roof rack mounting

[Mitchen]

i am trying to mount my roof rack on my jeep and need opinion on how to properly mount it.

its home built nothing fancy. i dont want to use cross bars that mount to the rain gutters and was thinking about just hard mounting it to the roof and using a rubber bushing of some kind to prevent the rack from touching the paint and making alot of noise. also figured i would use silicone to seal the holes i would have to drill. i have some u bolts with backing plates from a kenworth truck which are used for the bumper or something i was going to use them to mount it to the roof. they are stainless

not sure how bad of an idea it is to mount it like this. the roof somewhat sags with the rack weight on it but i was thinking about using the roof supports under the head liner to support the weight rather than using the sheetmetal to support it.

 

[wolfpackjeeper]

did you not have a factory rack? If you did just use the factory inserts in the roof. They should be something like 1/4-20. A little bit of angle and you could make a nice looking mount.

 

[Jump This]

This is what I did;
I removed the trim and headliner first and made the legs of the rack line up with the cross bracing of the roof.
Next I drilled through the roof (no rubber nesc.) and built doubler plates so I could bolt directly through the roof and into the bracing.
You will be amazed at how much more rigid your Cherokee becomes.
Reinstalling the headliner is quick and easy (you could also add hidden wire for lights too.)

 

[Alaskan89XJ]

Greets: How many cross-bars.., one between the front and rear doors on a four door.., and one behind the rear doors?

Pieces of inner tube make for a good 'dampener', along with sealant. The old Cherokees, '79, used a plastic plate beneath the roof rack support legs, using two screws per. Recently transfered old '79 rack to new '89, lol, with just sheet metal screws, and sealant. Not going anywhere unless gravity reverses. Probably would not trust it on the Baja race, though...

The old racks are aluminum, sturdy, with thick chromed pot metal support legs, and do not have multiple parts, springs, etc., or anything to impede quick changes to secure various loads. They simply have a twist knob on either end of each of two rack-cross-bars. Look in junk yards.