Roof Cargo Carriers

I have had good luck with confer they are easy to install!!

-- Jarod Sprauer

281-807-JEEP (5337)

Thanks Jarod! What vendor do you recommend?

Norm

I had a Garvin Wilderness rack on my '91 XJ.

Installation was average, but two people are required to lift it into place. It is pretty heavy. There are lots of little bolts to install,

Being poorly painted steel, it rusted like crazy in the wet Puget Sound climate. I saw no signs of primer under the rusting paint. The finish might be acceptable in a desert environment.

Being steel, it made the Cherokee top heavy and resulted in excessive body roll, even with the stiffer OME suspension. Having the spare permanently mounted up there made it worse. Add the Hi-Lift and shovel and some bikes and extra gear and the handling went to hell.

The highway fuel mileage plummetted, and the wind noise increased dramatically, even with a big Yakima fairing. Maintaining highway speeds with stuff on top and the stock gears was very difficult, especially into a stiff head wind up a grade. I had to use 2nd gear a lot. Lower ring and pinions highly recommended.

The roof rail clamps interfered with the tops of the passenger doors and I had to grind down the door sheet metal to get them to clear. The mount system was very sturdy, however. The rack was rock solid and had zero play.

The spare was very hard to get up and down without a step ladder. There was no way my wife would have been able to do it in an emergency. If you had a steel wheel it woluld be worse than an alloy.

Washing and waxing the roof of the Jeep was a _lot_ harder. The extra storage was great, and I used it a lot for hauling bikes (using the Yakima crossbar adaptors) and camping gear, . I really liked the extra cargo space, which is so sorely lacking in an XJ when you are carrying 4 people.

Final thoughts: in this time of soaring gas prices, forget about mounting anything permanently on your roof. A removable gutter mount rack system with stout bars, like Yakima, makes sooo much more sense. You can leave it at home except when you really need it.

Or consider buying an inexpensive 4x6 or 5x8 utility trailer for those times you need a lot of space. Then you can haul dirt or lumber too.

If this is a pure trail rig we are talking about, never mind. Install an expedition rack. They look way cool on a lifted XJ. It's your choice: does way cool and lots of storage outweigh the many disadvantages? For me it didn't.

Do your research and make this decision after some deep thought.

John Davies

'96 Lexus LX450 '00 Audi A4 1.8T quattro Spokane WA USA

Thanks John! Are roof cargo carriers and expedition racks that same? I have looked at some aluminum types. What do you think about them? It is not a trail only rig.

Norm

I think there is some confusion in terminology. I see a cargo carrier as being a temporary rack, like the Yakima Loadwarrior or Megawarrior. They aren't intended to be permanent, tho many people leave them attached all the time. They clamp to crossbars, often to the factory (weak) rack itself. They tend to be smaller than an expedition rack with a load rating of maybe a couple of hundred pounds. The cargo racks aren't really intended to carry tires, cans of gas and other really heavy stuff.

Expedition racks are serious hardware which often extend the full length of the roof and from gutter to gutter. Some are rated at 300 or even 500 pounds capacity, tho the vehicle suspension and terrain really determines that limit.

An aluminum expedition rack would help a little in terms of top-heaviness - maybe 30 or 40 pounds - but by the time you get it loaded, you won't see any significant difference. The finish would be more durable, but the wind resistance is going to remain.

Oh, one other thing. Any heavy load on the roof drastically increases the risk of rollover. SUVs are inherently more susceptible to this due to their high stance. If you miss a turn or are lax and let the truck drift off the road and clip a guard rail, the truck trips over its tires and rolls rather than spinning out. The extra stuff up top means you have to be very vigilent about curves and unfamiliar roads. Emergency maeuvers are also affected, so you need to take extra care in traffic.

My own opinion is that an expedition rack and lots of gear does NOT belong on a truck primarily driven by the wife. I may be willing to take the risks, but I certainly don't expect my other half to do so, unless she specifically asks.

I hope this helped. I know this is a Jeep-only newsgroup, but one reason I sold my XJ for another make was to go to a bigger vehicle that had better cargo capacity, partly so I didn't have to throw everything up top. (I still want a Rubicon Unlimited tho....)

John Davies

'96 Lexus LX450 '00 Audi A4 1.8T quattro Spokane WA USA

John, thanks again! You've cleared up some questions for me. This would be a permanent installation that would supplant the factory roo rack. Primarily we would haul the spare tire (31x10.50x15) & wheel on it to get out of the vehicle.

Norm

But, due to lack of a trunk, you can't stash your potential projectiles for safe keeping (or safety in case of crash)...I'd rather it on the roof so that it flies off and hits the wanker that cut me off! ;)