How to Choose a Roof Rack for a Jeep Wrangler

Hi everyone, I’m Andy Shane, today we’re going to talk about the different types of Best Bike Rack for Jeep Wrangler out there, no matter how you’ve set up your specific Jeep. We’re also going to talk about some of the things that another bike carrier can improve your lifestyle and how often you might want to take your bike on your Jeep.

We have divided all the different types of bike carriers into three main categories. Basically, you will find roof rack mounting systems for your bike on the market, followed by a hitch rack system, and finally our third category here of spare tire bike racks. Hopefully, I will help you make a more informed and better decision when it comes to purchasing a bike carrier for your Jeep Wrangler.

Installation

Start by looking at roof rack-type bike racks. There are a few requirements your Jeep must meet before you can throw a roof bike rack on it. If you have a soft-top Wrangler, you’ll need a roof rack that is designed for use with a soft-top luggage rack. If you have a hardtop borehole, you need a base system that is matched to the hardtop so that you can mount cross rails.

As you can see here, we are using the Mopar Oh, a Bitule cross-rail system that actually mounts in the gutters of our Jeep Wrangler Jl hardtop, meaning no permanent modifications to the hardtop are required, just install the ones Cross rails easy and we can remove them later when we use them.

If you have a slightly older Jeep Wrangler JK, or even an older Jeep TJ, you may need to permanently modify your heart top by drilling through it to mount cross braces on your hardtop. Do you agree to modify a very expensive part of your Jeep?

Whether you have a hardtop or a soft top, once you’ve installed a luggage rack and you’ve got to the point where you’ve installed cross rails, you can start adding accessories to carry your bike. Mount it on crossbars.

Some features to consider

The nice thing about an upright bike rack here, as you can see, we don’t have to take the wheels off our bike to put it on the rack. It actually holds the bike securely to the frame. It’s a great strength for holding your bike and then we just have a couple of straps to secure the wheels in the luggage rack.

There are also some other shelves that lock your bike from the front fork, which means you have to pull your front tire on and off every time you load and unload your bike, and that’s just something to be aware of or with another type of bike rack on the roof.

One of the biggest things to consider when using this bike rack on a Wrangler is of course the height at which roof-style bike racks are ideal for lower cars and sedans. Mounting on an SUV or Wrangler can be a little tricky loading and unloading your bike. I’ll say that I’m six feet tall, Rubicon isn’t quite that far with 33-inch tires and unchanged suspension.

Of course, you probably won’t take a stepladder with you to the park or on the trails you’re going to ride a bike on, so this is something to worry about, especially if you are a little bit afraid the shorter it is, it can be very difficult to get on your bike on and off your Jeep.

Another important point is the overall height. So we have the height of the Wrangler, we also have the overall height with our bike mounted. So if you just drive down the street you will likely be fine. If you are going through any drive-through driveways or low overhangs, be sure to have your bike on your Wrangler. If you need to go on an off-road adventure, it could present a problem with low-hanging branches and those you may encounter. so this is one thing to be aware of.

Some of the benefits

Some of the other benefits a roof mounting system can offer are that in addition to transporting a bike, you can also mount additional accessories for carrying skis, snowboards, canoes, and kayaks.

You can mount a roof basket to carry extra gear or luggage, and these come in handy when you go to a local hardware store for wood. They give you a lot of flexibility there in terms of what to carry, but it’s definitely a great option for loading a number of bikes there if you also have to load your bike on and off your Jeep a lot over the course of one Monthly, or even several times over the course of a week.

You might want to look for something a little easier to load and unload. We can take a look at our hitch rack system to check this out, so let’s move on to our second bike rack for our Wrangler.