I was taking the gutter-mounted Yakima racks off my new (to me) 95 Cherokee last night, and I found that the driver's side gutter is loose. The whole piece can slide fore and aft an inch or two, and the front actually came away from the car when I took the rack off, but I was able to push it back on so it looks normal and seems like it will stay put for now. I always thought the gutters were just part of the roof, but it looks like this one was sort of crimped on. I haven't gotten a chance to look real closely in daylight yet, but from what I could see last night it doesn't look like there's any rust - there isn't any on the rest of the truck.
Has anyone else run into this problem? Can the gutter be reattached so the roof racks can be used? If not, is there a non-gutter roof rack for a Cherokee?

Thanks for any help,
-Ben

I think you're talking about the plastic/chrome gutter cover that's falling off, not the actual gutter. The gutter afaik is formed where the top is welded to the sides and is integral to the body. In other words, it can't come off unless the whole body is falling apart.

Because of that, I think your gutter-mount Yakimas are the strongest you can buy. The other styles mount on the roof racks, or rest on the roof, and that's not as strong as the gutter.

Take a look... does that sound like what's happening?

<img src="/forums/images/graemlins/rolleyes.gif" alt="" /> Heh... A look in the daylight revealed exactly what you described. It's just a plastic cover that's coming loose. I guess all I need to do is clean it up and glue it then. I should have looked closer before. I was a bit frustrated with it because I had to pick the lock to get the racks off - the previous owner lost the key, but luckily only one of the four locks was locked. Much less wind noise now, and I'll just put the racks on when I need them.

Thanks Berkeley!

Locks... I've spend a lot of time getting my whole family using the same key with all our Yakima systems. We probably have 40 cores between us all. Do you have the removable SKS lock cores? Old ones have a 3-digit key code stamped on the outside (not good for security!). New lock cores must be stamped on the inside... don't remember. With that code, you can buy new keys. Or just buy a new set of SKS lock cores.