JK Body Armor Rock Rails -- Breaking News
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JK Enthusiast
Joined: May 2007
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From: Leesburg, VA
JK Body Armor Rock Rails -- Breaking News
I received an email back from Jeff Neubauer today regarding Body Armor's JK rock rails. This is an excerpt from the email he sent to me:
So, it appears that Body Armor is changing their design from frame mounted to body mounted. If you received a set of the early production run and you are having issues, give Jeff a call if you have questions. He told me they would send out replacements with a call tag for return of your original rails to be shipped at their expense. If you've not contacted Body Armor regarding issues you might be having with you JK Unlimited rails, I suggest contacting them to ensure you're on the list to receive replacement rails once the redesign has been finalized.
For those of you that run Shockworks rails...do you find the frame mounts to be an advantage? I had orignally ordered the BA rails over the Shockworks because of ease of installation. Now that they're changing over to body mounts, I'm at a crossroads. I like the look of the BA rails--they are solidly built. They look very similar to the Shockworks rails. For those of you running rock rails on your JK Unlimited, what do you think?
Thanks,
Joe
I came on board at Body Armor back in early August. So my ramp up to this problem has been pretty quick. As National Sales Manager I am in charge of the entire Body Armor operation. How this has been handled is not acceptable, in our view. We are working to have it corrected as quickly as possible. I would say based on your timeline that you received product out of our first production run. Shortly after the release we started to receive call from customers.
There are multiple issues that are impacting the JK RockCrawler Sidebars, I think you have highlighted them very well. The biggest issue is that the JK 4 door is a long wheel base vehicle with a significant amount of body flex. When we mount our rails to the frame and the body flexes, even going over some rough roads, you experience body contact. Not a problem other than being and annoyance. The passenger side rails is too close to the body and the driver can be too far away. We were trying to keep the rails tight to the body for a couple of reasons, one is to hide the pinch weld, the other was for styling and there is of course ground clearance. The current brackets are made of 1/2" steel which is strong enough that they really don't need to next to the frame, but they should be, I agree.
Here is what we are doing to fix the problem. We are designing brackets that will mount the bars to the rocker panel. The preliminary brackets look promising. I expect to have a rail mount to our JK this afternoon with these new brackets. Once we do we will conduct testing for noise, durability and strength. We expect that by moving to the rocker panel we will eliminate all of these problems while sticking to our core product design elements, no drill, install with hand tools, durable design that the Xtreme off roader will have pride in owning.
Please feel free to call is you have any questions.
Jeff Neubauer
National Sales Manager
Body Armor by Tolar MFG
There are multiple issues that are impacting the JK RockCrawler Sidebars, I think you have highlighted them very well. The biggest issue is that the JK 4 door is a long wheel base vehicle with a significant amount of body flex. When we mount our rails to the frame and the body flexes, even going over some rough roads, you experience body contact. Not a problem other than being and annoyance. The passenger side rails is too close to the body and the driver can be too far away. We were trying to keep the rails tight to the body for a couple of reasons, one is to hide the pinch weld, the other was for styling and there is of course ground clearance. The current brackets are made of 1/2" steel which is strong enough that they really don't need to next to the frame, but they should be, I agree.
Here is what we are doing to fix the problem. We are designing brackets that will mount the bars to the rocker panel. The preliminary brackets look promising. I expect to have a rail mount to our JK this afternoon with these new brackets. Once we do we will conduct testing for noise, durability and strength. We expect that by moving to the rocker panel we will eliminate all of these problems while sticking to our core product design elements, no drill, install with hand tools, durable design that the Xtreme off roader will have pride in owning.
Please feel free to call is you have any questions.
Jeff Neubauer
National Sales Manager
Body Armor by Tolar MFG
For those of you that run Shockworks rails...do you find the frame mounts to be an advantage? I had orignally ordered the BA rails over the Shockworks because of ease of installation. Now that they're changing over to body mounts, I'm at a crossroads. I like the look of the BA rails--they are solidly built. They look very similar to the Shockworks rails. For those of you running rock rails on your JK Unlimited, what do you think?
Thanks,
Joe
JK Super Freak
Joined: Nov 2006
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From: California
I was really interested in the Body Armor rock rails when I first saw them in a catalog months back, but I didn't want to be the first to try them, so I waited for reviews to pop up on the forum. Well needless to say, I am glad that I held off!
The Shrockworks rails look well built, but I won't get them, because I don't like that they leave the ugly pinch seam fully visable. At this point I'm holding out for the PureJeep rock rails (the non-formed version). Again, I don't want to be the guinea pig, so I'll wait until they come out and a few people have given feedback on them. If they appear to be problem free, then I'll probably go with them.
It's too bad companies don't test their stuff more thoroughly before sending them to market. The re-design of the Body Armor rails sounds promising, but given the fact that the first design was bad, I just don't really want to take a chance on them.
The Shrockworks rails look well built, but I won't get them, because I don't like that they leave the ugly pinch seam fully visable. At this point I'm holding out for the PureJeep rock rails (the non-formed version). Again, I don't want to be the guinea pig, so I'll wait until they come out and a few people have given feedback on them. If they appear to be problem free, then I'll probably go with them.
It's too bad companies don't test their stuff more thoroughly before sending them to market. The re-design of the Body Armor rails sounds promising, but given the fact that the first design was bad, I just don't really want to take a chance on them.
Thread Starter
JK Enthusiast
Joined: May 2007
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From: Leesburg, VA
HighRock is making a trim kit to hide the pinch seem. Quadratec is selling it.
Well, I didn't ship my Body Armor rails back today. :( I guess I'm going to wait to see what BA comes up with. Hopefully their solution won't suck.
Well, I didn't ship my Body Armor rails back today. :( I guess I'm going to wait to see what BA comes up with. Hopefully their solution won't suck.
JK Enthusiast
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From: Centreville, Virginia
HighRock is making a trim kit to hide the pinch seem. Quadratec is selling it.
Well, I didn't ship my Body Armor rails back today. :( I guess I'm going to wait to see what BA comes up with. Hopefully their solution won't suck.
Well, I didn't ship my Body Armor rails back today. :( I guess I'm going to wait to see what BA comes up with. Hopefully their solution won't suck.
WHAT UP JOE!!!!
JK Enthusiast
Joined: Apr 2007
Posts: 359
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From: Manassas, VA
Joe,
I thought you had sent those back through Randy?? Guess not.....The BA do look good but are you SURE you want to try this? After all the crap you have been through? I commend them for wanting to correct this, but YOU wanted an easy install that is FRAME mounted...now you are getting rock rails designed for frame mounts but with modified brackets for body mounts??????
I thought you had sent those back through Randy?? Guess not.....The BA do look good but are you SURE you want to try this? After all the crap you have been through? I commend them for wanting to correct this, but YOU wanted an easy install that is FRAME mounted...now you are getting rock rails designed for frame mounts but with modified brackets for body mounts??????
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JK Enthusiast
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From: Leesburg, VA
I'm sitting on the call tag for return for a few more days until I get the specific details from Body Armor. The only option for frame mount would be Shockworks--I don't want to drill my frame. I like the look of the new PJ rails, but the step plates look very high...almost to the bottom of the door. The "crap" in general has been nobody doing anything about the fitment issue...until the email I posted above.
As far as rail design...it's more of a mounting bracket issue--I like how the Body Armor rails look, and I like how they're designed--they just need to mount to my Jeep correctly. Body mount should provide better clearance over frame mount--at this point, I just want rails that fit.
Bottom line: I have a call tag in hand to return my rails. If BA gets back to me in the next day or two with good news on when they'll ship my replacements I'll wait. Otherwise, I'll send my rails back on Wednesday or Thursday.
As far as rail design...it's more of a mounting bracket issue--I like how the Body Armor rails look, and I like how they're designed--they just need to mount to my Jeep correctly. Body mount should provide better clearance over frame mount--at this point, I just want rails that fit.
Bottom line: I have a call tag in hand to return my rails. If BA gets back to me in the next day or two with good news on when they'll ship my replacements I'll wait. Otherwise, I'll send my rails back on Wednesday or Thursday.
