Drop bracket help

Sat. I installed some Trailmaster drop brackets and RE braces on my 2000 with a RE 4.5" lift with 1 3/4" spacers. Everything went on pretty good, I put everything together loose and then torqued it all down together. My question is, where the brackets meet the braces only the outside edge is butted up tight, the inside edge has about a 1/8" gap even though the two inside bolts are as tight as I felt I could tighten them without them breaking. Is this normal? Should I put a couple of washers in the gap so there is no freeplay as things flex? Or did I just do something wrong? Thanks in advance,
Chad

Mine are that way too...

I installed mine 3 weeks ago and had the same gap . I didnt do any thing about it and everything seems to be fine..

a4x4freak said:

I installed mine 3 weeks ago and had the same gap . I didnt do any thing about it and everything seems to be fine..

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Don't worry about it. Just torque your bolts real good. My RE brackets have the same gap.

Thanks guys, I'll just keep an eye on it. Good to know it's not just me.
Chad

Which hardware kit did you guys use for the drop brackets? I have trailmaster brackets, RE braces. Ordered the RE hardware kit, and my mechanic says its not gonna work. I dont see how the brackets are even different from RE's. ANy Thoughts?

dakotus said:

Which hardware kit did you guys use for the drop brackets? I have trailmaster brackets, RE braces. Ordered the RE hardware kit, and my mechanic says its not gonna work. I dont see how the brackets are even different from RE's. ANy Thoughts?

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Show him this page:

http://www.rubiconexpress.com/instructions/rubiconexpress/RE9900-9905A.pdf

He said he called RE and they told him their hardware kit wouldnt work with TM brackets. I guess RE's hole is something like 9/16" and TM is 1/2" and RE's bolts are shorter. I really dont know how that is all possible since RE and TM brackets are virtually copies of each other. I went ahead and tracked down some TM hardware and am having it overnighted. Hopefully that makes things easier than drilling larger holes and tracking down the bolts separately. If its not one damn thing.... its another damned thing

IIRC, the TM upper control arm bolt retains the same size as stock whereas the RE unit requires drilling out to a larger size. This where the drop bracket attaches in the stock UCA pocket. I run the TM units and was able to run some 10.9 grade metric bolts in the stock size in that spot. Everything else from the RE hardware kit should work fine except for those two bolts. I've gone ~50,000 miles and no troubles.

John
Thats what I was figuring. My mechanic didnt seem to keen on trying the RE hardware kit even. He just mentioned that he would have to drill (more$) and hunt down for different bolts (even more $) so rather than that, I shelled out $60 for the TM hardware kit. ($30parts, $30 shipping) Hopefully I can return teh RE hardware now.

one more thing....how do you like the ride with the brackets? Im real eager to see how they work out for me. My ride is complete crap right now, steering is all over the place. My heep is pretty exhausting to drive. Definately need both hands on the wheel at all times. Hope this works out

I was at about 3.5-4 inches of short arm lift when I did it and the difference in the ride on the road was nothing short of unbelievable. You don't really realize how compromised the manners are when you're lifted with arms in the stock positions.

I'm running RE fixed Super Ride arms, uppers and lowers, with the rubber bushings and couldn't be happier. I'm at about 6.5 inches now and the setup is perfect for me. It flexes well, wheels well and rides nicely.

I did the Rubicon in 2003 on short arms and then again in 2004 with DB's and the only complaint was that I hit them on everything. Now, at the current lift height, the arms have a slight down angle and more body clearance over the ground and I don't hit them much at all...very rarely.

If you don't want to go to long arms and want to save some money, this is the way to go. I've been very happy.

dakotus said:

John
I shelled out $60 for the TM hardware kit. ($30parts, $30 shipping)

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How did you order the replacement harware? I called TM and they gave me this big run around told me they couldn't sell me the parts.
what gives?