrounding area and paint them while on the truck.

 

I have made the same mod on an earlier 4R I had.

I did not use any loctite on the bolts. I DID use a black RTV which is what is widely recommended for preventing water intrusion. There is a real chance of water intrusion when sealer is not used in and around the bolt holes.

There are other threads somewhere in the forum about not using (clear) silicone as it can promote corrosion.

 

Or butyl tape.

 

Yup.