Steering box brace

Been surfing around and have noticed these being sold for XJ's to prevent the unibody from being twisted up. Is this a gimmick or for real, have you heard anything on these or is anybody using one now? Thanks

Not sure what you mean about the body being twisted up. There are several people that have completely ripped their box off. But thats usualy because there front tires are bound up and they have really big tires. 35+, although I'm sure its happened with smaller ones. It is a nice piece of mind. But i think the best solution is the c-rok brace. Or make something like it yourself. Im building mine into my front bumper.

They are not a gimmick, I built mine into my bumpermount.

Don't waste money on the MORE or Rusty's style braces. I ran one for 2 years with 33 inch tires, NEVER bound up my steering, ALWAYS steering with a light touch and ended up with a cracked steering box mount. You can still see the brace in these pics:








The integrated bumper mount/steering box brace is really the best way to go. This is essentially what I ended up with after getting the ORGS steering box repair kit and some additional bracing welded in.

a good one i hear is from www.c-rok.com on the www.jeepin.com site there is a tech write-up on the install of one...

Damn unibodys, I have ripped mine off twice, after learning my lesson,I instlalled the MORE brace, and a plate for the box bolts,between the two it aint goin no where!

The consensus of the people who've run steering box braces is that they really don't help much.

The C-Rok or ORGS MFG plates are the only real solution.

C-Rok's bolt on, which is a little less involved and good for those who don't have welding skills. The ORGS require welding, more involved, but when complete is the ultimate.

Check it out: http://www.orgsmfg.com/product/sbs1.htm

Once again very good info. thanks

I just installed a rusty's unit for good measure. I wasn't ripping out boxes or cracking frames before, but the steering on the road is noticeably tighter for me. I helped a friend install a C-rock plate. That thing is ultra beefy and very well thought out. If I go to bigger tires that is what im going to run.

Any benefit to running both? (i.e. Rusty's + C-ROK/ORGS)

Drewlee77 said:

Any benefit to running both? (i.e. Rusty's + C-ROK/ORGS)

Click to expand...

If anything it should stiffin' the frame, something a stout bumper will do much better. There's no harm in if you already have one. Peace of mind is a wonderfull thing.

I run both. I put the Rusty's one on first and then later bought a c-rok bumper that has the frame plates built into it. I put c-rok's inside plate on the driver side too. The combination stiffened up the front quite a bit.

Home brew... main brace is 1/4" stock that goes on the sway bar brackets... and then an arm that goes to the box itself to help drop the stress on the alumimum bushings...



Installed..



On the sides.. the bottom two bolts go in the steering brace... the upper bolt is in the front bumper mount...

I'm happy with it..

Nice idea, it should work well.

A steering box brace is an iffy modification. Without considerable frame reinforcement it will still allow/cause major frame cracks around the steering box. If you beef up the frame around the box, you don't need a steering box brace. The frame needs reinforcement......with or without a steering box brace.

I've run one for a long time, and also have one of the box bolts running through my 1/4" plate bumper mount. I had cracks in the bottom of the frame, welded them up and plated it. Then I had cracks on the inside and top of the frame, welded those up and plated the inside of the frame. Then I had cracks in the outside of the frame under the bumper mount, welded the bumper mount to the frame and added one more steering box bolt through the bumper mount. The whole time I had a steering box brace.

Reinforce the frame. Afterwords, maybe add a steering box brace. I think if you run a brace, you should also have a track bar mount brace to the frame on the other side.

On my 89, I built the steering box brace, then added an under engine DOM "crossmember" that ties to my trackbar frame mount. I added both of these after I built my custom front bumper, which uses .25" plate for full length brackets, no cracks to the uni-rail in 2+ years of running this setup.......then again, I only wheel in slushy parking lots, running 205/50/15's on 15x8 Dayton gold wires :laugh: