Quote:
Originally Posted by SavageSun4x4
Blaine, thanks. I looked at the Ford shock tower on Stu's site and I noted how you cut into the frame to mount it. That said are the Poly's done the same way? Is there a write up anywhere?
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Yes, the Poly towers mount the same way as the Ford towers, and I am sure Blaine can give you some pointers if you need.
On mine, we didn’t cut into the frame as much as usual since I am pulling a trailer, Blaine wanted to leave a little more “meat” on the frame, just to be on the safe side. I can take measurements this weekend to help you out if you want. I’ll also take some different pictures, as the one you referred to is not that accurate. The tower you see was cut down, but then we decided to put it on the driver’s side. The one for the passenger side was then cut differently to tie in nicely with the track bar mount that had to be reworked a bit.
With that said, it is no big deal regarding strength, as if you look under your TJ, there is a crossmember running from side to side right where the towers are. As for the ride, the difference is night and day with all the work we have done. The TJ rides incredibly nice and is very stable.
Lastly, I would get the Poly kit over the Ford towers. It comes with everything you need, it is very well engineered, and it allows for a greater choice of shocks. I am using the new Rancho 9000XL and the shock body is really big. I am not sure they would have fit in the Ford towers without some tweaking. Also, after putting everything in place, Blaine called Poly to let them know to make the lower mount a little longer to allow for a better placement should anyone use big bodied shocks.
As for the cooler, there is a huge difference in the Setrab’s ability to dissipate heat. We did some testing and it absolutely rules. As Blaine said, there is a master switch to turn the fan off should I encounter situations where I need to. No risk of damaging anything. The key to putting it back there is to space it enough to let the air flow through nicely. We used those rubber isolators which also act as vibration dampers for the cooler. The other thing you need to do is to seal the fan to the cooler so that the air doesn’t escape to the sides and is being pushed through the cooler. After testing it and realizing it didn’t seal well enough, we took everything apart and added some weather-stripping between the fan and the cooler, and it then worked perfectly.