SHW Offroad Seat Delete, an Honest Review

[Wgharv0]

$1550?
Holy chit that’s expensive!
why are there panels that lift out where the drawers are? Seems redundant.

The panels are there for 2 reasons. first so you can access what is in the drawer from inside the vehicle. Secondly, there is additional storage space under the drawer.

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[Wgharv0]

Now this is just bogus. I have received the same exact statement about multiple other products I have purchased over time, and this all seems to have started since 2020 - not all Jeep parts either. I think it's a copout statement. The tent company I bought from said the same thing when they didn't understand why what I had wasn't how they initially designed it. I'm sorry, but if a company doesn't even know about a change that was made of a product they are themselves designing and selling then what the heck is even the point of them in the first place?! This really pisses me off. Lets sell a several thousand dollar product without even knowing what we are selling and not even care about what the manufacturer randomly decides to change without having a conversation and still blindly ship said products to customers.... Sounds like a typical auto salesman that doesnt' even know a Jeep has 4wd....

I am not sure why you think this is bogus. We had shipped out several of our cnc cut parts with predrilled holes in the past with no issue. We received a new order of drawer slides earlier this year and sent about 40 orders out before we started getting calls that holes weren't lining up. It made no sense to me so I went and opened a pair of slides and compared them to the drawings and the holes did not line up at all. I don't know what else to say other than that is what happened.

Now this is interesting, and a complete dealbreaker if you ask me. I remember when their product first came out and I was interested because it sits much taller than Goose Gear (which is unusably low to the ground). One of the biggest selling points to me was the SHW system was NOT wood. At that time it was emphasized that it was a composite material, some type of combination of plastic/rubber or something like that. In their initial photos and videos they even showed it and all the edges were thus solid - not exposed wood fiber as you are experiencing. They must have realized they could make more money using wood instead or maybe it was just not economical to use the composite material. But this is a huge negative I think - especially having all that wood on the side exposed, marine grade or not. Maybe what they first had been showing off at expo's was prototype proof of concept parts, who knows. But honestly I think this is WAY overpriced considering what you actually received. I guess I could be remembering things incorrectly as well and maybe it was all wood and I just don't remember, that's possible, but I gotta say man I am disappointed to hear of your 'negative' bullet points

Our SUV drawer systems and seat deletes have always been wood, they were previously bedlined before we switched to the ultraliner. The only composite system we have ever built and still build is our truck bed systems. They are a fiberglass foam composite. Our wood however, is the lightest birch plywood in the world. that how our systems are so light. Our seat deletes, even with the drawers are lighter than the seats.

We are a small company with a lot of growing pains, but we are working to improve everyday.

 

[Wgharv0]

I have this also, but never figured out how to make the provided brackets work for bolting the system down. Would you mind taking a picture of your solution please?

Nice review and I share your thoughts on the pros and cons of this system. I weighed the entire system as installed at it came out to 75 lbs. I also weighed the seats, retractors and various hardware that came out, which was 101 lbs. So a savings of roughly 25 pounds.

I see you didn't mention that the drawers cannot be extended more than a few inches without the door limiting straps released. Have you just left that stuff disconnected to allow access to the drawers? Do you have problems with the back doors freely swinging around/open, or do you have a trick that both allows access to the drawers and keeps the back doors under control?

In my case, since the drawers are difficult to access and make up easily 1/3 of the total weight, I've been considering just taking the drawers out entirely and running without them - it would increase my under floor storage volume, with the only real downside being potential for some things to flop out of the opening left behind, but maybe I could make a little door there instead.

Please feel free to call tomorrow and I can walk you through this or you can email and I can send you some images i don't know if i can post my email here without it getting taken down but you can use the contact us on the website.

 

[Wgharv0]

Thanks for the in-depth review on installation. If there's one thing I can't stand, it's gigantic logos like that. Hopefully they are paying YOU to rep their product.

lol, i completely understand this. When we first started as a company, at shows everyone kept referring to our product as "Goose Gear" so we made the logos bigger. Now that people recognize our products we are slowly going away from the engraved logos to a single round leather patch with a serial number. It is taking time as we have a LOT of product and that requires new code to be written for every product, but we are almost done with our current line up.

 

[smlobx]

The panels are there for 2 reasons. first so you can access what is in the drawer from inside the vehicle. Secondly, there is additional storage space under the drawer.

I‘m pretty familiar with the storage concept as I think I built the very first platform on this forum a few years ago…

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...seat-delete-platform-for-less-than-100.36228/

 

[Wgharv0]

See photo below of my bracket. In order to get the holes to line up I had to re-drill the hole in the bracket for the hold-down bolt.

I'm using the short webbing strap provided by SHW connected to the factory webbing with a ⅛" quick-link. Using that combo the door opens up just enough to allow the drawer to fully open.
I disconnected the factory door-checks (& added a loop of 550 cord so they can be easily pulled out of the door if needed). The doors do now "swing freely" (ie. they don't hold themselves open) but since their travel is limited by the webbing straps it has not been a problem so far.

I think that the drawers provide a lot of utility; I wouldn't want to give them up. As a benefit I can store 'hidden' items under the drawer where they're still secure even with the non-lockable top hatches
-Mark

I apologize, this one is definitely on me, our instructions are not clear enough and I will fix this tomorrow. Your bracket is installed incorrectly which is why you would have had to redrill it. Currently the long side is up and on the inside of the delete. The long side is supposed to be down and the short side vertical and screwed in from outside the delete. When installed this way, there is no drilling necessary. I am sorry I wasn't clear enough. Believe it or not, writing the instructions for the systems is one of the hardest parts for me. Once i have 3-d scanned a vehicle, designed a system and actually produced it, so much in my head I take for granted. I am trying to improve and I feel like with each new product I am getting better at realizing how I need to write the instructions.

 

[Wgharv0]

I ended up opting for the Goose Gear full delete to include the back wall because I have 6 large dogs and needed to maximize my space lol. I appreciate your attentive review of the SHW system, I almost went with them, but I didn't like the lost height having the drawers. Sounds like I dodged a bullet.

While I don't feel like our product is a bullet, Goose is also a great product.

 

[Wgharv0]

You as

I‘m pretty familiar with the storage concept as I think I built the very first platform on this forum a few years ago…

https://www.jeepgladiatorforum.com/...seat-delete-platform-for-less-than-100.36228/

You asked why the lids with the drawers. I was answering your question since I am the person who designed it and makes them.

 

[MattK]

lol, i completely understand this. When we first started as a company, at shows everyone kept referring to our product as "Goose Gear" so we made the logos bigger. Now that people recognize our products we are slowly going away from the engraved logos to a single round leather patch with a serial number. It is taking time as we have a LOT of product and that requires new code to be written for every product, but we are almost done with our current line up.

That is understandable as well! Keep innovating!

 

[chaosjake]

• SHW supplies short nylon straps to extend the Jeep's existing door limit straps. They're okay, but could be made from a nicer piece of webbing sewn into a loop. They also provide a cheap-o steel keyring to connect the two pieces of webbing together, however that ring distorted badly the very first time I opened the JT's door. I replaced the keyring with a ⅛" stainless steel quick-link, problem solved. Of course the factory limit stops need to be disconnected/removed.

I wonder if you could get a measurement of this webbing loop minus the quick link. With the dog stairs I use (with a Goose Gear, sorry Wes), I always leave the passenger rear door unhooked to allow the door to clear. If there's enough slack in the door wiring harness to open 90° or more, I'd love to get the ability to remote start and lock/unlock back.

 

[Desert_Gladiator]

See photo below of my bracket. In order to get the holes to line up I had to re-drill the hole in the bracket for the hold-down bolt.

I'm using the short webbing strap provided by SHW connected to the factory webbing with a ⅛" quick-link. Using that combo the door opens up just enough to allow the drawer to fully open.
I disconnected the factory door-checks (& added a loop of 550 cord so they can be easily pulled out of the door if needed). The doors do now "swing freely" (ie. they don't hold themselves open) but since their travel is limited by the webbing straps it has not been a problem so far.

I think that the drawers provide a lot of utility; I wouldn't want to give them up. As a benefit I can store 'hidden' items under the drawer where they're still secure even with the non-lockable top hatches
-Mark

[/QUOTE]
Great stuff and these are clever solutions to make the rest of this setup work - thank you for sharing the addition detail!

Your solution with the door limiting strap seems like it works well but in my case I think the risk of the door slamming into another car due to a guest of wind or slamming closed on my dog's trail is just to much of a risk to be worth giving up the door checks. I think I may disassemble the drawers and turn the faces into doors by adding a hinge. Bummer that SHW didn't disclose what I feel is a major design flaw - having drawers was the main reason I decided to pay the huge price premium on this product over it's competitors and as it turns out the drawers not at all useful, in my opinion. Though clearly, some folks may be fine with giving up the door checks.

 

[Wgharv0]

I wonder if you could get a measurement of this webbing loop minus the quick link. With the dog stairs I use (with a Goose Gear, sorry Wes), I always leave the passenger rear door unhooked to allow the door to clear. If there's enough slack in the door wiring harness to open 90° or more, I'd love to get the ability to remote start and lock/unlock back.

We order JK loops replacement loops that are 6 loops long and then cut them down to only 2 loops. this makes it the correct length. Also, no need to apologize about Goose, its a great product. Some people don't need the drawers, and for your case it seems like the low platform is the way to go.

 

[Wgharv0]

Your solution with the door limiting strap seems like it works well but in my case I think the risk of the door slamming into another car due to a guest of wind or slamming closed on my dog's trail is just to much of a risk to be worth giving up the door checks. I think I may disassemble the drawers and turn the faces into doors by adding a hinge. Bummer that SHW didn't disclose what I feel is a major design flaw - having drawers was the main reason I decided to pay the huge price premium on this product over it's competitors and as it turns out the drawers not at all useful, in my opinion. Though clearly, some folks may be fine with giving up the door checks.
[/QUOTE]


Honest question, so if this comes across any other way, know ahead of time i am honestly asking. On all of our products that require the door check to be removed and the limiting strap to be extended we have an a statement with an asterisk that says

*Lower drawer requires door check to be removed and door limiting strap to be extended

We are always trying to make the owning experience better and I definitely do not want customers out there feeling like we didn't do right by them. Do you have a recommendation as to how to best keep mishaps like this from happening?

 

[chaosjake]

We order JK loops replacement loops that are 6 loops long and then cut them down to only 2 loops. this makes it the correct length. Also, no need to apologize about Goose, its a great product. Some people don't need the drawers, and for your case it seems like the low platform is the way to go.

Awesome, thank you. Honestly, if I had been aware of your SHW when I bought my GG two years ago, I might have gone with it. I really like the way you utilize the dead space around the back wall, and it looks like your materials and design are on par with theirs.

 

[DarthAWM]

I wonder if you could get a measurement of this webbing loop minus the quick link. With the dog stairs I use (with a Goose Gear, sorry Wes), I always leave the passenger rear door unhooked to allow the door to clear. If there's enough slack in the door wiring harness to open 90° or more, I'd love to get the ability to remote start and lock/unlock back.

on a tangent, how big are those stairs folded up?

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