roof rack suggestions?

ok,i need extra storage space for the summer camping trips with the kids. I am selling the van i used last year,the xj gets the duty call. I do not have a factory roof rack,so I guess any roof rack i get will have to be gutter mount. What are my options for a good,sturdy and cheap roof rack? what are some brand names to look for or look out for? what are some other names for a roof rack? i am probably going to end up buying used if i can find a good one. thanks,Ben

If you wheel a lot, or are concerned about bashing in your roofrails, I'd highly suggest an Olympic "Top Hat" roofrack. I've used mine many times over, and have even been winched over with it. It is a little pricey though at 300.00 but worth every penny.

I do wheel but mostly mud,snow no woods and trees

This Ebay seller has a lot of used stuff and is very knowledgeable. I recent purchased some gutter mounts from him at a good price. http://motors.search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZrak56fishing

I checked out the ebay link. the price is right,if the racks are complete. From what i see,the racks he sells are just a square,no basket. am i seeing this correctly? like i said before,I don't have a factory roof rack,and am kind of leary of just setting stuff on the roof itself,it doesn't seem to be all that strong. i did email him a couple questions about it,haven't heard back yet.

The roof rack issue has many fixes for the xj. And since you drive one, then I can assume that your cost is always a factor in decision making. I love finding good deals on parts and really enjoy adapting them for use on my machine. I wanted a rack with plenty of room, for spare plus stuff, and I wanted it to be strong enough for whatever I chose to bring home from the depot for building projects. Found a used Wilderness rack by Garvin Industries that really worked for me for $100. Built for a ToyLandCruiser it measured 60x60x4 so I cut out 8 inches in appropriate locations and welded it back together after inserting 5/8 inch square stock steel bar at each cut joint. It is extremely well built by Garvin and will last the life of my jeep, or mine, whatever. Point is, there are great aftermarket racks out there, gutter mounts for sure, and you do not need to confine yourself to those marketed just for the Cherokee. Modifications can be simply done and totally satifactory. Friends with MIGs love showing off their tools and this is such an easy project handled in a couple hours max. I found mine on Craigslist locally so I checked it out first and shipping wasn't an issue. Steel is stronger than aluminum, welds better than screws and plastic. Good luck.

I have the factory rack (which is not included in the equation) that I thought you were asking about. I wanted the rain gutter mounts and cross bars to mount my load warrior basket to my XJ. The basket is already equipped with KC day liters on my S-10. I wired the S-10 with a trailer connecter to make it a "plug n play" with the XJ.

I stay confused but, if I can help......just ask away!

Yakima makes good stuff. I've had my Yakima MegaWarrior rack for nearly 3 years and it has held up great. You should look into the Load Warrior. It's smaller and cheaper. I bought all of my stuff at orsracksdirect.com which are having a sale on all Yakima and Thule products, but its only for 2 more days. I believe the Load Warrior is on sell for 270 if your interested.