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[MudLovingFJ]

White Rim previously said:

I hate the idea of drilling through the roof sheetmetal, though some people have done so and sealed with grommets and RTV.

I am thinking a hole could be drilled straight down through one of the roofrack TORX bolts to accomodate a short length of 16 ga insulated wire. Ideally the wire would be insulated with high temperature silicone heater wire insulation sealed to the bolt with industrial grade red RTV because 16 gauge would heat up slightly at 20 amps. Larger gauge wire would be used except where the wire goes through the bolt. The voltage drop of a few inches of 16 gauge would not be significant, and with heaterwire insulation it would be safe against melting insulation even in arizona.

For higher current (250 Watt+ applications) more than one bolt would have to be drilled to accomodate more than one 16 ga wire.

Another approach is to drill a hole in the dripchannel right under the roofrack mount and run the wire right up thru the roofrack tubing. This would allow a 12 gauge wire and would be the cleanest install IMO. THe hole would have to be grommetted and RTVd heavily to insure against leaks from the dripchannel. This is sort of the approach I am leaning towards, except that it would seem to require removing the whole roofrack with the attendant risk of losing the speednuts (which hold the torx bolts) down into the headliner

that is def what i want to do, but instead of the hole drilled in the drip rail, prob drill a hole under where the rack mounts. it would be a bit more weather proofed and would look the cleanest imo. im looking to get the bar and lights soon and when i do you all can expect full details and pics with a write up.