AR | S.I.T.H. Modular Bumper Shackle - Common Hardware REIMAGINED

[jaeggernaut]

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[ThreeDeeMD]

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[50Mustang]

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[EIGHTLUG]

Yeah uh that means absolutely nothing. Rated lifting devices involves way more than FEA.

The fact that this was clearly designed to look good and then analyzed after the fact says it all.

I won’t argue that they’re not pretty- they are- but marketing these as an actual recovery component is a mistake. Thankfully no one who actually needs recovery gear is going to buy them, I just hope someone who is new to the game doesn’t have one fail and wind up hurt or worse.

Cool story. Go ahead and design and manufacture a pair of Commercially/Industry rated and PE FEA shackles and I'll buy them.

 

[69BroncoX302]

@EIGHTLUG curious. when are these shipping? bought mine in December I believe.

Update: paid 12/25/2021./ order placed 12/26/2021?!

 

[EIGHTLUG]

@EIGHTLUG curious. when are these shipping? bought mine in December I believe.

Update: paid 12/25/2021./ order placed 12/26/2021?!

They will begin shipping out this week., Possibly today.

 

[EIGHTLUG]

I'll just leave this here for you guys. It's obvious what we're working with. This is the AR | S.I.T.H.-R Assembly. The S.I.T.H. Shackle is the same chunky 7075 billet aluminum piece as the front, except for one change. The rear shackle gets the script and the post machined AR logo. There has been an up-rev to the AR-Bolt. It will receive the ARCHETYPE RACING script on the bolt head. It's just a nice touch. The shank is black powdercoated steel.

Since I have the OEM tow receiver, I was able to get the hole spacing (2") just right and fitment will be dialed. If any of you have the Curt (or any other popular) receiver and can shoot me a measurement from center mount hole to opening of receiver, I can ensure fitment for your application and it wont look like a 'one size fits all' solution.

The S.I.T.H.-R will debut on the new website. Yeah, you read that right. It's about a week away from launch. It's a HUGE improvement from the current one. Final pricing TBD. Lead time is roughly 30 days.

 

[Jbox343]

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[ITLRUN]

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[MileHighWT]

Cool story. Go ahead and design and manufacture a pair of Commercially/Industry rated and PE FEA shackles and I'll buy them.

This whole ‘PE FEA’ thing you seem to keep bragging about is only impressive to people who don’t know anything about engineering. And pretty much anyone can buy rated shackles from every 4x4 retailer in the world.

You clearly can manufacture nice product. While I find your naming choices a little over the top, the stuff you’re doing in interiors looks to be well executed. Your front plate mount is, in my opinion, the best one available by a mile. Unless someone does something better in the next three months I’ll be buying one.

The point Im getting at there is that I’m not trying to insult you; I just don’t think you’ve really considered your design choices very heavily. The whole appeal to authority thing is not going to help my case but… I am a PE. I design life safety structures and devices all the time. I understand what’s involved.

What you’ve decided to make and sell here is NOT a backup camera mount that looks nice; it’s a life safety device. The fact that you released the design before you (apparently) even had any strength data available is an indicator that you haven’t thought about it.

By advertising this product the way you are, you’re setting yourself up to get sued when one fails and hurts someone. I sincerely hope this NEVER happens, but If it does, you’re going to be in a tough spot.

Theres a couple of choices you’ve made for the sake of cosmetics that, from the standpoint of good engineering, are not great. Example: 7075 shackle body with an 18-8 bolt. Now I’m sure you picked that 18-8 because you’re not a metallurgist and figured ‘stainless is better, let’s do that. 316-L is crazy expensive, let’s just pick the cheapest stainless out there. 18-8 it is!!!’. But what you’ve done by pairing these materials in a product that is going to live outside is set up a galvanic couple with a potential around .5 ev. That’s really bad. What does that mean in the real world? It means these things are going to corrode. Anyone who lives in a wet environment is going to be unable to get their shackles off their bumper in short order. Did you even consider that? What about side loads on the shackle putting the bolt in bending? What about that neck you put in the bolt so the thread diameter could be small and make it look nice? What about the lack of ductility in 7075? What about the nice clean stress risers all over this thing? Did any of that occur to you or the PE you paid to do what I’m assuming is going to be a very simplistic analysis?

There’s a reason companies like factor55 sell hooks and shackle mounts which are proof loaded and properly rated, and don’t make their own shackles.

 

[EIGHTLUG]

This whole ‘PE FEA’ thing you seem to keep bragging about is only impressive to people who don’t know anything about engineering. And pretty much anyone can buy rated shackles from every 4x4 retailer in the world.

You clearly can manufacture nice product. While I find your naming choices a little over the top, the stuff you’re doing in interiors looks to be well executed. Your front plate mount is, in my opinion, the best one available by a mile. Unless someone does something better in the next three months I’ll be buying one.

The point Im getting at there is that I’m not trying to insult you; I just don’t think you’ve really considered your design choices very heavily. The whole appeal to authority thing is not going to help my case but… I am a PE. I design life safety structures and devices all the time. I understand what’s involved.

What you’ve decided to make and sell here is NOT a backup camera mount that looks nice; it’s a life safety device. The fact that you released the design before you (apparently) even had any strength data available is an indicator that you haven’t thought about it.

By advertising this product the way you are, you’re setting yourself up to get sued when one fails and hurts someone. I sincerely hope this NEVER happens, but If it does, you’re going to be in a tough spot.

Theres a couple of choices you’ve made for the sake of cosmetics that, from the standpoint of good engineering, are not great. Example: 7075 shackle body with an 18-8 bolt. Now I’m sure you picked that 18-8 because you’re not a metallurgist and figured ‘stainless is better, let’s do that. 316-L is crazy expensive, let’s just pick the cheapest stainless out there. 18-8 it is!!!’. But what you’ve done by pairing these materials in a product that is going to live outside is set up a galvanic couple with a potential around .5 ev. That’s really bad. What does that mean in the real world? It means these things are going to corrode. Anyone who lives in a wet environment is going to be unable to get their shackles off their bumper in short order. Did you even consider that? What about side loads on the shackle putting the bolt in bending? What about that neck you put in the bolt so the thread diameter could be small and make it look nice? What about the lack of ductility in 7075? What about the nice clean stress risers all over this thing? Did any of that occur to you or the PE you paid to do what I’m assuming is going to be a very simplistic analysis?

There’s a reason companies like factor55 sell hooks and shackle mounts which are proof loaded and properly rated, and don’t make their own shackles.

Okay, so... Some right, some assumed, and some wrong. That sums up your post. So, the bolt was changed out 40+ days ago for your vaunted 316 Stainless. The initial bolt choice was an off the shelf McMaster unit. This shackle deserved better, so it received better. The current bolt, which all shackles ship with, are the Grade A stuff. So, let's put that to bed. Over 200 of these 70,000# tensile strength bolts are already machined and snuggly wrapped in bubble wrap, awaiting install.

What else... It's a recovery shackle. The GVWR of a 4 door bronco is what <7,000# or so. Let's take an off the shelf CURT 2" rear hitch and it's load rated at 4,000#. I'm sure there could be some data on the OEM front recovery points. I'm not going to look for it in this exercise. I've had mine apart and the mount bolts are trash hardware store Grade 3 at best. Don't you agree? The OEM WARN winch is rated at 10,000#. What's the point of a single component being 500% stronger than the weakest link?

I said this in one of the earliest post in this thread. If the goal was to make the strongest shackle ever made, that's what you would receive. In this application, it's not necessary. This isn't naval shipyard hardware. And if by some miracle you're in a bind where you don't think one of these massive chunks of 7075 with a 3/4" diameter 316 stainless bolt drove through it will not do the job -dammit if they aren't sold in pairs! How strong does a shackle need to be, Sir, in your opinion, knowing everything else is bargain basement hardware.

Couple knowing all of that with the fact that the PE/Company that performs the FEA (Finite Element Analysis (for the uninitiated)) assumes all liability for a failed shackle that was deemed to be used within its design envelope. That's what $5,470.00 of testing buys. Obviously, you're a PE. You would know that. Why else would you charge what you do. Just go around blessing things like The Pope, for free.

Let's look at a kiddie pool. You know what it's used for. It holds water. It's a pool. You know what else? If it's intact I guarantee you, with the kid in the pool and the water drained it will float, if I placed it in an even larger pool. And that is because of fundamental engineering and principles. Since we're leaning on textbook studies, I'm Curtis. Aerospace Engineer- Propulsion. -Extensive knowledge of 7075 and other exotic alloys and their amazing properties, because I know how they're used.

Did you know Albert Einstein didn't wear socks? Also, you think these product names are fun? You should play me in Scrabble.

To address your other 'what if' scenarios. Corrosion. Well, Annealed 316, 7075-T6, and LB771, unless someone suggests something different. I live in Washington. It rains here. Bent bolts. Well, bolts can bend. It definitely can happen. If it comes to that, you remove the bolt like you would any other bent bolt. I grew up on a farm. I'm familiar with the ways.

I appreciate the banter, but unless you have anything productive, which, don't get me wrong, I'm not soliciting you, feel free to move on to something else. You've said your piece and I have other more productive things on my plate. Oh, one last thing. You should probably pick up a CALL SIGN. It's a tough unit. It's a license plate bracket and I promise you, you can grab a hold of it and pull/push your Bronco across your driveway with it. It wasn't designed for that purpose, but it does it. The S.I.T.H., on the other hand were and so much more.

 

[Dragline]

PE as well, and excited to have just gotten my tracking number, he SENT IT!

 

[NevadaDesertExploration]

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[EIGHTLUG]

The new product photos were also added to Post 1.

 

[GToddC5]

They look incredible!

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