another RE drop bracket issue

i installed my RE drop brackets and braces last week and had no problems. my friend (hopefully he won't read this) just bought some off a guy but didn't get any support braces. i told him to get some, but he doesn't seem to think it will make that much of a difference.

my question is, is there anything ya'll can think of that i could tell him that would convince him of getting them, or does he really not need them? i know i've heard of people not using them, but doesn't this cause strain on the CA mounts?

brandon
actually it would probably be better if he read this, himself...

You can tell him they could ripped off by rocks or something. I would also recomend spot welding them even if you have the braces. I don't know what you guys wheel or to what diffuculty. If it's just playing in the mud, probably not a big deal, but rocks and ledges are.

ChuckD said:

You can tell him they could ripped off by rocks or something. I would also recomend spot welding them even if you have the braces. I don't know what you guys wheel or to what diffuculty. If it's just playing in the mud, probably not a big deal, but rocks and ledges are.

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ahh spot welding, i'll have to do that to mine. we hate mudding, nothing but trails and rocks. mudding just gets boring

Ask him what will happen when he goes to back over a rock ant gets caught on them. I put a brace on mostly so I would have a ramp to back up over something

Trailmaster sold basically the same bracket without the braces in the late 90's & early 00's. I would image that the problems others have sited her COULD happen. I wouldn't run brackets without braces though.

Ditto, when my RE 5.5" kit was installed, the braces were left off ufor me to deal with later. I could not imagine wheeling with those brackets and not having the braces on there, cause those things hang down quite a ways. I would advise he get the braces, period.
Like it's been said, imagine if your backing and those brackets hit a stump or something. Those braces do more then reinforce those brackets.

If it is for street only it's no big deal, however on a trail rig w/o the braces the leverage from the drop brackets WILL cause the frame rails to bend, tweak, and even possibly crack. I have seen this first hand and would never take one off road without the braces....Unless you want to scrap and replace the unibody.

JohnJohn said:

Trailmaster sold basically the same bracket without the braces in the late 90's & early 00's. I would image that the problems others have sited her COULD happen. I wouldn't run brackets without braces though.

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Grant Barclay used to run the Trailmaster brackets and he cracked his frame. Would have totalled the Jeep if not for his fabrication skills.

The reason to run the braces is simple: distributing load across a much larger area of the uniframe. I can't imagine not adding the extra bracing. I agree on the welding (if he really intends to keep them for the long haul).

Nay