RTT on factory XJ roof rails.

[jeepdreamer]

So I've had my RTT for almost 2 years now and have yet to sleep in it yet. Have it mounted on my CJ but its still under the knife. I have a chance to make a short, overnight camping trip and wondered if mounting the RTT on the Factory crossbars of the roof rack would seem ok for just this one trip? Here's how it looks on the CJ. I'd prob. rotate it 90* and retain the aluminum mounts and U bolts if you guys think the cross bars are up to it? No wheeling planned, just highway travel a couple hours and then set up the camp. Thoughts please!

 

[dstock]

I had a XJ crossbar come apart on me, I wouldn't trust the them to carry a RTT.

 

[BuckeyeBullet]

Isn't the roof rack of an XJ rated at 100lbs total? Most RTTs weigh that much, plus occupants. I would add at least two extra factory XJ bars if you go that route, even then it's a gamble. Turning it 90 seems like it would put a lot of upward stress on one side rail with the tent deployed. I'd definitely not do that. When I mount mine it will likely be to the gutter rails with 3-4 Yakima or equivalent bars.

 

[Hill Bill E.]

JD, I'd be leary of highway speeds using the factory bars. The RTT catches a lot of wind.

I had my 33" spare strapped to two stock cross bars on my XJ, and one ended up breaking just with in town driving.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

If you like the idea of some 1/16 thick aluminum and plastic end pieces holding on a 90 lb $700-1500 piece of equipment then feel free to do so, but I wouldn't.

 

[jeepdreamer]

Thanks guys for the dose of logic and reality. Guess I saw a chance to actually use this thing and got all excited. haha! I'll either forgo using it this time or maybe whip up some fast gutter mounts if time permits. Hate to be seeing 900 bucks worth of RTT in the rear view mirror as I truck down the Autobahn! :O

 

[jscherb]

I agree with everyone that's answered, I wouldn't mount an RTT on the factory XJ crossbars.

When I mounted my RTT on my XJ rack, I used Surco J100 rack channel adapters and bolted them to the pair of cross-rails that came with the RTT. This setup works great and isn't very expensive -

Didn't even have to remove the XJ crossbars, the Surco adapters plus the crossbars put the tent just above them.

At $61.95 with free shipping it's a cost-effective way to mount an RTT on an XJ rack, especially if your RTT came with bars like mine did. http://www.amazon.com/Surco-J100-Jeep-Roof-Adaptr/dp/B000OAXM2E

One caveat - mine is a custom LJ hardtop with roll-bar tie-in brackets specifically designed to support the load of an occupied RTT on the XJ rack channels. Someone with XJ knowledge will have to chime in to say if the XJ roof can support that much weight on the rack channels - since most RTTs on XJ's seem to be mounted to the rain gutters instead of the rack channels, I wonder if the roof is strong enough?

 

[jeepdreamer]

Thanks for the input JS, always good to hear from "the man himself" I would think the rails on the roof are strong enough for the RTT. It seems more like the factory cross bars are the weak link than the roof or the rails. My aluminum cross bars that are already on the RTT would probably work if I can see how to fix them to the rails and not the factory cross bars. I didn't get a chance to look at it much today, I was to busy fixing other stuff. I'll try tomorrow to look a little closer but worse case I should think a set of simple gutter mounts can't be that hard to whip up, right? haha!

 

[squareaffair]

Hit up Craig's list for some gutter mount bars, that's what I did, a lot of people seem to be getting rid of the older style ones as basically no new car has rain gutters. It's the only way I'd mount a tent on the xj, the factory racks are only mounted through the roof with rubber grommets retaining the screws, part of the weight restriction is the while rack and mounting can pull out of the holes if you start bouncing around with a lot of weight strapped to it (your roof will also get dented up)

 

[jeepdreamer]

Well... Its a moot point for now. After spending the last couple days trying to fix the oil leaks and not having parts/gaskets... The Jeep is still an Exon Valdez clone. Have to order the right seals and gaskets and hope for a long weekend to do it all over again. Sigh.