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Rancho Steering Knuckles

A

atvspeed4

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,211
Location
massachusetts
I just emailed them and hopefully they will ship. We have full lift kit in CAD ready to build just need the knuckles...

Thanks for posting them up
 
Bigunit

Bigunit

Hammer Down!
Staff member
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6,561
Location
Arizona
atvspeed4 said:
I just emailed them and hopefully they will ship. We have full lift kit in CAD ready to build just need the knuckles...

Thanks for posting them up
Click to expand...
atvspeed4, you may want to delete your posts in this thread if you end up getting these Rancho knuckles...as it may be proof of intent to "reverse engineer" someone else's patented, intellectual property for personal profit (i.e., a patent infringement claim). I hope you have a good IP attorney advising you on this...just saying, as Rancho may have deeper pockets than you and your company and you just publicly stated your intent to infringe on Rancho's patent. This post is in no way intended as legal advice to you, just a personal opinion and observation. Good luck in your endeavors.

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A

atvspeed4

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,211
Location
massachusetts
Bigunit said:
atvspeed4, you may want to delete your posts in this thread if you end up getting these Rancho knuckles...as it may be proof of intent to "reverse engineer" someone else's patented, intellectual property for personal profit (i.e., a patent infringement claim). I hope you have a good IP attorney advising you on this...just saying, as Rancho may have deeper pockets than you and your company and you just publicly stated your intent to infringe on Rancho's patent. This post is in no way intended as legal advice to you, just a personal opinion and observation. Good luck in your endeavors.

Sent from my XT1080 using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
Totally understand and thank you for looking out. Our products, like most aftermarket components manufacturers including rancho are not patented. Aspects such as the torsion bar relocators were licensed from Realift which holds the patents on those (we have spoke to the owner many times) and I believe their steel and shock technology were the only part that held patents. Our intent was not to exact copy the rancho kit. We bought a rancho lift a couple years ago and never installed it because several components looked cheesy (no access to steering rack bolt, bump stop brackets, and the crossmember braces). Just like tuff country used to make a liftkit for the H3, it was similar but different. There are only so many ways to make a lift kit for IFS on an H3. We have full CAD file for the H3 and chassis and have been working on a front only lift components for our company H3 not for resale at this time. The hope is to make it so certain parts would be interchangeable though. We have been asked by quite a few people to make one off pieces that they broke on rancho or tuff country since both are now officially discontinued and as of about a month ago no longer are making replacement parts or supplying for warranty claims. These owners feel helpless so was thinking it might be good to have a plan B as our vehicles get older. I'm not a vendor here so please feel free to delete post if out of line. Sorry for my post
 
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Bigunit

Bigunit

Hammer Down!
Staff member
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Location
Arizona
No, no worries, you're not out of line. Just figured you may want to clarify. You make good aftermarket products for our rigs and I want to make sure that you are aware of where the IP lines are drawn. Good luck and I appreciate your efforts.

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4speedfunk

4speedfunk

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4,250
Location
Tardville
If you can get the castings, you should be able to replicate some similar knuckles using traditional fab methods. I've seen some fabbed knuckles for Toyotas and custom pre-runner builds. It looks complicated but not impossible.

Making an improved lift kit sounds like a great plan. While you're redoing it, make the main crossmember so you can remove the steering rack without dropping this piece. I always hated the way the Rancho cross member blocked access to the rack bolts. Of course the bumpstop extensions need a complete rethink...the Rancho solution leaves a lot to be desired.

Rancho would never come after you. The legal cost far outweighs any settlement. Unless there are millions of dollars at stake...only an idiot would take legal action. We're talking pennies here. Plus, Rancho gave it up...so it's fair game. Go for it.
 
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SuperBuickGuy

SuperBuickGuy

Well-Known Member
Messages
3,403
Location
Woodinville, WA
Doing new knuckles is on my list - but I'd never start with the Rancho knuckles... they don't solve the biggest issue which is the upper ball joint. What GM was thinking when they used those is beyond me - they're a car knuckle, so even if you made more travel, you'd break the knuckle.... if I do it, and if I'm saying it outloud it's probably because I won't - but I'd start with a different knuckle....my thought is adapt one of the millions of lift kits from GM trucks or even Toyota trucks to work.
 
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