MetalCloak JK Sway Bar Ground Clearance Kit Installation
If you have a Rubicon Edition Jeep Wrangler JK, you can improve the approach angle, the ground clearance of the front of your Jeep, by almost two inches using the MetalCloak Sway Bar Ground Clearance Kit, and making a few simple modifications to your Jeep.
The first step is to remove the stabilization bolt that connects the rubber retaining grommet to the sway bar housing. The stabilization bolt in this threaded hole will not be used again. Now remove the housing bolt shown here. Mark this hole in the housing as it will be used to hold a new custom bolt later in the process.
The plastic debris guard located below the radiator will need to be modified in order to allow clearance for the sway bar's electronic connection plug. To modify, first draw guidelines on the debris guard to the right and left of the sway bar's electronic connection plug. Use a Dremel or a die grinder to make cuts in the debris guard along the guidelines. Be very careful not to damage the radiator during this process.
Loosen or lower the sway bar. This will allow you to rotate the sway bar housing into its new orientation. Disconnect the sway bar's electronic connection plug. Rotate the sway bar housing upward as shown. Reconnect the sway bar electronic connection plug only after the sway bar is in its new position.
Find the custom sway bar bolt and washer that came with your kit. Insert the custom bolt through the hole in the rubber retaining grommet. Place the washer over the custom bolt threads and continue to thread the custom bolt into the sway bar housing hole marked for use earlier.
As you can see, before our modification, the sway bar's electronic connection plug, the lowest part of the sway bar assembly, is located five and a half inches below the top of the sway bar. Now, after the modification, the sway bar's electronic connection plug resides above the sway bar. The result is that the lowest part of the sway bar assembly is now three and three quarters inches below the top of the sway bar.
These simple modifications have added one and three quarter inches of ground clearance to the front of your JK. If you have any questions about this product or any of our products at MetalCloak, please feel free to give us a call.
MetalCloak's Powder Coating Revealed
"Hi. I'm Matson, and thank you for taking the time to watch this short video. MetalCloak has always been one of the few body armor companies to offer quality powder coating on its products. And like all our products, we strive to give you the very best in the industry. Bar none, we've achieved that with MetalCloak's premium black textured powder coat.
We start with the most important step of the powder coating process, material surface preparation. All parts are pressure blasted using a naturally mined thirty sixty grit media that creates the perfect surface for powder coating. This blasting process is far superior to the chemical bath method used by others. Medical parts are carefully handled to prevent any contamination of the material surface.
Parts are then baked at four hundred degrees for twenty minutes. This process burns away residual surface oils and facilitates out gassing of any near surface contaminants. Parts are carefully hung in a triple filtered spray booth where an epoxy polyester hybrid primer is electrostatically applied at a thickness of two and a half to four mils. This hybrid primer is the perfect blend of corrosion, abrasion and UV protection.
Next, we go back to the gas ovens to bake the Hybrid Primer at four hundred degrees for fifteen minutes. After baking, the parts are allowed to cool to ambient temperature. Once cooled, it is back to the triple filtered spray booth for hand sanding of the cured primer. Hand sanding assures proper adhesion between primer coat and the final powder coat. Air cleaning removes any surface contaminants.
Next, we apply three mils of our Signature MetalCloak Premium Black Textured Semi Gloss Polyester Powder. This coating is ideally suited for maximum abrasion and UV protection. Not to mention, just looking amazing. All parts are carefully inspected to ensure proper powder coverage.
Finally, the parts are moved back to the gas ovens to bake the premium textured coat at four hundred degrees for thirty minutes. Slow cooling completes the powder coating process.
Like all of our other products, MetalCloak is absolutely committed to maintaining the highest level of quality in our coating process. We challenge you to review the powder coating process of others within the Jeep parts industry. MetalCloak simply can't be beat."
Introduction to MetalCloak Arched & Overline Tube Fenders for TJ Jeep Wrangler
"Hi. I'm Matson and welcome to MetalCloak. Just want tell you a little bit about the Arched tube fender and why it is the far superior product on the market today when it comes to aftermarket tube fenders.
First off, just to let you know, this is a '06 TJ I'm standing next to. It's running thirty seven inch tires. These are thirty seven inch Goodyear MTRs on a three inch Rubicon Express long arm kit. That's thirty seven inch tires on a three inch lift. And many of our customers are running thirty five inch tires on a stock TJ. How can we do that? Because we give you high line clearance without having to cut the lid. You're getting five inches of clearance over stock above the tire, five inches behind the tire. And since we give you a replacement inner fender well, we're also gaining more room in the overall wheel well.
So I want to make a general point here about clearance and what we do at MetalCloak that gains you all that extra clearance on the inside. So we have a thirty seven inch tires, on a three inch lift. Part of it comes from the fact that with the TJ and LJ, we give you a replacement battery tray. If you don't replace the battery tray, you can't get further back here against the tub, and you're not gonna gain that clearance.
You see, many of the other two fenders on the market follow the same line as a stock fender. While you gain clearance above the tire, you don't gain clearance behind the tire or on the inner fender well, especially if you're using a stock inner fender well. You just won't gain that clearance. So why do that? If you want the clearance inside, if you want the low center of gravity build, you have to gain clearance behind the tire as well as above the tires.
So at MetalCloak, in the case of a TJ and LJ, we give you a replacement battery and package tray. That gives you that better angle and a more down to the zero point there at the top. In the case of YJ, we don't get to do that. We have the same lines established there. So again, get the clearance behind the tire as well as above the tire. It gives you that low center of gravity clearance.
Our products are simply bolt on. Now we don't mean that by, yeah, you're gonna do a little bit of modification, but they will eventually bolt on. We mean they are simply bolt on. All you're gonna do is unbolt your stock fenders, set them aside, put them on eBay or Craigslist. Some of our customers have gotten up to six hundred dollars for their sets and bolt on our system.
We put the inner fender well in. In the case of the TJ or the LJ, we give you a replacement battery and package trays. Bolt those in. Bolt that inner fender well in. All your stock equipment goes back into place. There's no cutting or grinding or making holes. If you have aftermarket parts, they'll go right back into place. But you don't have to buy a replacement air filter or a different kind of battery or replace the water tank. None of that stuff. Everything will go right back into place.
I just wanna reiterate, everything you currently have under your hood is going to go back in under your hood. You're not gonna have to replace your air filter. You're not gonna have to replace your battery. You're not gonna have to replace the water tank or eliminate anything. With the MetalCloak system, everything you have under your hood is going to stay under your hood. There's no additional expense just to make it fit.
Now in the case of our TJ, we have an aftermarket air filter. No problem. It goes right in because the inner fender wall is aluminum. So you can just bolt it in. Just drill a little hole, bolt it right in. No big deal. But everything else is stock under this hood.
Now we also have cases where customers have put everything under the sun in the under the hood. A welder, hot water system, everything. And it still fits. It's a little bit tighter in those cases, but everything will go in because the inner fender well is aluminum, and it doesn't take much to drill a hole or slot something or make it work.
But the key factor is for you guys with stock Jeeps that wanna add our fenders in is that is that you will not have additional expense unlike other companies in order to make your stock equipment fit. You're gonna bolt on the fender and then you put on the flare. The flare itself is removable. All you do is unbolt here and down there and it comes right off.
And it's strong. This is not a flare that's loose or rattles or anything. The strength is built into this product. I'm gonna show you just how strong these really are. Alright? No support. No hidden wires. Nothing. Just just strength. I weigh two hundred and forty five pounds. So Alright. Look at that. No movement. Absolutely solid. Absolutely solid. That's MetalCloak strength.
Many of you have asked, what is the real difference between the overline tube fender and the arched tube? We came out with the overline because individuals wanted more traditional flat fender look. With the arch, you either loved it or you hated it. With the overline, we do that traditional look without losing the clearance you get with the arch tube fender.
The real difference is that you're getting it about three quarters of an inch of less clearance with the overline than you do with the arched. The hit point is always gonna be right inside here. With the overline, that three quarters of an inch difference doesn't make much difference. You're still getting high line clearance without cutting your hood or modifying. You still get the same amount of clearance in the rear, the same five inches of clearance behind the tire over stock, but it's four and a quarter inches over stock above the tire.
Because you're still getting the inner fender well, you still get the same clearance inside the wheel well. So very minor difference. Really, it comes down to your status. You either like the overline or you like the arched.
Well, there you have it. Hopefully this video has answered many of your questions. Whether you want the arched tube fender or the overline, MetalCloaks tube fenders are clearly the superior product on the market today. If you have any other questions, feel free to give us a call. Thank you again and we'll see you on the rocks."