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Anyone have experience with this roof rack?

Yea i would go with the one from jcr as opposed to that other one you listed..its not that much more...

I plan on making my own roof rack sometime in the near future..ill post a wright up when im done..
 
go with something with gutter mounts...
 
The JCR is cool, but the Surco actually has sides. Depends what you want to use it for, I guess.

My XJ had the Surco on it when I bought it. Eventually, I reused it inside to carry my soft doors. I like it, it's strong enough, but really lightweight aluminum.

And you can get it with the gutter mounts.

Robert

<Edit> The one you linked to is the 45x60 for $250. I've got the 50x50, for $220.
 
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Was it sturdy mounted to the factory roof rack?
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The stock roof rack. may pull out when you twist her bad or WAY over tighten straps. I try to use one flexible strap on the load to give a little under max flex.
 
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the stock load bars are bad for mounting baskets they have to much flex when you start adding weight. you will hear the basket moving when going through trails.

buy gutter mounts and call it a day.
 
Was it sturdy mounted to the factory roof rack? I plan on mounting a shovel and high lift Jack as well. I like the surco because of it's sides as well.

I don't have a factory rack.

It was mounted to the rain gutters, and yeah, it was plenty solid.

Robert
 
The stock roof rack. may pull out when you twist her bad or WAY over tighten straps. I try to use one flexible strap on the load to give a little under max flex.

the stock load bars are bad for mounting baskets they have to much flex when you start adding weight. you will hear the basket moving when going through trails.

Are you guys referring to the factory crossbars, or the factory roof rails themselves? I've got a roof rack that is attached using Yakima crossbars which are in turn attached to the factory roof rails, and it seems to be really sturdy.

They make thsese factory track adapters. Do you think you'd still have the same problems you mentioned with the factory rack system if you were using these?

I'm planning on mounting a Surco on my Yakima bars. Just want to make sure I'm not asking for problems...
 
I used to have that Surco rack. It felt like it was cheapy built, but I abused it for several years and it never bent and always asked for more.

I would buy again. Get the gutter mounts.
 
I have had the Surco Rack for about 6 months now and I love it. You need to purchase the roof rack adapters in order to attach the rack to the factory rails, but once you do, it is SOLID. I haven't retightened any bolts and grabbed the rack the other day to see if any wiggle room had developed and the XJ started moving along with the rack.

It does seem like it is made out of cheap aluminum, but it sure stands up to what it's made for. I went whitewater rafting with some friends this past weekend, and the XJ became the main shuttle vehicle. We strapped an 8 person raft (deflated, weighing about 200-250 lbs) and a 2 person kayak to the rack with your basic straps and it stayed in place and did not generate any noise on the ride back along the fire trail.

All in all a very good rack for your money. My advice though, don't buy the light mounting tabs, just get some angle iron and make them to the specifications you want. It's cheaper that way.
 
x2 on getting something with gutter mounts, buddy has one of those. It uses brackets that hold to the stock roof rack rails (not the crossbars, you remove those)

He had his slide forward and end up on his hood a few times when a spare was mounted up top. He had a ZJ though, no gutters to mount a rack to! Probably would have done better off making brackets to adapt to the stock roof rack crossbars instead of mounting to the rails.....it would have sat higher though.
 
I have one that came with my jeep also has tire carrier from surco. The paint will flake off so touch ups will be needed over time. With the tire up there + offroading one of the main crossbars, the one under the tire, broke right in half. I had a local fab shop weld a nice new hunk of aluminum around it and now is beefier then ever.

Mine is mounted to the factory rack rails. I do not know if I would buy one ever though...
 
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