Rusty's Offroad Products

Alright, maybe for some of you this might be beating a dead horse...

But I want honest opinions on Rustys Offroad products.... I want to hear what you had, why you like it/dont like it, experiences.

And yes, I have searched a lot and read a lot.. But a lot of topics are old, and some are new, but I am just curious.



I first started off with the flowmaster cat-back system from them. Havent had a problem yet with it.
In that order as well was tow-hook brackets and tow hooks.
After several uses, they started to bend, they even warped my driver side fender inwards, and bending the stock bumper too.
Sent them back, and got a new set for no charge. (Havent put them on yet)

Well my next order was Adjustable Lower Control Arms (I'm at 4.5" of lift), and then hardware for a hitch I had gotten from someone else.
No problems there besides I was still using stock uppers and it's a rough ride.. (But I'm starting to think the sounds im hearing arent all from the shocks, and might be from the bushings in the LCA's)

Third order, I just recieved a week ago. I ordered a Steering Box Brace, a HD adjustable trac-bar and frame mount, as well as Adj. UCA's.
I havent unwrapped them yet cause I was going to be installing them tomorrow...
But after reading up on a lot of their things and what I hear from people.... I am really debating installing these parts..
I am really thinking of calling them and saying something like I wrecked my Jeep, and I just have no use for these parts and just need to get my money back..

I've never used them. The delay and shipping nightmare stories on here are enough to keep me away.

For the budget/light weekend wheeler his parts seem to hold up, although to varying degrees. Ive never had a problem, other than high shipping charges. Rustys is the Wal-Mart of the jeep world.

I guess you could consider me as a budget/light weekend wheeler... I off-road about 2 or 3 times a month, and it's mostly mud and stumps and on the beach...

But the thing is I hear people talk about their bushings in the control arms.. And when I tap the brakes at low speeds I can hear a knocking sound which is I'm thinking the LCA's.

My experience with Rustys has been a roller coaster. I ordered a flowmaster 40 series with tailpipe a year ago and when it showed up, it showed up like a week later than shipping and the packaging was all torn through and opened. Somehow had all of the parts in the bottom of the package which was incredible as they were loose and bad customer service to top it off. Then about three weeks ago I ordered a 4.5" full lift from them. Awesome customer service this time around and good fast shipping and tracking info. And I am very happy with both products that I have bought from them quality wise.

I refuse to buy from them or any other mail order business that only offers in-store credit for returned merchandise!!! That's a no-brainer!

hmm, winterfest 07, broken rusty's trackbar in the group.

cherokee crawl 07, broken rusty's trackbar in the group.

one broke the actual bar, the other broke the TRE on the frame side.
two runs, two busted trackbars, you decide.

I have a mostly Rusty's rig. I am running there 6.5" coils and 4.5" springs with Boomerang shackles. HD upgraded steering and track bar. The only problem I had with there stuff was the track bar. It showed WAY to much thread and bent the frame end due to excessive threads showing. I spoke to Rusty about this and he had me take a few measurements and sent me a new HEAVIER duty track bar that fit like a glove. NO ISSUES since. I wouldnt consider myself a "light" wheeler since I wheel atleast once or twice a week and spend ALOT of time crawling rocks. His stuff is purdy darn good for the $$$ and he is a good guy if you take the time to talk to him and not be a whiney little $^*#@ about things. You have to remember that EVERY jeep is different and out of the box just DOES NOT APPLY when lifting and modifying our rigs.
On another note, his HD steering upgrade is not bad, but for the $$$ I will be switching to the Ballistic kit with 7/8" heims. I wheel the living crap out of mine and it seems I have to align it after EVERY run to avoid death wobble. Atleast I am good with a tape measurer now.

Just my .02

Lata

I had Rustys shocks, leafs, coils, shackles, control arms, and brake lines on my ol' XJ and never had any issues. I have Rustys coils and leafs on my XJ now with 0 issues. My XJ now is for offroading only.

My experience:

A few years ago I ordered his t-case mount, t-case skid, and engine/tranny skid for another XJ I had at the time. They were of excellent quality, and did their jobs as expected. The only complaints I had were the extremely tiny engine oil drain access hole, and the fact that the front driveshaft would rub the engine skid bracket at full droop, which resulted in the shaft's grease zerk getting broken off.

A couple of weeks ago I ordered some weld-on brackets to mount my rear shocks. I guess I got what I paid for, but the shipping was ridiculous on them. 4 small brackets shipped one state over was almost $13.00. They could've thrown them in the mail for about $5.00 and they'd have gotten here just as fast.

So all in all, I've had good experiences with them, but then again I've never bought any of their suspension components due to seeing people's rigs broken down on the trail because of his broken parts, and the horror stories I've read here, as well as other place on the internet.....

The main problem I had with rusty's was getting raped with shipping charges. I personally never broke any items, but I dont do heavy rocks.

98XJSport said:

Rustys is the Wal-Mart of the jeep world.

Click to expand...

I think I found my new sig

My Rusty's TB snapped in half while parallel parking. No rocks nothing, just parking, BANG there goes my steering.

i have the 4.5 and got it on time and had no problems.

I have a Rusty's steering box brace, upper control arms, shocks, dana 30 truss/brace, AAL's just to name a few of the items I have bought off of them. The UCA's are the adjustables and are pretty stout and have worked well for me. The bushing are junk, but the overall product I have been happy with. Their shocks...well, you get what you pay for at $36 each. They are nothing to write home about. I have been pleased w/ the steering box brace, it seems to be doing what it is supposed to. The AAL's...well, they are AAL's, what else needs to be said?? Though they have kept arch as long or longer as some RE AAL's that I had before. I too have to complain about the shipping, it is just stupid unless your ordering quite a few things, and for some reason it seems to go down a little bit. I did see on their site a while back that they were looking to hire a new warehouse shipping manager, so that might relate to some of the shipping problems that people have been having....

I have had no problems with the lift that i had on my old 89 xj. The problems that i had were with the internet shipping charges, and when i ordered the heavy duty trac bar end and brace the threaded rod that holds the bushing was missing and it took them 2 1/2 weeks to get it to me. this was after wiping out 4 of his regular track bar ends(tie rod end style). Since then i have not bought any of his products nor do i plan on it. Oh yeah the bracket for the track bar end did not fit properly and took some modifications to fit correctly. I would by from somebody else and spend an extra few dollars. Just my .02.

here check this its a thread i made a lil while back alot of naxja voiced their opinion

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=915598&highlight=rustys+offroad+poll

i have 3 inch spring pack and i couldn't be happier. ordered the exhaust a few days ago from them as well. great on the phone and wow..walmart lollerskates.

I bought his 6.5 inch short arm spring pack. Everything went on fine but i have yet to get all the play out of it. The bushings suck ass from what i can tell. I was actually going to ask somone what i could do about this problem. When i back up and hit the brakes the whole damn axle rotates and clunks. then clunks again when i let off. All the bolts are tight as hell and made sure they are all fitting within a few thousandths tolerance. can i put different bushings in the LCAs?

BUT ON THE OTHER HAND
I ordered it over the phone and I paid dirt cheap shipping and got the whole kit except for the leaf packs second day and the leaf packs came on the third day. The FASTEST shipping i have ever got. and on top of that he is an excellent fella. Hell i talked to him for 2 hours.