roof rails.

hey all. planning on swapping my 2000 xj's 3/4 roof rails for a full length version. I was at the local junk yard on the weekend and picked up some zj rails, which are the same style, use the same towers, and are longer. problem is they have more curvature to them and the mounting holes dont line up with mine very well. bening them straight isnt that big of an issue but drilling new holes into my roof is kind of sketchy, but possible. my question is, what is the spacing between holes on the years prior xj, years with full length roof rails. 97 plus, but older than 2000. also what is the weight rating for them. I make use of a yakima roof box during the winter for stowing my ski gear etc. the hole point of this swap is to make the roof box sit more forward, thus giving me full extension on my lift gate.

thx

I think you are going to have to drill new holes in the roof. Its not that big a deal. I added a roof rail system to my 92 and while its a bit scary to drill the first hole after you have done it once its gets easier since there is no turning back.

The dealership will have the rubber inserts with nuts cast in them to bolt the rails down to. A bit pricey but its worth it. You will need to fill in the old holes. You could go ghetto and just use some aluminum tape but welding would be best. You could also drill extra holes in the rails that line up with the old holes and put in more inserts and flat heads.

Measure twice, have a beer, measure a third time and have a beer, by the 7th time you measure you wont care that you drilled in the wrong spot.

John

The 1996 and 1997 (maybe others also) XJ Cherokees use the full length roof rails. The curvature and existing mounting holes should match up exactly. The rails are mounted using threaded nut inserts (threadserts, nutcerts) that you can purchase here - http://www.nutty.com/threatsert.shtml.

Get the correct roof rails and you will need to drill fewer holes and you won't need to patch up any holes.

Consulting your owners manual, you will find that the weight limit for the roof rack is 150 lbs.

Why not drill new mounting holes into the ZJ rails, to match your exsisting nutcerts? You will still have to drill holes in your roof, due to the longer length, but you should have expected this. As said above you could also get pre '98 full length rail from a XJ, but even here you will need to drill into the roof for the front 1/4 of the rails to mount, and I don't know if the mounting hole would match up any better. The curvature should be an issue and should flatten out when bolted down.

Having taken the old rails off of mine I would highly recommend you take the easy route which I recommend to anyone with rain gutters, go buy rain gutter mounts and forget the factory rack. The rain gutter mounts are more secure in my opinion and can take a heck of a load without any concern, plus it gives you the ability to mount cross bars on your roof for anything from canoes to skis to boxes.

the nutsert install is going to be sketchy. but gutter mount towers = $$$$$$$, whereas junkyard 98 rails = $, that's kind of where my head is at

I got lucky, my brother bought some thules stuff which had mounts for factory XJ rails(which he gave me), and my brother in-law gave my thule rain gutter mounts from his old XJ. Now I have to get my in-law to give me his old cross bars and canoe mounts