DutchVDub
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Milliken, CO
Yeah I can. I need to get the Jeep cleaned up and do some welding on it. I'll get pics then. Probably Sunday.
Daryl at JCR asked those of us who had had issues to email him and he then offered me a gift card as a way of apologizing. I thought that was awesome and asked him to just send me a set of their rain gutter clamps for making your own roof rack as I had them in mind for my HD Offroad roof sliders.
Ultimately I'm concerned that a well known and respected vendor distributed a product that doesn't fit right in the first place, was notified(on the advertisement thread), no action was apparently taken, and then would publicly suggest that it was something the customer had to do to make it fit right, which caused the compromise of integrity of the product.
It doesn't show well for your company. If you had said something along the lines of "Yeah, they're not supposed to do that; we don't know why, or how, but we'll make it right, and here's how" and left it there, I could give a thumbs up too. Instead you publicly questioned the customer, and then privately told him how you would make it right. From a PR perspective, you've got it backwards. Tell us publicly, as potential customers, what you are prepared to do to make it right in a situation like this, instead of attempting to suggest blame on the customer. Sure they're practical questions, but be the bigger person and publicly take responsibility for your product, and be transparent about how you can rectify the situation; its just good business.
I don't know about anyone else, but I have high expectations for what comes out of JCR's shop. You guys have raised the bar for yourselves, and when something goes wrong, you need to take the extra step to make it right.
I still owe you a call, I'm very sorry that I haven't sat down and done it yet. I'll ring you today.JCR did email me as promissed and I asked Daryl to just give me a call so we could talk. He stated he would call me yesterday, but as of yet I haven't heard from him.
Thats exactly what my conclusion is as well. I was hoping the tie-ins to the frame and pinch seam would be enough additional reinforcement but its obviously not. I think the fact that those tie-in brackets are also made from bent flat plate further deminishes the effectiveness of the setup.
Does anyone know if these can be mounted up of I cut away my rusted rocker panels and use these as new panels/sliders?
First off, I apologize for these initially not fitting. I really wish we could have rectified it right there in our normal way (getting your product back, evaluating the fitting issue, send a new proper one back) because that not only makes sure that any quality control, shipping damage, or other issues that may arise get taken care of, but that in the end you get a product that installs properly, as that is the way we test our products around here.
I know that you and I talked about the welding issue, I said that the structure of our sliders would be fine welded to your Jeep, I also apologized and tried to make things right with you. You've been nothing if not level headed and honest with me and this forum, and that is refreshing and appreciated. I hope I have been the same with you.
So on to what happened, and for that I have no idea. The dent in the tube (1.75 x .120 wall for those curious) is an indicator of the amount of force we are dealing with, but the rockers of an XJ can take a lot of abuse and still be structurally sound (albeit dented to hell,) so why did the damage on your Jeep occur? Without testing and/or being there I can only pose questions.
I'm sorry I've got more questions that answers. I do know that I've used and tested the ones on our shop XJ as intended (and not as intended, projects around my house get weird...), and we do have others that have used them as protection with no issues. That doesn't mean I think your wrong, I just wonder if this was related to the installation, the sun and the moon aligning that day, or a legit weakness in our product.
- Was the bulk of the slider touching your rocker down the whole side? Or was it only affixed at the top with weld? This would put tons of pressure on that weld edge alone until the rest of the slider made contact with the body.
- Was this attachment point (just the weld) in a location that more easily put leverage on that portion of the rocker than being bolted to the side?
- Did the heat from the weld cause an issue with the sheet metal, with a seam, or with some panel glue?
- In what way is this install different than welding box tube into the rocker directly. Leverage on the step? Resistance to twisting of the box tube because it's welded on the bottom too?
I've got another e-mail coming your way today, where we can talk about making it right between us privately.
If anyone has any questions or issues about or with our products, please feel free to contact me daryl at jcroffroad dot com
~Daryl