JK Roof Rack

[FrenchieXJ]

I have run my Gobi for 51,000 miles in 2 years. This is with 15,000 miles off road and with a Autohome RTT on the vehicle. I did not have to drill any holes as the rack uses existing on the frame in the rear and the windshield hinge screws in the front.

[Kevin719]

The wife & I have been thinking of an upgrade to a JKU for longer trips and have been wanting to do a RTT also. The one thing we like about the LJ we have now is the Sunrider top, that folds back over the front seats, feels like your riding with the top down but allows for quick cover ups when those afternoon Colorado thunderstorms roll in. Are you still able to remove and install the front panels on the hard top with the Gobi rack installed on a JK without folding the rack back.

[FrenchieXJ]

Yes! It is easy to remove and re-install the panels with the roof rack on.

[Timgco]

yes, on the JK you can slide the freedom panels out without hinging the rack back. you can also remove teh entire hardtop without hinging or removing the rack. you do have to pull the ladders off though.

The wife & I have been thinking of an upgrade to a JKU for longer trips and have been wanting to do a RTT also. The one thing we like about the LJ we have now is the Sunrider top, that folds back over the front seats, feels like your riding with the top down but allows for quick cover ups when those afternoon Colorado thunderstorms roll in. Are you still able to remove and install the front panels on the hard top with the Gobi rack installed on a JK without folding the rack back.

[lbrito]

I just got the Gobi rack for my '12 JKU, and after installing it, I can say that I am impressed. From the minute you open the packaging, you can tell that details matter to the manufacturer of this rack. Someone mentioned, well thought out, and that it is. All interfaces are padded, and all the hardware included is stainless steel, they also use nylon lock washers, wear pads in many places to protect the vehicle. Everything down to some nice corner guards included on the rear just matches up perfectly. The finish is excellent, absolutely no flaws. The installation is straight forward, no drill, logical, and comes with very detailed instructions with figures. I jumped (literally) on top after it was installed and nothing budged except the Jeep's suspension. It's solid, and I'm 250lbs.

People mentioned other racks to me, mainly the Kongo Masters, saying it provided more capacity @ 500lbs of load carry capacity. However, that is the rating on the frame, and doesn't include the weight of the cage, which reduces that number. You will notice that the Gobi says 300lbs capacity, but that is on the rear section, and if you add the freedom panel insert section, you get an addition 150lbs on that section. Deductive reasoning should tell you that the frame of the Gobi can support at least 450lbs, based on that. With others, you may get the capacity at the frame, but the cages you buy may not actually support that weight. So, I would consider the Gobi a 500lb rack, and that's about as much weight as anyone should ever consider carrying on a roof rack.

[UNI]

codename607 Posted: I'm on the search for a roof rack that I can use to mount a rooftop tent onto. So far I really like the Garvin racks but after doing some research I found out that they often crack the body of the jeep(at the rear mounting points). With this finding I no longer want to go with the Garvin rack and I'm trying to find something that is simple.

Codename607,

I have not heard of Garvin having any problems with cracking at the body mounting points. I've had two Jeeps racked out with Garvin Wilderness/G2 products and have had NO problems at all.

I'd highly recommend Garvin!

UNI

[Mike @ X-Treme]

I've had my Gobi rack almost a year now with several trips on it with and without an ARB tent on top. No issues whatsoever and I can't say enough about the quality.IMG_4431.jpgIMG_7322b.jpg