Roof Rack Mod - Stiffen the Crossbar

I was worried not about the weight of the Pro Angler on my 96 Cherokee, but the torsional twist the flexing of the front crossbar was putting on the rack towers.  While I love my rack setup on the stock rails, I also know that the rails are only held on each side by 6 screws through the roof.  That being said, the torsional twist could cause the mounting screws to weaken as the design is to old the rack down and not necessarily keep it from flexing to one side or another.  So, with my paranoia about losing my new investment and tearing up my jeep, i did the following mod with a couple of pieces of pvc and some bar stool feet.

I lined up the feet with the raised ridges in the roof as they are going to be the least likely to dent and have the most strength for supporting the rack.  I used the rack all weekend and have no dings or dents on the roof, so I am keeping it the way it is for a while.

After the mod, it looks great, there is no flex causing a torsional twist on my front rack mounts, and it just feels much stronger.

If anybody wants a DIY, I can do it, but here are the final mounted pics:

Looks great! One question, how in the name of all that is holy do you lift a pro angler onto a Jeep?! The thing weighs a ton!

Looks great! One question, how in the name of all that is holy do you lift a pro angler onto a Jeep?! The thing weighs a ton!

You gotta have "want to"

Nice mod Oly, hope to see you fishing in the new yak some time, here or there.

iHop

Looks great! One question, how in the name of all that is holy do you lift a pro angler onto a Jeep?! The thing weighs a ton!

I use the Boat Loader extender bar for the Yakima rack....lift the nose on to it and set it there, go around and lift the back up and over to the rear rack bar, shimmy, shimmy, tie down.  Not hard at all. 

Looks great! One question, how in the name of all that is holy do you lift a pro angler onto a Jeep?! The thing weighs a ton!

I use the Boat Loader extender bar for the Yakima rack....lift the nose on to it and set it there, go around and lift the back up and over to the rear rack bar, shimmy, shimmy, tie down.  Not hard at all.

I just picked one of these up yesterday. Hop has one and it made loading and unloading the Coosa a breeze.

Oly,
Does the Yakima Boat Loader work on the Cherokee roof rack?  Sure would solve my #1 problem hauling yaks or canoes.
Mike

Oly,
Does the Yakima Boat Loader work on the Cherokee roof rack?  Sure would solve my #1 problem hauling yaks or canoes.
Mike

The Boat Loader fits inside the yakima crossbar, so no unfortunately.

Hey Oly,

Can you post a vid of you loading the Pro Angler with the yak boat loader?

It still blows me away how easy that was. 

D Rock

I sure will.  My ram mount for my FF arrived, so I need to pull it down and work with it anyway.  Gonna try to get out to somewhere this week to fish as well.

Might be this weekend, but will definitely do one and post.

What the...Boatloader...I never heard of this, what a great idea.  Execelent.