bubbarules1958

Hey guys. If you plan on 4 wheeling your XJ don't buy/get rid of the rugged ridge track bar. Its garbage. I bent mine on the Rubicon. I didn't even push my XJ to its full potential. It bent so bad that it moved my axle two inches to the drivers side. It death wobbled badly and I lost about two turns driver with my steering. Had to get towed home. Its an inferior product. They refused to honor the warranty.

HS00XJ

Buy iron rock offroad double sheer.

bubbarules1958

I went with the Ruff stuff heim steering and panhard bar. Just need to tow my Jeep to a buddy's to burn it all in. I do run the IRO trusses front and rear though.

831xj

You could've taken it off and bent it back in a receiver hitch. Been there done that. Rs ota track bar.

bubbarules1958

Going to heat it up with a torch and put a jack under it.

motorcharge

What's the warranty actually say? Does it cover anything other than defects? Most companies won't warranty **** you bust up on rocks.

bubbarules1958

They gave me a whole story. Even sent me pictures of an employees MJ flexed out. Pretty sure they wanted to get out of the office. Said it was damaged from a passenger side impact. There was no impact. Just rock crawling.


Hey Jeremy,

I looked at a few photos of an MJ Comanche that belongs to one of the employees here.

This MJ has a 5.5" Rock Krawler long arm kit on the front along with our HD steering and HD track bar.

It appears that your track bar is adjusted pretty far out based on the visible thread on the adjustable side at the frame mount. Its hard to tell in your photos but it also looks like your mount does not sit straight up and down, it looks like the bottom of it is angled toward the center of the Jeep.

We can see that the bottom of the track bar was hit against something however, that would cause it to bend up, not down like yours is. We feel that if the bar is adjusted correctly, it would be most closer to the position of the MJ that is attached. Also, take note of the axle mount for the track bar. Its quite a bit different on this MJ than your Jeep.

The bent bar will not cause a death wobble. A wobble is caused by things moving where they shouldn't be. Generally, it can be attributed to an ovaled out track bar mount. I would recommend checking the mounts and check the unibody rail where the track bar mounts to be sure that it is not cracked. That can also cause a death wobble.



My response

If I adjust the bar/tighten it up so there is less threads showing it would move my axle even more out of center. Its bent so bad that I cant turn the steering full chock driver. I will make a video.

There final response

After reviewing the photos with my Manager and my R&D team, we have come to the conclusion that the product bent due to abuse. There is no manufacturing defect visible in the track bar and it appears to be bent from some kind of passenger front impact.

If you would like to purchase a replacement, you would need item 18205.05. These items come with a 5 years warranty for manufacturer defect. We still recommend checking the mounts and the unibody where the mount attaches.

if you would like to take a look at our warranty policy, you can see it at the link below..

http://www.omix-ada.com/warranty

Thank you.

Turbo X_J

From the outside looking in I personally don't think that would qualify as a "manufacturing defect" which is what their warranty covers (it's not an insurance policy). Just one of those if your gonna play, your gonna pay, type of things.

Fred/N0AZZ

I pretty much have to agree with this and with any and "ALL" companies the Devil really is in the details in a warranty.


Sometimes we just tear our stuff up it happens to all of us. I don't expect anyone to fix something I broke and not their fault from what is shown, hard to tell. Bite the bullet and go on I guess I use a Rustys HD Dbl. Shear Track Bar on mine, just saying.

831xj

No ****.. Rugged ridge... Don't they make kids toys?? In all honesty a track bar is something nobody should cheap out on. Especially if you're going to be on the Con. Dont be a trail plug buy good stuff or have replacements.

bubbarules1958

I didn't cheap out on it. It was about 240 when I bought it. The only reason I wanted them to warranty it was to make it capable of driving again. Just long enough to get my new setup installed. It bent it on the Rubicon. Doing less than probably 1 mph. Thank god I wasn't in a 20 mph accident. Probably would've wrecked my whole front end if it cant tolerate some rock crawling. It was a smooth trip too. I didn't pull any cable and only stacked rocks three times. Don't get me wrong. The Rubicon was rough. The government fixed that though.... I posted this thread to alert others of there garbage product and because they thought my Jeep should be similar to there MJ/The bent bar will not cause a death wobble. What I've learned from this is if you're going to buy somebody else's stuff check the warranty first. If its more than four sentence's than its probably not for a Jeep that wheels.

crimsondragon

Not only did you cheap out, you also overpaid as well. Quadratec shows $184. It was a bad buy, not Rugged Ridge's fault. Live and learn. Get an IRO track bar.

bubbarules1958

Yeah..... that's today's prices. I bought it two years ago. Not big on the IRO either. Going with Ruff Stuff.

831xj

Good choice although ruffstuff heims are garbage nowadays

2.5TURBO

just bought one from 4Wheel Parts because its the only size to fit the sag on the used lifted JEEP I bought. It currently has Rough Country track bar double shear and they said they no longer produce it. Well the mount has a gusset that is rubbing my coil 100% of the time due to sag in Rough Country coil springs. Guess I'll find out soon enough, but I'm not wheeling this rig just making it drivable for my girlfriend since she refuses stick shift. I've used the IRO double shear for 4 years and only worn the bushings out twice. Once from me and once from somebody hit and running my JEEP while parked. IRO track bars are golden, but i can't say the same for their tri-link front radius arms. Their OTK steering is pretty good but not perfect.