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Has anyone broken their gutters with their roof rack?

Mad Hatter

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There have been various threads over the last 3 years about the load limits for gutter-mounted roof racks. FCA or Stellantis or whoever they are this week put a meek 100 pound limit in the 2018 Owner's Manual, likely due to the plastic/fiberglass gutters, but that doesn't say if that is a limit with close tolerances or is a limit with a safety margin.

Has anyone out there actually broken their gutters with their roof rack? If so, what were the circumstances, i.e., what were you hauling?

Maybe a corollary question would be, has anyone obviously exceeded the 100-pound limit without issue? If so, what were the circumstances, i.e., what were you hauling?

Obviously FCA has to be conservative when it comes to setting safety limits, but perhaps with some usage data we can better understand if there are circumstances where we might push the limit.

Thanks, all!
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IrnBear

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Ohh, I love this line of questioning....
And very interested in folks input/answers....
 

IrnBear

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Ohh, I love this line of questioning....
And very interested in folks input/answers....
 

Gregj

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No personal experience but I haven't seen any posts of broken gutters. I have seen several threads about tops with cracks in the top corner of the liftgate. I would imagine they came from the top "racking" from too much weight on the roof.
Gregj
 

Alex01

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No personal experience but I haven't seen any posts of broken gutters. I have seen several threads about tops with cracks in the top corner of the liftgate. I would imagine they came from the top "racking" from too much weight on the roof.
Gregj
I saw that happen on the trail the other day. The guy had a gobi rack with very little weight on it and I believe the supports that press against the hardtop caused the issue.
Jeep Wrangler JL Has anyone broken their gutters with their roof rack? Resized_Resized_20210522_141351
Jeep Wrangler JL Has anyone broken their gutters with their roof rack? Resized_Resized_20210522_141343-2
Jeep Wrangler JL Has anyone broken their gutters with their roof rack? Resized_Resized_20210522_141346
 

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DarkAardvark

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I saw that happen on the trail the other day. The guy had a gobi rack with very little weight on it and I believe the supports that press against the hardtop caused the issue.
Jeep Wrangler JL Has anyone broken their gutters with their roof rack? Resized_Resized_20210522_141346
Jeep Wrangler JL Has anyone broken their gutters with their roof rack? Resized_Resized_20210522_141346
Jeep Wrangler JL Has anyone broken their gutters with their roof rack? Resized_Resized_20210522_141346
Gross.

https://www.gobiracks.com/product/gobi-jeep-wrangler-jl-4door-stealth-rack-40-led-setup/

Yeah that's an interesting design, but I guess it makes sense. That gutter hand screw thing is supposed to keep it from moving side to side while the weight is supposed to go down the tube to the bumper or wherever it mounts.

It looks like he has additional nuts between the bracket piece and the hand screw piece as spacers. I wonder if he didn't have those originally, tightened the crap out of those two hand screws, and the roof buckled...?

Or if since they put the thing in the gutter, the spacing is off and it actually puts all of the weight into the gutter instead of the tube?

Those are the only two things I can think of for that. I'm leaning towards the first idea, though
 

IndustrialAction

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I scratched the hell out of the paint on the hardtop b/c I decided to lift and install a Smittybilt rack (70lbs+) up on to the roof by myself. I was worried about the gutters but it has been on for over a year now and I don't see anything other than the paint damage
 

Skippy477

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Every car I ever remember having had a 100 lb weight limit on the roof rack. I think it’s more about keeping the center of gravity down to prevent rollovers than it is about the structural integrity of the vehicle. That said, I have wondered what the actual limit would be with on a Wrangler with the vehicle standing still. Could it handle one of those roof top tents with 2 adults in it or would the whole thing collapse? I think it would largely depend on whether or not those gutters are reinforced inside the fiberglass or if they are just thick fiberglass.
 

jhackathorne

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I had the rack, RTT (147 lb.), my wife and myself (400 lb total), and some gear up on mine with the Exposed Racks. We had no issues at all. Actually it even felt more stable than my old Rhino Rack for some reason.

IMG_9110.jpeg
 

timetogetway

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I had the rack, RTT (147 lb.), my wife and myself (400 lb total), and some gear up on mine with the Exposed Racks. We had no issues at all. Actually it even felt more stable than my old Rhino Rack for some reason.

Jeep Wrangler JL Has anyone broken their gutters with their roof rack? IMG_9110
Still holding up? What rack do you have?
 
 



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