I was wondering how much did it cost to get the pandrop bracket welded... Also did you guys go to a welding specific shop or would an exhaust shop weld be sufficient?

Is there a specific type of weld I should be asking for?

tia

Darrin

 

about $50 ..and I took it to a guy who worked on cars/trucks

 

wow thats pretty steep... Whats the pro and cons between the replacement bar and the drop bracket? If you go back to stock. can you just mount it back to where the original mounts are with the welded one?

 

if u use the replacement bar, you cant go back to stock. With the bracket, you could always knock off the welds? I have a panhard bracket that i havent installed yet, I dont plan on going back to stock, thus a bar would suit my needs better. Let me nkow if you're interested.

 

Yeah with the bracket you can easily switch between stock and then the drop. with the modified bar you cant,

I found a store that charges 72 dollars an hour for labor, I said this is a 15 minutes job I dont want to pay more then 30 minutes of labor and they said sure that is doable.

So about 36 bucks for me.

 

you will pay $67.50 an hour in Richmond for custom labor. That is about average here. I have seen cheaper prices for labor in other parts of the country, but.....

 

I need to cut mine off ... basically just cut the welds and your back to stock.

 

Hey bud cant you just use the stock hole and keep the bracket welded on?

 

if im not mistaken, the bolt goes through the stock hole

 

No the bottom part of the bracket prevents me from just rebolting it into the stock hole .. I tried already.

 

From the instructions on Sorensons website you use the bolt to line it up weld her good and solid and then just chuck the bolt.

http://www.sonoransteel.com/store_drop_bracket.html

I could have sworn I read somewhere about a guy who went back to stock after a 3 inch lift and just used the orignal bolt location with the bracket still welded on.. oh well Ill get my truck back tonight from the shop and Ill double check and post pics. I may be wrong havent been under my truck in a couple of weeks.


------------EDITED-------------

I found it here is a quote from the link above.

" This modification is permanent but allows you to still retain a stock mounting point. "

 

Thanks for the info guys... I decided to pay the extra $$$ and just go with the entire bar since it is not that much different from the price of getting the bracket welded... Only thing that sucks is that $150 core charge... Can't wait to get some of that $321 back...

 

Yep, I did on mine. Nothing to it if you install it right and weld it on properly. Going from lifted to stock height is moving the bar and the bolt. Took 2 minutes.

Anybody who has a panhard drop bracket on there who can't go back to the stock position welded/installed it wrong! (Shazaam)

 

I didn't install it. Someone else did .. and he ran the bead down the side to secure it. I'll take pics tomorrow

 

THe drop bar is outstanding. I also had to turn my old one in for hte core but I found that the local junk yard has the stock ones for $15. So no problem going back to stock.

 

I'm just busting your chops Shazaam!

But mine was easy to take back to the stock position. New owner didn't even notice, probably still hasn't.

 

Sweet... can't wait to get mine... Car feels weird while driving on the freeway right now. Did you have any trouble getting it to line up or was it easier than the stock one after the lift?

 

Not any problem at all to install. I had been used to doing leaf work on my Tacoma and the entire runner set up is way easier to work on and rides a lot better. The bar helped keep the rear axle properly centered. I got 3.5+ inch out of the OME springs so this was very necessary. The brackets seemed like it would be good also though. I just like the idea of the bar better. Disconnect the sway bar and have the wheels off or off the ground so you can move the rear around as needed and you will have no trouble.

 

Got mines today and did the install... It was alot easier than I expected... Steve told me that I didn't have to lift the Runner to do the swap... Ended up just remove the OE bar and put the pandrop bar in, axle side first. When it came time to get the frame side on, the bolt slid almost completely through... Ended up getting a hammer and slightly tapped the rest of the bolt through. Bolted everything on and now there is no more twitchy feeling...

I sent the bar back right after I finished to get my core fee back...