After getting some input from the knowledgeable people here and doing some googling I decided to get a Surco Rack.

Since Summit Racing seemed to be about average on pricing I went and picked it up, along with a few other things, like a Hi Lift and a couple towing straps. I'm on my way to getting the stuff together I want to keep in the Jeep.

Got home late and tired from lots of errands yesterday so today I'll assemble the rack and put it on the Jeep.

I want to order the spare tire mount for the rack, and the axe/shovel mount and Hi Lift mount.

Question: Does anyone here have experience with these mounts? Any problems with thefts or items falling off? I just want to make sure it's a good thing to buy them. It seems like they would be handy, and I like how they look on the rack, but at 80 bucks a pop for each mount I want to be sure.

Thoughts?

 

I only have the spare tire mount from Surco and it is quite solid. The HiLift and Shovel are fabbed up stuff for mine.

 

When you bought your rack from summit did you have to buy anything other then the rack package itself to mount it?

 

The tire mount is probably worth the money, but I've seen more "fabbed up" tool/jack mounts that work quite well. U-clamps, etc from Home Depot will do ya.

 

If you are asking me then I bought the rack from a seller on NAXJA and fabbed up some mounts for mine that used the factory rails.

 

You typically have to order mounting hardware separately since not all Cherokees come with factory luggage rails, leaving you to mount it to your rain gutters if the design allows it. Not sure if this rule applies to your particular roof rack or not.

 

I have the real old type that you need to loosen two screws on each side of the rail to move it. I made a inverted "T" and drilled it for the screws. Then made a solid bar that crosses in place of the factory crossbars. Now I have a solid rack that is held to the roof by eight screws and is still moveable front to back.

 

The gutter mounts are GM100 about $45 when I bought mine a few months back. I have since sold my rack, wasn't using it. With the gutter mounts though you will leave indentions(sp) in the gutter mount.

 

Yes. They only sell the rack by itself. They have many different mounting packages to choose from, depending on if you have a luggage rack, just gutters, etc. The mounting hardware is another 52 bucks or so.

 

Anybody have any pics of their mount set up? I'm curious to see some. I'm really leaning towards doing it this way.

 

i bought the gutter mounts for mine but dont buy any mounts besides the tire mount, just fab your own.

heres my light bar mount



and i made a light mount for the rear using the same stuff..angle iron with holes drilled in it.

 

Thanks aircruiser, you've given me a couple ideas.

Anybody else have any rack gear pics?