Roof Rack Strength?
#1
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Roof Rack Strength?
I have a question. I have factory roof racks, but was wondering which supports more weight; factory racks, or if I bought ones that adapt to the rain rail. I am building my own safari type basket, but need to carry/support a lot of weight.
#4
the factory MOUNTS are fine, but the factory rails, and rack are weak. rain gutters are ok...but I would hesitate to go VERY heavy on them, plus, depending on the rack, they block the gutters, and you get water pouring off all over the place.
I just built my own basket setup, and opted to remove the factory rails, put in new wellnuts, and use 78"x2" mount rails bolted to the 12 factory mount points. I've had upwards of 400lbs on there without an issue ( 1600km round trip over xmas set up that way...luggage, spare tire, etc,etc,etc)
heres a pic, and there are a bunch more in the photo album on my profile
I just built my own basket setup, and opted to remove the factory rails, put in new wellnuts, and use 78"x2" mount rails bolted to the 12 factory mount points. I've had upwards of 400lbs on there without an issue ( 1600km round trip over xmas set up that way...luggage, spare tire, etc,etc,etc)
heres a pic, and there are a bunch more in the photo album on my profile
#5
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Year: 2000
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
I made mine and bought the brackets to mount to the factory rails i have put 500+lbs did fine just a little top heavy but the brackets are solid i can rock the whole jeep up the rack
#6
that said...I'm looking into stronger alternatives than the wellnuts, too: havent had issues yet, but I do a lot of long distance forestry & logging road trips. a 500lb rack with all our camping gear on it isnt the sort of thing I want bouncing around loose with my kids in the back seat!!
Last edited by ulendo; 02-10-2009 at 05:46 PM.
#7
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Year: 2000
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
Pretty hard long camping trips and live in the country on the dirt roads they some times get so bad of washboard cars have a hard time driving on the i go very fast bumpy ride with the lift but the bolts on the brackets are solid had it on for over a year now never have had to re tighten the bolts still as tight as when i put them on. Over the summer i loaded it with all the camping gear for moab never had a problem. But i guess it is personal preference i dont like the ones that mount to the gutters because it makes water go every where when it rains i have 4 brackets on the factory rails
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#9
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Year: 1996
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#10
I've actually been trying to find out how easy it is to access the back side of the factory mount holes through the roof, in order to fit permanent, heavy mounts inside. havent seen a good description of how to pull the headliner without destroying it yet though....anyone???
#11
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Thanks for all the inputs. I will pull off my factory racks and see how I might be able to perminatly attach it without having the bolts strip. I might just go with the rain gutters if its too much of a pain. Kinda hard to work out of a 3rd floor apartment. Just kinda build in the living room and put on in the parking lot! LOL
#12
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haha. i had to.
but back on topic, i have mine mounted to the factory crossbars w/ homemade brackets. i haven't had a lot of heavy stuff up there, but haven't had any problems. its also a smaller basket.
#13
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Year: 1989
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0 I6 from a wrecked 06 TJ
Does anyone know how much the Cherokee's side rails can hold? I built my own tire carrier roof mount, it bolts into those side rails but now that i think about it, if they are pretty weak and the carrier rips them out and hits the car behind me, i'm liable lol
#14
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To answer your question indirectly, the Yakima roof rack I bough that mounts to the rain gutter rails says not to exceed 175lbs. I don't know if that is because of the rack limits or the rain gutter. That being said, I've seen prople with more than that one them.
s
s
#15
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Year: 1999
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0 I6
I would only mount it to the rain gutters...I mounted a roof rack to my factory rails that go across the roof and I only put a spare tire (35x12.5) and a hi lift jack on it. The rear rail broke after about 6 months. and made my jeep very unstable with the weight shifting after it broke.