Roof rack mounts suck!

So my old roof basket was just tied into the factory cross bars on the factory rails. It sucked. It bounces around and my 7yo daughter was able to break one of the factory bars, so I've been trying to come up with a better solution.

Fabbing up a new full size basket now, but trying to come up with a better mounting solution. I figured lots of guys use gutter mounts, so I fabbed some up today with some 1.5"x0.25" bar, and some 1.5"x0.5"x0.125" channel iron. As far as gutter mounts go, they're great. They bolt up nice and tight and there's not a chance they'll slip, but the factory gutters are flimsy as hell (I've just discovered), so that option seems to be out now as well.

For all ya'll out there who want/have a beefy roof basket that you don't want rattling around or falling off at the sight of a low branch, how are you mounting?
At this point, I'm seriously considering either welding right on to the factory rails (they're paper thin) or just ripping them off and bolting down some 1" square tube to act as a new mounting point.

What do you all think? What's the best option?

Sandwich the roof skin supports with 4-6 inner and outer plates. Mount the rack to the plates. If you want a removable rack, add 4-6 square steel studs, sorta like a Class III receiver hitch. Drop rack onto studs, install retainer pins and keepers, go Jeepin.

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I have Thule gutter mounts and love them. I can push the whole rig by the roof rack. My roof box probably has 30 pounds of stuff in it too. Does not reduce mileage for some reason - I assume because the XJ is already a box on wheels.

I like the idea of beefing up the roof. I'll be keeping it in mind.

I just mounted a few more of my gutter mounts and tied a few in together, and it's hella stiff front/back and up/down, but the side to side is killing me. I'm thinking I might get the rack burned in tomorrow, and give the gutter mounts a try, but I'd also tie the gutter mounts into the factory roof rails for lateral stiffness. I'm not quite sure how to do that yet, as those rails are paper thin, but I don't need a super strong weld. Just enough to keep the thing centered when I'm jumping into the basket .

I know most people aren't as anal about this as I am, but I tend to be hopping in and out of the basket heaps of times on wheeling trips, and I want to be able to safely load up to (max) 500lbs on top. Also, my daughter really digs riding on the roof (I can't wait till she can drive so I can ride on the roof again), so it's gotta be pretty bomber.

That said, I may end up just building an exo and tying into that Jeepy's lookin' pretty sad after the last few wheeling trips.

I used the JCR gutter mounts and some 2"x1/4" bar to fan up some cross braces. Then I bolted the rack to it with 1" ubolts. Plenty strong.

the_weirdo said:

I used the JCR gutter mounts and some 2"x1/4" bar to fan up some cross braces. Then I bolted the rack to it with 1" ubolts. Plenty strong.

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Yea, I looked at the JCR's, but for $50 for 4, I figured I'd just fab my own set of 8 for $18, plus mine are beefier, and cut to the right height so my basket will only be 1/2" above the top of the roof (just enough for some flex).

I wonder though, if I'm already welding the gutter mounts to the factory rail for lateral stiffness, I wonder if it'd make sense to just weld them in place on the gutters as well? I guess I'd rather find a way to bolt the gutter mount brace to the factory rail so I can take the whole thing when I pick up another jeep.

Do you mean the factory aluminum roof rails ? They are held in place by rivet nuts that go through one single layer of sheet metal. An angry monkey could pull the whole factory cargo rack system clean off the Jeep in about 17 seconds. The gutters/drip rails are not much stronger.

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Seems like a 2" wide 1/8" thick strip of steel, drilled with the factory roof rail pattern, would fit under the headliner. Remove riv-nuts, drill to larger hardware. Now use another strip of steel like the first, sandwich the roof & use the top plate (outside the car) as a platform to weld additional mounts for what's currently a gutter-mounted rack. You could weld nuts to the strip under the headliner to make it easier to work on later.
Make sense?

Tim_MN said:

Do you mean the factory aluminum roof rails ? They are held in place by rivet nuts that go through one single layer of sheet metal. An angry monkey could pull the whole factory cargo rack system clean off the Jeep in about 17 seconds. The gutters/drip rails are not much stronger.

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Thanks for the picture
I'm thinking with 8 1.5" wide gutter mounts, I SHOULD be pretty much safe. Running more support structure inside the Jeep is way more work than I feel like getting into at the moment.

Next question.
The plan is to use: (all mild steel)
4x - 1"x0.125" angle for the base,
5x - 1"x0.063" square tube for the 5 cross bars
5x - 1"x0.063" square tube for the center cross bar
8x - 1.5"x0.25" flat bar for the gutter mounts
14x - 1.5"x0.125" flat bar for the side supports
4x - 1"x0.063" square tube for the upper rail
2x - 0.031" mesh (dunno what gauge) for the basket floor

I'm not sure if I've gone overkill or underkill on the gauge. 0.063 = 1/16 for the Americans. I think the 1/16 should be fine for the top rail and cross bars as the angle iron is all 1/8 (which is twice as thick as I wanted, but I'm compensating with the 1/16 square tube.

This only comes out to around 75 lbs or so.

Not quite done yet, but thus far it'll look something like this (base):




Anyone think I should cut down on some gauge or add some elsewhere?

tbh, I think you can drop at least 2 legs per side, looks way overkill... Allmost caterpillerish.

xcm said:

tbh, I think you can drop at least 2 legs per side, looks way overkill... Allmost caterpillerish.

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I've definitely got the option to remove the 2nd and 4th mounts, which would save me some time as I already have the material for 8 mounts, but messed up two of them.
I'll probably do just 6 mounts to start, and add more in if I feel it's necessary.

More worried about the square tube and angle iron. Angle iron seems thicker than necessary, but my metal shop may only have it in 1/8". I can't decide if the 1/16" tube is enough.

FYI: the roof is not a straight edge. IE your "legs" would need to be different lengths for your rack.

iluv83vettes said:

FYI: the roof is not a straight edge. IE your "legs" would need to be different lengths for your rack.

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Building the whole thing in place on the roof so it'll have the same curve to it.

I had a similar experienc with my basket tied into the stock rack cross braces. I ended up making crossbars out of 3/4" gas pipe and made drip rail mounts out of .25" steel. The rack is solid now and the pipe does not bend at all. It cost me $17 for 10' of gas pipe and another $5 for the steel to make the mounts.

I had great luck using the factory rack mount locations and triangulating the rack floor. This design spreads the load evenly over all the roof pillars at the same time. I tested it with four 200+ guys standing and jumping around up there with no signs of flex. So far, so good...

I have zero flex on my gutter mounts and routinely put two 14ft kayaks on top at around 100lbs and do 60+MPH.

You guys are scaring me....

I build a rack out of 6 jcr gutter mounts and 1 inch square steel tubing (.90 I think). Plenty strong, laid it against a tree more than once, no damage to the roof or rack.