Adding a roof rack to your JK hardtop, inexpensively

[nwoods]

I like it:
http://www.off-road.com/jeep/tech/jeep-jk-rubicon-recycled-roof-rack-53450.html

Take the rack off one of these:

Add to one of these:

All together now:

 

[Chris85xlt]

awesome!
Originally i was going to buy yakima rails with towers and mount it to my hard top but this looks much cleaner

 

[brianjwilson]

That looks like a good solution to me! Cheap, simple, lower profile and I bet it doesn't whistle like a yakima rack probably would.

 

[ex m38a1er]

That looks like a good solution to me! Cheap, simple, lower profile and I bet it doesn't whistle like a yakima rack probably would.

No, but mine rattles(On my Tj)

 

[Septu]

Damn that's a great idea!! Would be great for my kayak. Only issue I could see is when I upgrade it to a 'real' roof rack...

 

[dstock]

That looks like a good solution to me! Cheap, simple, lower profile and I bet it doesn't whistle like a yakima rack probably would.

The Cherokee roof rack isn't that strong, there's a single rivet holding the crossbars to the side mounts that tends to break relatively easily. I went the yakima route and it does not whistle, plus, you just pop the bars off when you are not using them...takes all of a minute. Cheap is not always better.

 

[nwoods]

Cheap is not always better.

Never proposed it as better! Good points though.

 

[brianjwilson]

Never said it was better either, but not a bad solution for light weight items. I'm hoping to buy a habitat or some other camper top in a year so it doesn't make sense to put a lot into a rack for now. Though I didn't know the Cherokee rack was that weak. I've had a few explorers and the factory racks weren't that bad.

 

[Septu]

Once you have the mounting rails attached, you don't have to use the XJ cross members. A Surco rack I had on my XJ attached to the rails and when I rocked it, it easily rocked the whole jeep.

 

[huskyfargo]

When I had my JK, I went to the junk yard and got some tracks from a minivan. I bolted them onto the roof and used Yakima crossbars. I was sure to note the year/make/model of the van so I could order the appropriate yakima towers. It worked very well, but I wanted to be able to use the rack with the top off, so I ended up going with a Gobi after a couple years. Here's a pic.

 

[dstock]

Never proposed it as better! Good points though.

You did not, my mistake. The cross bars are the weak link, but I'm sure the tracks themselves are fine.

 

[ex m38a1er]

Once you have the mounting rails attached, you don't have to use the XJ cross members. A Surco rack I had on my XJ attached to the rails and when I rocked it, it easily rocked the whole jeep.

Any pics/links please?

 

[Septu]

Sorry for the crappy pictures, but these are really all I have handy. I have others but can't upload them off my work computer
Sold the XJ 2.5 years ago... but loved that thing. The only real weight I ever had up there was when I made a 1800km road trip from Whitehorse to Edmonton (ended up selling it in Edmonton for my 07 JKU). I had my spare tire up there as well as 40l of gas.