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How much weight will stock roof bars hold ?

G

green_machine

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Eagle River, Alaska
I am going to be modifying a roof rack to fin on my jeep, I am going to be using three stock roof rack bars to attach it to. I am having trouble finding the weight capacity for max weight allowed, can somone help me out, thanks
 
dunno, but I put a couch on mine without an issue, the bars flexed a little though... luckily I was only going a couple miles.
 
im pretty sure the load carrying capacity isnt the problem, the problem is when you hit a bump and all that weight pulls UP, pulling the factory roof rack strip right outta the roof.

i gotta be carefull when strapping down ladders, if i crank the ratchet strap too much, it wants to pull outta the roof.

i think the common consensus on roofracks (i would never rock one, personally...) is to mount to the drip rail.
 
Warrior rates one of their gutter mount racks at 400 lbs highway, 150 lbs offroad.

Try searching a few of the manufacturers' websites for the gutter mount ratings.

As for the stock OEM rack, well, my 1990 owner's manual says the limit is 150 lbs period. I wouldn't expect much of an increase in that capacity by reinforcing things.
 
I use the Thule 300-series gutter-mounted foot packs, carried up to 3 canoes up there without any problems. You can pick them up pretty cheap off of e-bay. I really like the rectangular load bars they use, nice and strong and have a flat surface for mounting stuff to.

Only thing I've used the OEM rack for was to haul a Christmas tree home...
 
The later model XJ's have better roof rail mounts. That being said, I have a SURCO roof rail mount rack on my '98, in which I've hauled 14 - 2x10's x 12ft long on, across town. The rack carried the weight fine, but going around corners had to be a cautious process due to the length of the boards, and the higher center of gravity due to the roof load.

Personally, I prefer the roof rail mounts as oppose to the gutter mount system. I've seen way too may gutter mount systems wear the paint off the gutter rails, and create a huge rust mess. I live right on the coast, so rust is a big concern to me. In areas not as wet, it may not be as big of issue.

As you are out and about and come across any gutter rail mounted setups that have been set up a while, I'll betcha it has some sort of rust starting....
 
I just saw (2 weeks ago) a guy carrying a mattress and box spring on the freeway doing about 60-65 with a Mercury Villager van. The racks on those say "100 lbs. evenly distributed.

I'm sure it was fine weight wise, and I'm sure he thought so too...until the wind hit it and tore the rack, mattress and all, right off the top and on to the freeway.

Go with gutter mounts, remove the stock crossbars. I can carry 2 90 lb. 16 foot canoes on mine and they never even budge.

JeepinCamp.jpg
 
Ivan said:
Personally, I prefer the roof rail mounts as oppose to the gutter mount system. I've seen way too may gutter mount systems wear the paint off the gutter rails, and create a huge rust mess. I live right on the coast, so rust is a big concern to me. In areas not as wet, it may not be as big of issue.

As you are out and about and come across any gutter rail mounted setups that have been set up a while, I'll betcha it has some sort of rust starting....
Click to expand...
X2, this happened to my parent's ram 2500 van. Well... it started to happen. My dad noticed it after a month or two, removed the roof rack, repainted the gutters, and covered the rack brackets with heavy duty tool handle rubber dip, after that it was pretty much fine.
 
Ivan said:
I've seen way too may gutter mount systems wear the paint off the gutter rails, and create a huge rust mess. I live right on the coast, so rust is a big concern to me. In areas not as wet, it may not be as big of issue.

As you are out and about and come across any gutter rail mounted setups that have been set up a while, I'll betcha it has some sort of rust starting....
Click to expand...

I disagree! I used the Thule 300 foot packs on my '86 XJ for 20 years without any rust problems. They come with a nice coating on them to protect the paint.
 
A buddy of mine carried 64 fence boards on his roof rack. The rack was almost touching the roof. It held the weight fine but every board came off that Xj when he came to a stop light. Hahahahahaha. :rof:
 
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