Any advice for buying the above?

For our family we would be carrying 3 bikes for sure. I do see 3 bike carriers, and some 4.
For ski racks, I am carrying 3 pairs of skis.

The Jeep has a hitch, so it can be hitch mounted or spare tire mounted. I don't have any experience with hooking them to the Jeep so I am open to advice. Would love to know what is best, what to avoid, etc.

We negotiated the bike rack and ski rack as they appear in the Wrangler brochure, but unfortunately the one featured only takes 2 bikes (it is a Thule). Not thrilled that it only carries 2, I should have checked that before making it part of the deal. I like the ski rack (spare wheel mounted), it carries 6 pairs of skis. The dealer is offering $600 cash to us for the deal and we can get the bike and ski rack somewhere else if we want. I have been surfing on line and it can be mesmerizing - it is hard to know what is easy to set up, etc. on this vehicle. My last bike rack was a pain to install and take off. Any advice from those with experience with these accessories?

 

If you want to carry all of that stuff at the same time might i suggest a "toy trailer" and just load everything into that. The more you put onto your jeep's exterior will kill your fuel mileage and disturb your brick like aerodynamics

 

Thanks for the suggestion, but unfortunately I would have nowhere to store a trailer...

Like the 'brick-like aerodynamics' imagery!

 

Depending on how far you plan to go, can always rent a U-Haul storage trailer? I know there are some general roof rack you can get and still be able to take the top off. Some are pretty nice, but there only good for 1 or two things to be strapped to them. Nothing really particularly useful.

Quadratec: Bestop HighRock 4x4 Overhead Rack for Jeep Wrangler - YouTube

Pretty much thats the only good thing i can find, i mean you start drilling holes into your hard top and start mounting things to it, kind of take away from the idea of taking the hard top off right?

 

I was hoping for something that was mounted on the back of the vehicle, that is what we have always done in the past. My better half just went to a rack shop and was told that there was no rack that would fit for the 18" wheel, so he was a bit dismayed. Is that why the salesman came back and offered money instead of the racks - because he discovered he could not find them? I see the Mopar ski rack and bike rack (for 2 bikes) in their brochure. Hard to believe they don't exist for the 18" wheel.

 

Sounds like that sales person is incompetent, even if you just found a regular storage rack and lashed everything to it could work. But with a 2 door especily you will need to worry about putting to much weight on the back

 

We have a four door...we will keep looking. When the racks are in the brochure you hope that they have some knowledge but it is not always the case. The ski rack should work fine. It's the 2 bike rack that concerns me. We have 3 bikes.

 

Found a 4 bike carrier that uses the hitch mount? Might work, not sure if it'll clear your spare but its on the jeep site so I don't see why not

Just Jeeps :: Bike Carriers :: Thule 956 Parkway Hitch Bike...