i had an idea the other day about roof sliders so i dont bang up the top of the jeep against a tree. do you guys think gutter mounts are strong enough or should i do some heavy fabbing?

 

The 6th post down looks like it would work good and be strong

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/x...liders-740912/

 

I've scraped mine against a few trees & they've held up fine, kept the sides off the trees for the most part.

 

http://www.hdoffroadengineering.com/...j-roof-sliders

 

are those with the gutter mounts?

 

"This system bolts in place of the factory full roof rack. If you have a short stock rack or no rack, modifications to the risers and to your roof will be required."

 

I like the olympic idea, with the gutter mounts and detachable basket. Only problem they are $400+ and no telling what shipping cost. Also the olympic ones have the bolt together sleeves that end up rusting from the inside out. If someone made a solid piece like the olympic one with gutter mounts that would be the way to go.

 

not looking to buy one. i wanna build

 

get these and turn them the other way (if possible) so they are pointing outwards instead of towards the roof
http://www.jcroffroad.com/Merchant2/...ry_Code=XJMISC

then get some metal tubing and weld to the underside of it, then get some small metal tubing an run a brace from one to another.

sounds to me like this would work, I dont know if my idea would work or not though

 

had a set for my other xj and they made my roof crompal and bend.. dont like

 

What about the end getting hung up?
I could build something better than that cheaper.

 

This was exactly what I was thinking. Seems pretty easy to fab up straight tubing and the crossbars have a 45* bend on each end. Doesn't seem to hard and should be pretty cheap if you have all the right tools and know how. No need to spend 350-500 dollars on a retail product.

 

I welded my top hat together & gave it a fresh coat of paint to top it off. I can still remove my rack from base & side bars, although I never have.