i have a 96 XJ, no roof rack from the factory, i would like to put one on to lug my kayak to the beach for spearfishing. whats my best bet? buy a OEM style one and put it on? how do they go on? how do you seal the roof? where can you buy an oem rack setup?

OR: do i spend a million dollars on a clamp on style set?

 

Gutter clamps are the way to go, but most come with the support rails from the factory, so they may still need some form of support.

 

i often use my factory racks to carry mine , but i just bought some rail rack pads from BORA BORA on a local surf shop for only $25 and some rubber strings , if you need more security its recommended that you use tying ropes just like the red ones i show on pic, there is this guy i saw the other day that made his own with electrical tubes and solder them around making a basket , it looked really easy ill try this later on so i can carry my wife there jajaja.....

 

You can definitely get creative if you're on a budget and make something that will work. If you are willing to drop the money for it, the aftermarket stuff with gutter-mounts and cross bars is really solid - you can buy this setup with kayak mounts from yakima, thule, or similar mfgs. I know it costs more, but if you are carrying precious cargo, you KNOW that it will be safe, secure, and most important, lockable.

Check out craigslist and you might get lucky on some of the components!

 

Way back when I was negotiating with the dealer for my then new '96, I tried to get them to include the bike rack that mounted on the factory roof rack. They told me that they wouldn't even sell 'em because of the complaints of noise and vibration from having stuff on the roof.

I inquired at a bicycle shop to see who made something that would attach to the OEM roof rails and they only offered Thule or Yakima in gutter mount configurations.

If you don't have the OEM rack, buy the gutter mount variety.

 

check out http://www.discountramps.com/car-top...roof-racks.htm decent racks for cheap.

 

well , if we all could have the money that every mood or accessory on our jeeps costs this post wouldn't even exist so i think that the idea is to improve what we own or build by ourselves something that could do the job. but thats only the way i think.

 

WOW! I wouldn't have guessed that you could buy that stuff sooooo inexpensively.

http://www.discountramps.com/gutter-mount-van-rack.htm