Sneak Peek - Steering Kit R&D at SFR

[TRCM]

FWIW, clayton was also offering a kit at one point. Not sure they still are however.

They were, but no longer do.

It is still on the website for reference tho
And it was like 2000 bucks or similar.......when they stopped selling it as a complete kit, the price wet to 5000

 

[StinkyFab]

Progress has slowed a little while we wait for some samples to come from the laser cutter, but I thought I'd show you guys the first prototypes of the parts.

 

[Cottontail]

You planning this to be full bolt up or will there be welding involved. I would assume some welding will be required. That is the only thing that's kept me from doing this upgrade already.

 

[Anak]

I have no doubt you have weighed the pros and cons of all the options for the holes in that track bar bracket, but having just gone through this with my own I would love to have seen the slots on the bottom holes rather than the top holes:

Not a whole lot of material, but enough to get to this:

The issue at stake is frame plating. The added thickness does not do much about fitment for the upper bolts, but it sure messes with the lower ones.

Two cents worth...

 

[Demonoid369]

Sneak Peek - Steering Kit R&D at SFR

I have no doubt you have weighed the pros and cons of all the options for the holes in that track bar bracket, but having just gone through this with my own I would love to have seen the slots on the bottom holes rather than the top holes:

Not a whole lot of material, but enough to get to this:

The issue at stake is frame plating. The added thickness does not do much about fitment for the upper bolts, but it sure messes with the lower ones.

Two cents worth...

This rings very true! Plated my front and it too had to elongate the bottom holes so that I could get my track bar bracket back on

 

[StinkyFab]

You planning this to be full bolt up or will there be welding involved. I would assume some welding will be required. That is the only thing that's kept me from doing this upgrade already.

Most of it will bolt on, but there are a few pieces where bolt on is simply not possible. All of it could easily be handled by any local welding or offroad shop in a minimal amount of time though.

As for the lower holes on that bracket, they are already slotted to allow for some variations in models, as we have found that not all XJs have the bolts in precisely the same places. You can see it in the pic of the parts on the cutting table before being bent. Unfortunately to also open up the holes for all the different ways someone could modify their rigs and add plating would make the holes so large even flanged nuts would simply fall right through.

 

[StinkyFab]

Picked up the first samples from the laser cutter today and it looks like I don't even have to make any corrections. Now I just gotta finish the sway bar brackets and I think I'll have everything we need to finish this first test vehicle.

 

[Anak]

:thumbup:

When can I place an order for one of those track bar brackets?

 

[StinkyFab]

These are just the first samples from the laser cutter, so considering the holidays I probably won't have them on the shelf ready to order for a couple weeks. I am currently working on reconfiguring our web site to add all these parts as well.

 

[D.I.T.A]

Nice progress ! :thumbup: Excited to see how this turns out considering I have all the WJ stuff sitting in my loft , just hope I can get away with it at my height .

 

[StinkyFab]

Spent some time working on sway bar brackets today. I'm still tweaking all the dimensions, but I think I'm pretty close. They are quite a bit higher than stock, but with the drag link up on top they kinda have to be high in order to clear everything at full turn.

 

[iluv83vettes]

I already did the WJ swap, but am interested in getting in the brackets and mounts.

 

[Wiggleworm]

I bought the Clayton swaybar brackets then found out with the 1 ton OTK setup they were too low. Your design looks like what I had to do to get over the draglink. Raised mine 2.5". Wish you would have had all this when I did my WJ and 1 ton steering 2 years ago. Prototypes look good.

 

[StinkyFab]

Yeah I looked at the clayton brackets and noticed they were too short to go over the steering without a bent drag link. Personally I'm not a fan of bends in steering components unless it's absolutely necessary.

 

[Anak]

Looking good.

Now I want a pair of those along with the track bar bracket.

 

[RNMedic]

I already did this but would be interested in the brackets as wel.

 

[StinkyFab]

Here are the first test pieces of the sway bar bracket.

 

[StinkyFab]

I heard back from the laser cutters yesterday and I should have my final set of prototype parts by the end of the week, so once I get those test fit I can give the go ahead for production and start taking orders. Should have the kits ready to ship in about 2 weeks if everything goes right.

 

[StinkyFab]

Got the first batch of parts in from the laser cutter today, along with samples of the sway bar brackets and a few other pieces. Also got the test vehicle back on the ground with all the steering and track bar finished up. Finalizing the sway bar setup is the last step and we'll be ready for testing.

 

[StinkyFab]

Pretty much since I started discussing this project people have been asking 2 questions, repeatedly. "When will it be ready?" and "How much will it cost?" All along I have answered "it'll be ready when it's right, and I won't know cost until then either." This weekend was a perfect example of why. Those really pretty and beautifully formed sway bar brackets.....they don't fit. I spent several days designing them and making test pieces, then another week waiting for production samples, just to find that they wouldn't work how I planned and I ended up throwing it all in the trash and starting from scratch. Not what I wanted to do, but it's part of the R&D process, and is also why quoting a price or timetable prematurely would be foolish of me.

Never fear however. Though I had to go back to square one, I did find another way to do it, and I've already got the test pieces bolted (and welded) in place.