US Patent 10005403 Roof rack system

Generally described, aspects of the disclosed subject matter are directed to systems and method of attaching a roof rack to a vehicle having a removable hard top and a space frame. In accordance with aspects of the present disclosure, the roof rack generally includes an elongate rail, an upper mounting pad, a lower mounting pad, and fasteners which couple the elongate rail to the vehicle. During assembly of the roof rack components, a main fastener is captured by the geometry of the components. The main fastener is used to couple the roof rack assembly to a bracket mounted to the space frame of the vehicle. In this regard, various loads acting on the roof rack are generally transferred to the space frame as opposed to the vehicle hardtop.