F$#$#@ RE Drops Brackets...

[Yucca-Man]

Spent part of the day under the Jeep finally putting my Drop Brackets on, or I should say 'trying to' put them on. I started on the driver's side first and ran into a problem when trying to set the upper control arm in place. As you can see, there is quite a bit of a gap between the UCA bushing and the new sides for that arm. The upper and lower bolts through the old UCA mount and the old LCA mount are pretty a tight fit, making me wonder if my LCA pocket is warped to the passenger side...

So...there's a big friggin' gap there. Anyone else run into similar?

 

[EricsXJ]

I think most people have a gap there and I did too just not that much. When you tighten the nut, it will close up the gap. You could also throw in there a couple of fender washers if you need to.

 

[ECKSJAY]

What's the other side look like? Mine fit perfectly with no clearance issues...

 

[XJJPR]

Tighten the stuff up.

Make sure though that you have the brackets on the right side. Looking at the picture it looks like you do but check it! (I'm talking the inner bracket.)

Tighten!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


hinkley

 

[jrsxj98]

Should close up when you tighten them up. at least mine did.

 

[Yucca-Man]

Yeah, the brackets are on the right sides. That's only the one side though; I'm headed down in a few minutes to do the passenger side. Tightening it isn't going to do much to close up that gap; as I implied in the first post the fit of that upper brace is a tight one even after I reamed the holes out a little bit. The brace is barely moving anywhere in it's current config but the 1/4" or so side-to-side really bugs me.

I'll go do the pax side now and see what develops there...thanks

 

[NorStar]

Yucca, how about some feedbacks for those RE drop brackets? Have you noticed any handling and ride comfort improvement? I'm also running 32s with 4.5" of lift. Do you really think the drop brackets are worth getting? :dunno:

 

[BillR]

Yucca, how about some feedbacks for those RE drop brackets? Have you noticed any handling and ride comfort improvement? I'm also running 32s with 4.5" of lift. Do you really think the drop brackets are worth getting? :dunno:

I think it makes a huge difference! The ride is MUCH smoother over the bumps and it flexes great.

 

[Captain Ron]

I think it makes a huge difference! The ride is MUCH smoother over the bumps and it flexes great.

I'll second that. It's a great kit.

My brackets went in perfect, but my 2000 never saw any really hard use prior to the install.

I did notice that the UCA alignment, in the axis the arms are in from the axle mounts to the frame/bracket, was shifted to the passenger side after I centered the axle, seems like about an inch, but even centered up on the UCA's, there is misalignment. I just tightened the passenger side UCA with the ends slightly out of alignment, so that the UCA end doesn't bind at the frame in full droop.

--ron

 

[Yucca-Man]

No feedback on them yet; I smashed the crap outta my finger Sunday and decided to take Monday off from wrenching. All I have left is to adjust the LCA length and reinstall them, get 'er back on wheels and torque it all down and I'll be set. Yeah, that's "all" I have to do....

That gap I first noted did close up a bit when tightened down but surprisingly it wasn't from the upper brace; that thing is locked in place by the geometry of the three bolts holding it. The larger, lower brace twisted a bit to close up the gap but I can still probably stick two fat washers in there but like Cap'n Ron noted the UCAs seem to be off-angle now.

 

[minus one]

Jim... you might wanna contact brian (fatwreck) from the colorado board... send him a pm. he's running a set and i don't think he's ever had a single problem from them. actually, i know that he loves them!

the only reason i mention him is because he's relatively close to you... you're in ft. collins, right?

 

[shizza-my-nizza]

tighten the upper UCA bolt more. The gap WILL close mine looked exactly like that when I was putting everything together.

 

[PWRDrill]

tighten the upper UCA bolt more. The gap WILL close mine looked exactly like that when I was putting everything together.

So did mine, but when I tightened the bolt to close the gap the bolt broke and shot off like a bullet. Fixed it with a swap at the local hardware store but I still have a small gap.

Kevin

 

[Yucca-Man]

Yeah well...anyway. I did torque it all down last night after getting the control arms unfrozen. Yeah, if I ever run into the asshat from Colorado Dept of Transportation who said "Mag Chloride is safe for your vehicle" I'm going to beat him with a rusted adjustable LCA. After only one season of snow and MgCl, the threads on my LCAs were frozen solid. I gave them to a 400 pound gorilla with two huge strap wrenches and he was able to bust 'em loose after considerable effort.

I shortened the arms to 15 7/8" and installed them and the Jeep rode beautifully! The gap shown in my first message was sucked up mostly by pulling the lower bracket over. Whatever - it worked. Bumps that used to shake my kidneys loose weren't a problem anymore, although I still think I might cut the back edge off the bracket just so they don't drag.