The fact is, I have two good sized dogs, we love to go camping, but there is always a storage issue with camping gear in the limited space in the JK. I was throwing around the idea of possibly getting a roof rack to help out in storage of camping gear. I have a JKU with a soft top and would like to still be able to go topless with the rack on. Any suggestions or input would be great. Thanks all.
I love my roof rack and it has come in extremely handy for just this reason, BUT choose wisely! My personal experience with the Wild Boar roof rack is that it is extremely frustrating to mess with your soft top with this roof rack. Although their website says it will work with soft tops, the rear cross member does not allow for the soft top to fold down all the way without removing the bow from the roll bar. Because of this I just leave my hard top on all the time. This time of year I'm quite jealous of everyone riding around with their tops off. I also can not utilize a hoist to remove the hard top because of the roof rack.
You can pull the hard top off but you need at least two decently strong people to carefully slide it out the back, which in most cases eliminates the wife from helping, which makes it a big PITA.
Also you will find you become subject to being the pack mule on long trips with friends who lack space in their own Jeep. Typically it's your friends in the 2-door Jeeps
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Some roof racks are easier to remove than others but I am personally only familiar with the Wild Boar.
On a positive note it has great mounting points on the rack for lights 4 front, 2 rear, 2 A-Pillar style on front. It is very strong and can carry lots of stuff and no rattles if you follow the instructions and seal the joints with caulk.
I typically just run with the front top panels off instead of completely topless. My Jeep is my DD so I really don't mind running the hard top all the time. It's especially nice here in TX when the temps get up during the summers.
