msiminoff
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Mark
- Joined
- Nov 28, 2023
- Threads
- 7
- Messages
- 46
- Reaction score
- 152
- Location
- Silicon Valley, CA
- Vehicle(s)
- 2023 Gladiator Mojave
- Build Thread
- Link
- Occupation
- Mechanical Engineer/Fabricator
- Thread starter
- #1
I received and installed my SHW seat delete about 6 weeks ago and I'm mostly happy with it so far. I opted to get the passenger (60%) and driver (40%) deletes, both with the drawer option. I did not get their "Upper Decker" or the middle box.
The good:
• Assembly is straight forward and quick if you have the assembly instructions
• Once assembled the boxes are quite sturdy, look sharp, and fit well in the back of my '23 Mojave.
• The deck surface is a high pressure laminate (not a sprayed-on coating) and appears to be very durable so far.
• The lockable drawers are easy to access, spacious, and mounted on roller slides.
• There's TONS of storage under the deck. I've got a crapload of recovery gear, tool rolls, trailer hitch, tie-down straps, camping chairs, etc under there and there's still plenty of space left.
• It fits around my factory subwoofer housing and retains access to the back wall storage pockets.
• The whole assembly is made from super-lightweight marine plywood (sorry, I didn't weigh it prior to installation).
The bad:
• There were zero instructions included with the kit at all. I wound up assembling the whole thing by trial and error... at night, single-handed, while staring at photos on the SHW website. Most, but not all, of the parts were labeled (with decals that were very difficult to remove), but even with knowing which parts were for the driver & passenger sides it felt like assembling a 3-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. Also, knowing the correct assembly order turns out to be important. It took me ~2hrs to put the two boxes together, plus another hour to install the drawer slides the next day. I did email the company and the owner, Wes, was quick to respond . He was apologetic, helpful, and he directed me to the download link for the instructions, but by then I'd already figured it out.
• On my kit one side had the pilot holes for the drawer slide screws drilled in the wrong locations, and the other side there were no holes for the slides at all. This made it challenging to figure out how the slides were supposed to be oriented, and fastened. I called SHW, left a message, and Wes promptly called me back and explained that their drawer slide manufacturer had changed their design without informing him and that several other customers had encountered the same thing. As for the part with no holes; apparently that one was intended for a seat delete without drawers. We had a fiendly chat and Wes gave me the option of doing the slide mounting myself or he was willing to send me the correct parts. For the sake of expediency I opted to do it myself and, with some patience & careful measuring, it went very well. SHW definitely has great customer service... but their quality control leaves a lot to be desired.
• The top access hatches don't sit in the box properly; they fit loosely in their pockets and also sit about ⅛" sub-flush with the top deck. I have a plan to fix this, but the fact that there's a mis-match reeks of low quality
• The top access hatches are not lockable and have a hole in the top so that they can be lifted out with one finger. Since the "lockable" drawer area is directly below the unlocked hatches it pretty much eliminates any security the drawer latches provide. I have a plan to screw the hatches in place (from the inside) to prevent them from being removed by any would-be bad guys. It'd be very nice if those hatches were lockable with the same key as the drawers.
• There is no finish/paint/stain on any of the exposed edges of the wood. Wes explained that the wood is marine ply and impervious to water. IMO this is a major oversight with regard to appearance, feel, and durability. I'll be applying a black polyurethane stain to all of the exposed wood.
• The engraved SHW logo is hideous. It's big, right inside the doorway on both sides, all cut with a ¼" ball-end router bit, and is about 3/16" deep. It really should have been shallower and done with an engraving bit... or better yet delete the logos altogether. I'll probably wind up filling the engraved pockets with some black epoxy to prevent stuff from snagging on the sharp edges of the HPL. It's the kind of thing that could easily tear open a tent or sleeping bag.
• The thin steel angle brackets provided to secure the boxes to the floor aren't properly sized & drilled to match the seat bolt holes. I had to do some re-drilling to make them line up. The boxes probably won't move while off-roading, but I'm concerned about their security in the event of an accident. I'll be adding some additional mounting brackets to ensure that these things stay put no matter what.
• 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.
• While the overall fit of the delete into the rear seat space is good, the finish quality of the individual routed parts is mediocre. All of the edges are routed, but they're not sanded smooth.
• The deck height is tall due to the space required for the generously sized drawers. I keep my Dometic fridge in the back seat and I'm now not able to open the lid beyond ~80º. This isn't a deal breaker but it means that accessing the fridge is now a 2-handed job.
• The deck surface is HPL laminate type material, so it's durable, but also very slippery. I ordered up a sheet of rubber gym floor matting that I'll cut to fit the deck and make openings to allow access to the hatches.
• I waited exactly 12 weeks from the time I placed the order until it arrived, which is right about what SHW said their lead time would be... but to me that felt like a long time to wait.
• On SHW's website it says that they'll send tracking information via email, there will be a phone call to schedule delivery, and a follow up phone call to ensure satisfaction. Unfortunately, none of that ever happened.
• At around $1,550 delivered, this setup isn't cheap. That's ~$100 less than the competition's "high platform" seat delete and ~$400 more than their standard one. Granted SHW is the only brand that has storage drawers, but for that price all of these little issues should be sorted out.
Summary:
Like I said, I do like the functionality, appearance, and drawers of the SHW seat delete. Once I'm done with all of the do-it-myself fixes it will be a great addition to my JT. I'm also super impressed and appreciative of Wes' willingness to send me the instructions and talk me through the assembly modifications.
I'd rate the SHW seat delete system a 2.5 out of 5 stars. It's nice, maybe even very nice. However if I had to do it over again I think I'd opt for the Goose Gear seat delete instead.
-Mark
The good:
• Assembly is straight forward and quick if you have the assembly instructions
• Once assembled the boxes are quite sturdy, look sharp, and fit well in the back of my '23 Mojave.
• The deck surface is a high pressure laminate (not a sprayed-on coating) and appears to be very durable so far.
• The lockable drawers are easy to access, spacious, and mounted on roller slides.
• There's TONS of storage under the deck. I've got a crapload of recovery gear, tool rolls, trailer hitch, tie-down straps, camping chairs, etc under there and there's still plenty of space left.
• It fits around my factory subwoofer housing and retains access to the back wall storage pockets.
• The whole assembly is made from super-lightweight marine plywood (sorry, I didn't weigh it prior to installation).
The bad:
• There were zero instructions included with the kit at all. I wound up assembling the whole thing by trial and error... at night, single-handed, while staring at photos on the SHW website. Most, but not all, of the parts were labeled (with decals that were very difficult to remove), but even with knowing which parts were for the driver & passenger sides it felt like assembling a 3-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. Also, knowing the correct assembly order turns out to be important. It took me ~2hrs to put the two boxes together, plus another hour to install the drawer slides the next day. I did email the company and the owner, Wes, was quick to respond . He was apologetic, helpful, and he directed me to the download link for the instructions, but by then I'd already figured it out.
• On my kit one side had the pilot holes for the drawer slide screws drilled in the wrong locations, and the other side there were no holes for the slides at all. This made it challenging to figure out how the slides were supposed to be oriented, and fastened. I called SHW, left a message, and Wes promptly called me back and explained that their drawer slide manufacturer had changed their design without informing him and that several other customers had encountered the same thing. As for the part with no holes; apparently that one was intended for a seat delete without drawers. We had a fiendly chat and Wes gave me the option of doing the slide mounting myself or he was willing to send me the correct parts. For the sake of expediency I opted to do it myself and, with some patience & careful measuring, it went very well. SHW definitely has great customer service... but their quality control leaves a lot to be desired.
• The top access hatches don't sit in the box properly; they fit loosely in their pockets and also sit about ⅛" sub-flush with the top deck. I have a plan to fix this, but the fact that there's a mis-match reeks of low quality
• The top access hatches are not lockable and have a hole in the top so that they can be lifted out with one finger. Since the "lockable" drawer area is directly below the unlocked hatches it pretty much eliminates any security the drawer latches provide. I have a plan to screw the hatches in place (from the inside) to prevent them from being removed by any would-be bad guys. It'd be very nice if those hatches were lockable with the same key as the drawers.
• There is no finish/paint/stain on any of the exposed edges of the wood. Wes explained that the wood is marine ply and impervious to water. IMO this is a major oversight with regard to appearance, feel, and durability. I'll be applying a black polyurethane stain to all of the exposed wood.
• The engraved SHW logo is hideous. It's big, right inside the doorway on both sides, all cut with a ¼" ball-end router bit, and is about 3/16" deep. It really should have been shallower and done with an engraving bit... or better yet delete the logos altogether. I'll probably wind up filling the engraved pockets with some black epoxy to prevent stuff from snagging on the sharp edges of the HPL. It's the kind of thing that could easily tear open a tent or sleeping bag.
• The thin steel angle brackets provided to secure the boxes to the floor aren't properly sized & drilled to match the seat bolt holes. I had to do some re-drilling to make them line up. The boxes probably won't move while off-roading, but I'm concerned about their security in the event of an accident. I'll be adding some additional mounting brackets to ensure that these things stay put no matter what.
• 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.
• While the overall fit of the delete into the rear seat space is good, the finish quality of the individual routed parts is mediocre. All of the edges are routed, but they're not sanded smooth.
• The deck height is tall due to the space required for the generously sized drawers. I keep my Dometic fridge in the back seat and I'm now not able to open the lid beyond ~80º. This isn't a deal breaker but it means that accessing the fridge is now a 2-handed job.
• The deck surface is HPL laminate type material, so it's durable, but also very slippery. I ordered up a sheet of rubber gym floor matting that I'll cut to fit the deck and make openings to allow access to the hatches.
• I waited exactly 12 weeks from the time I placed the order until it arrived, which is right about what SHW said their lead time would be... but to me that felt like a long time to wait.
• On SHW's website it says that they'll send tracking information via email, there will be a phone call to schedule delivery, and a follow up phone call to ensure satisfaction. Unfortunately, none of that ever happened.
• At around $1,550 delivered, this setup isn't cheap. That's ~$100 less than the competition's "high platform" seat delete and ~$400 more than their standard one. Granted SHW is the only brand that has storage drawers, but for that price all of these little issues should be sorted out.
Summary:
Like I said, I do like the functionality, appearance, and drawers of the SHW seat delete. Once I'm done with all of the do-it-myself fixes it will be a great addition to my JT. I'm also super impressed and appreciative of Wes' willingness to send me the instructions and talk me through the assembly modifications.
I'd rate the SHW seat delete system a 2.5 out of 5 stars. It's nice, maybe even very nice. However if I had to do it over again I think I'd opt for the Goose Gear seat delete instead.
-Mark
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