DonBulldog

I see the roof racks that hold a spare tire and the rear bumpers that have a swing out spare holder as well. I guess either one would free up that little bit of cargo space in my rig, to be sure, but the swing out spare from a company like Smittybuilt...I'm kind of leery about.

So, considering price, toughness and design, what are the top 3 products in each category? Top Cargo Rack, Rear and Front Bumpers.

A Hi-Lift is definitely in the future and don't know if I want that up on the roof rack, the side of it, or what. I guess I could get the Hi-Lift on one side padlocked in place and a shovel on the other side, same-same.

Thoughts? Links?

andrewmp6

I wouldn't mess with a roof rack they cut a mpg or two from the jeep,And placing the spare on top sounds like a bad idea to me.Its adding weight to the roof of a already top heavy jeep.Spend your money on bumpers they will do more for you then a roof rack.A few members have Smittybuilts rear tire carrier i haven't heard anything bad about it yet.About the hi lift you could mount it inside http://www.riverraider.com/store/XJ-...nt?search=jack easy to remove if need the space.And the shovel you can get a folding fox hole one and throw it in the back,Or go nuts get a rugged ridge all terrain recovery tool kit it comes with a handle you can change heads on like shovel axle pickaxe and sledge hammer.

Fred/N0AZZ

Here is mine it meets all your stated needs for a rear swing out bumper. Will handle up to a 37" tire I think mine are 33's, built-in Hi-Lift jack mount, antenna mount. Very heavy duty and the swing out is even more HD, D-Ring mounts, hitch receiver and safety chain hookup. It mounts up using the bumper and all the class III receiver hitch mounts on the XJ. If your XJ didn't come with hitch package it includes the nut strips also plus all hardware. It comes completely black powder coated and the best part $600 shipped to your door. I'll find the link later for you. Found it www.roxolidtrailarmor.com he is a small business and makes XJ bumpers.

scrous

I recently did the smittybilt front and rear bumpers/carrier. Other that the spare sitting out a bit, I like them a lot... really beefy and pretty easy install, great for the price. Check out Frank at Serious Off Road.

scrous

Pics

salad

Thanks, I needed a good laugh this morning!

DonBulldog

Yeah, I've been watching the gas gauge go one way with the speedometer going the other way with my lead foot stuck in the backside of that 4.0 but I expected that to happen. I know I wasn't buying a "Smart Car."

I think I read in the original owner's manual that the stock rack can support 300 Lbs. and I seriously would never put that much weight on ANY roof rack on an XJ.

I'm not going to be jacking this XJ up with lift kits and high tires. It might get a little lift and some higher profile tires, but nothing like making a Crawler out of it or anything like that. It has to be the do everything vehicle, it's a daily driver.

What the roof rack can do for me is put a Hi-Lift on one side and a really good shovel on the other side, both padlocked in, too. Then, when I want to go camping or fishing, I can lash that stuff up there. Things like my Eureka USMC Tent (Highly recommended!) or the fishing rods, tarps, things like that, which are many and not very heavy for a roof rack.

The tire up there is an idea but I really don't want to have to hump that tire up and down off of that rack.

The bumpers are definitely in the works because this thing is all stock and the plastic goofiness is UV pounded for 14 years now and it's faded and I can blacken it up with peanut butter used like car wax on the black trim to make it look better, but the fact of the matter is, it's already brittle because of the UV exposure for years and that stuff just needs to go. Steel bumpers are the way to go, anyway.

Yeah, I'm getting mixed reviews about Smittybuilt being called "****tybuilt" by some folks in the Jeep Community, etc. So, I'm undecided.

That's a good space saving idea except that the rear windows need to be tinted for privacy of what I have in there as well as cooling the vehicle down in the summer and...protecting the interior, too. That entire rear cargo area has been pounded by sunlight with zero tinting for its entire life. I don't think I want to mount a jack like that using what is going to turn out to be really brittle plastic. It looks good the way it is, I don't want to tear it up.

Yeah, one of them will probably find its way into the survival kit, anyway. At some point. But nothing beats a real shovel when you really need one. A hearty shovel and a good pair of work gloves will save you a lot of craziness at the right moment.

In my experience, and we are all a victim of our own experience one way or another, when you try to get one tool to do many things, it almost always becomes a tool that does nothing well at all. Might be wrong as I have not used that particular brand/design, I don't know, I'm just sayin'.

DonBulldog

That's the best one I have seen so far, thanks for posting it. I went to the website and it won't load. Is it still loading for you?

Mine doesn't have a hitch. You look under that thing and it has a gas tank and then a flimsy, rusted up heat shield between the tank and the exhaust and that's it. So, they make an adapter kit for this rig, too? Do you have any idea what that entails?

The price for that rig is awesome! Since his website won't load right now, I hope he didn't go out of business, do you know if he makes front bumpers as well?

I was looking at one of these last night, not because I am going Crawling, but if I hit a deer it would be nice to kill the deer without killing the front end of my truck. But if the guy that makes your rig makes a front bumper that's similarly tough, I'd rather stick with a small business guy making a high quality product that is affordable.

http://www.rocky-road.com/cherokee-bull-bar.html

yarom

Had good luck with KargoMaster racks on my xj. Best front bumper for me is the ARB. Best rear bumper and wheel mount is the Detours slimline...

k4ylr

Nates 4x4
JCR
C-Rok
Serious
Ares Fab


There are tons more but that's off the top of my head. Take your pick. Roof racks are your standard offerings from Yak, Safari, KM etc... Get something with gutter mounts (like 6 to 8) to distribute load if you're even entertaining loading a spare plus gear.

DonBulldog

Thanks guys, I do appreciate all the info.

DonBulldog

Can anyone load this page? Is this guy still in business?

http://www.roxolidtrailarmor.com/

DonBulldog

I found the guy's number on Google and there was an answering machine or voicemail, so I left one and hopefully he is still in business and I'll talk to him later this week.

Tobey

That link works fine for me.

salad

Same. Some nice XJs there too