Roof Rack Quandry

I have both (roof rack and hitch rack)
Roof rack is only on the JKU. It's great for bulky items that are not too heavy to load/unload (not awesome for a large cooler, or firewood, for instance).
I do find it very useful for folding chairs and tables that never seem to fit well inside the cargo area of any vehicle.

I also have side steps on the rear doors to help facilitate loading, unloading, and tying down/securing the load in/to the rack.
I have contemplated getting one of the weatherproof bags, but we probably wouldn't need/use it enough to justify the cost or having to store it when it isn't being used. Gear carried up here never seems to get "dirty" from the drive, but it gets a lot of direct sun, so stuff gets hot up there.

For the hitch rack, it works very well, so long as the spare tire doesn't interfere, so on the TJ it looses a bit of it's capacity. That's not been an issue on the JKUR though, maybe the spare sits higher from the receiver, IDK.
The hitch-mounted rack tends to collect a LOT of dirt on your stuff because it is so close to the road and directly behind the drive tires.
I added rear mud flaps to our TJ just to reduce this.
I have not added rear mud flaps to the JKUR.

If you frequently transport things in the rain, the roof rack is a much better option than the hitch-mounted rack, IMO. Yes, the stuff will still get wet on the roof (unless you use the weatherproof bag, of course), but at least it isn't covered in mud like it will be on the hitch rack.

I also don't like that the hitch-mounted cargo rack kills our ability to carry bikes.

I have tried many times to convince the wife to put a front receiver on both vehicles so that we could still carry the bikes, but she remains combatively opposed, even though I have demonstrated that you cannot access the rear gate without first removing all of the bikes - even though the rack itself will fold down.

Would this work for your bike rack setup? I have the same adapter when I'd run my basket and a bike rack for my daughter bike. Basket in the bottom and bike rack on the top. The only thing I had to do was run 1 of those anti rattle things for the bike rack. There was just too much play for my likings

Ratbikerod said:

NVM, found it at Northern Tool. Thank you for showing me that!

Click to expand...

I got mine at Harbour Freight YEARS ago!

Excuse my ignorance, but how will that device allow you to use the bike rack (top placement) and the storage rack (bottom placement) at the same time for anything beyond a child-size bike?
The bicycles will still hang down onto/directly above the rack, basically wiping out any legitimate storage space.
This is designed to allow for a bike rack to be used while towing a trailer that has a tongue.
Unless you extend the storage rack behind the hanging bicycles, I just don't see this option working very well.

In addition, you'll have to fully remove this device in order to open the tailgate, which means pulling the bike(s), the rack, AND this adapter.

There has got to be an easier way.