Roof rack question

[alpinetiburon04]

How come some roof racks on 97+ XJs go all the way to the front of the vehicle, and some only go to the back of the front door? Know what I'm saying? I saw three pictures of a black 2000 with running boards on it (do a search for oem running boards) and the OEM roof rack doesn't cover the whole roof. I'm confused. I like that look, but I can't figure out what model year XJ to buy to get that roof rack. I know, I'm crazy. I'm selling my 91 that i haven't even had for two months so I can get a different roof rack. I also want the upgraded interior though...

 

[BCParker]

I found those pics you're talking about. that's the first i've seen of the shorter racks. he either chopped the first few feet off his rack and re-attached the endcaps, or

he has a sunroof, and the roof rack doesn't go that far on XJs with a sunroof.

my 97 had a full length rack.

 

[Tim_MN]

My 2000 has the shorter roof rack and no sunroof. At some point JEEP HQ decided to make the change. You can get a longer roof rack and rails at the junkyard and swap it over to your XJ. You will probably have to drill some more mounting holes.

 

[mg614]

X2. i have a 2000 with the "shorter" roof rack.

 

[frankenjeep]

dcx had switched over to the shorter roof rack for the optinal sunroof, it was cheeper to have the short bars than to have to change the jeeps that were getting sunroofs...thats what i was told by a friend that works at JTE

 

[JEEPZZ]

dcx had switched over to the shorter roof rack for the optinal sunroof, it was cheeper to have the short bars than to have to change the jeeps that were getting sunroofs...thats what i was told by a friend that works at JTE

The above info is incorrect. A factory sunroof was not a factory option on any 97 and newer XJs.

The 97-98 XJs came with the full length rails while the 99-01 had the shorter 2/3 length rails. You'll also notice that the cross bars on the 99-01 are different that the 97-98. The newer cross bars have a larger area in which tie down can be attached.
I have the newer style cross bars on my 97:

 

[xjjeepthing]

My 01 has a short rack on it , i have been told that the short rack roof pieces are the same as the one used on the Grand Cherokee's looked a few Grands seems to be the case cross bars are different though.
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8IaMmrhsxcuEg

 

[djwright4341]

Was factory sunroof an option in Grand Cherokees? If the rails are the same for the XJ and Grand Cherokee, I can see DC saving money by using the same rails on both models and not having to worry about changing the length whether the Grand has a sunroof or not. A nod to both frankenjeep's and bowhunter's responses.

Oh, and my 00 XJ has the 2/3 length rack.

 

[DenLip]

Was factory sunroof an option in Grand Cherokees? If the rails are the same for the XJ and Grand Cherokee, I can see DC saving money by using the same rails on both models and not having to worry about changing the length whether the Grand has a sunroof or not. QUOTE]

This sounds correct. Grands definitely had sunroofs available... and the new style crossbars do "look like" the same pieces... probably shared with WJ's that were introduced in '99?

Den