Thought I'd share my roof rack and mount project i finally finished. The xj is an 88 with the old style rails and I opted to stay away from gutter mounts after horror stories. I search online forever and couldn't find any that I was happy with so I built these! I started with a con-ferr roof rack that I picked up for $50 delivered, it was 60"W by 66"L and as we know Xj roof is narrower than 60"! So I cut 10" out of the center of it..

 

Looks good! Good job on it

 

Thanks!

 

I guess I don't get it. Did you run the bolts through the plate inside the channel or weld it to it or something?

 

I think I see what you did here, did you use that plate to bolt to on the other side of the rack? Kind of like a u-bolt plate

 

Guess I should have put that in there lol Yes I welded the bolts to the lower plate

 

I like the way you made the mounts. I have an 89 I've been trying to figure out how to mount a rack on without using the gutters. How many mounts did you use? How stable/strong is it mounted like that?

 

I like them but not a big fan of the rise, would you be willing to make a low profile set if anyone requested?

 

I know how you feel haha! I used 3 mounts per side. I weigh 195lbs and I can walk around on the rack and its very sturdy. I can even bounce while standing on it and it holds up awesome. Factory plastic mounts are rated for 150lbs. I wouldn't be afraid to load 250 or better properly distributed

 

The rise is exactly 1". I wanted the rack to be the lowest as possible and since the roof is contoured and the rack is flat, 1" of rise on the rail left me with 1/2" clearance in the center of the roof for load sag room. As for building some for someone I suppose I could but my fabbing is not professional quality haha. Just enough to pass as decent

 

Haha i have an 88' and really like the idea. I'm thinking of making an emt rack in the summer so if i could get some wider dom and drill into them and mount them like this it would be perfect I think over u bolting over the factory cross members

 

Haha i have an 88' and really like the idea. I'm thinking of making an emt rack in the summer so if i could get some wider dom and drill into them and mount them like this it would be perfect I think over u bolting over the factory cross members[/QUOTE]

That should work. I thought about u bolting it the the factory racks and then after thinking on it I thought it was a bad idea. It ended up being way sturdier than I thought it was gonna be I was impressed. specs on the mounts are 1" rise with 7/8" square tubing, 7/8" flat strap with 13mm head bolts welded to them, and the square tubing is actually kicked on a 5 degree angle so they stand straight up (because the roof is contoured)

 

I would pay you for a set of six when i need them haha i'm serious about this it might not be until the summer but i like the idea a lot.

 

Lol. Well just pm me and maybe when that time comes ill build a set for ya!

 

Nice Job