Rugged Ridge Frame Brace - out of spec?

Posted this up in my build thread, but haven't gotten any traffic/responses on it yet so I'm throwing it out here for some advice.....
I picked up a brand new double shear track bar and frame brace kit from Rugged Ridge several weeks back, (as well as some other stuff) ...and put it all in the other day.


Here's where the frame brace mounts on the passenger side frame rail:


With it mounted at the frame, here's where it ends up at the track bar mount (where the other end is supposed to secure to)...


And if its secured to the track bar mount, here's where it ends up on the frame:


As you can see its a bit too long (out of spec).... either that or my unibody is twisted/bent or otherwise not straight.... which I dont think is the case....so I'm stuck.... Not sure what to do with it at this point.
My only thought is to loosen the mount for the track bar, and then put the brace on, and then tighten everything back on, but it's so far off, that I'm afraid the brace will no longer sit flush against the frame if I do this..... Any suggestions?
Keep in mind, I do not have a welder... otherwise I would've probably modified this already.
Any help is appreciated, thanks guys.

did you call them? that should be step one.

I would first call Rugged Ridge and see what they say. But if that doesn't seem to get you anywhere then just drill another hole in the brace where it bolts to the trac bar frame mount and call it a day. It seems you have plenty of material left there to make a good hole that won't cause a problem. If you have a welder handy then you could also weld up the other pre-existing hole to ensure the material that would be between the two holes wouldn't fatigue and wollow out leaving you with a giant elongated hole. I don't think for this particular brace that it will be a problem for you though if you leave it as is and just drill another hole.

Looks to me like all you need is a drill and drill bit to drill a new hole on the track bar mount side. Or, have you tried having someone turn the steering wheel to see if you can get it to line up? You'd be surprised how much frame twist you get in the frame around the track bar mount.

What did the manufacturer say?
Do you have both sides of the Jeep evenly lifted on jackstands on flat ground?
Have you cycled the steering both ways?
Do you have all the bolts on the drivers side bracket tight?
Do you have the axle end of the bar installed?

Likely your jeeps a little bent, they are all usually made to spec in a jig, but with rugged ridge who knows. Makes me glad I didnt go rugged ridge, my cousin almost died because of a rugged ridge tracbar. It looks pretty small inferior to the other quality products out there.

naw....

Not a Rugged Ridge product.

It cant be wrong. Those Chinese are wizes at math..

Goatman said:

Looks to me like all you need is a drill and drill bit to drill a new hole on the track bar mount side. Or, have you tried having someone turn the steering wheel to see if you can get it to line up? You'd be surprised how much frame twist you get in the frame around the track bar mount.

Click to expand...

I didn't try the steering wheel movement to see if it would line up, I'll give that a try... I guess I was just assuming that something like turning the steering wheel wouldn't cause any frame twist, especially with (at the time the pics were taken) no tires/wheels on the jeep. As for drilling a new hole, that was my first thought... the pic is a bit misleading from the angle it was taken, and if I WERE to drill a new hole, i'd have maybe .060"-.100" of material left between the two holes.... thats a bit too skinny for my liking.
Ben824's suggestion of plugging the old hole, and drilling a new one sounds like the most likely solution at this point if all else fails... I'll take it down to a fab shop and have em weld on a plate to the front side, or plug it proper, and re-drill it at home.... unless someone in my local chapter can help with that (nudge-nudge-wink-wink)

deucestudios said:

What did the manufacturer say?
Do you have both sides of the Jeep evenly lifted on jackstands on flat ground?
Have you cycled the steering both ways?
Do you have all the bolts on the drivers side bracket tight?
Do you have the axle end of the bar installed?

Click to expand...

-I have an email into Rugged Ridge, we'll see what they say... still no word.
-At the time the pics were taken, the jeep was in my garage (level floor) on jackstands with no tires/wheels on.
-At the time the pics were taken all bolts were torque'd to spec.
-Have not cycled the steering wheel - figured the steering doesn't affect where one side of the frame is in relation to the other. But i'm going to see if that gets me anywhere later tonight.
-The track bar was fully installed at the time the pic was taken.... although I cant remember if I had tightened the axle side and the adjustment-jam-nut down yet.
>
This was a couple weeks ago, and i've since put a few hundred miles on it all, as well as had an alignment done (due to all the new steering components going on) ...So it may be due to try the install again.... I'll post up results later tonight.
-Thanks for everyone's advice.