AJE Tubular K-Member: Help!!

[ExoticLSC]

For anyone who has used or knows anything about the AJE k-member, I would like to know what your experience has been as far as ride quality and the durablity of the unit, especially the rod ends for the lca's. I have searched this forum and found that there have been issues with fitment of the k-member, fitment and strength of lca's, and possible alignment issues. I am ready to order the whole assemby from AJE, I just want to make sure that it is going to perform well and not break when I'm in the middle of a highway offramp at high speed (or similar situation). AJE's only concern for street use was the durability of the rod ends due dirt and mileage. I also need to make sure that the track with be the same width as stock, and how a front end alignment will be adjusted with the new control arms. I am ready to install my new 5.0 stroker into the '97 and I am just waiting on help from you guys to determine whether or not I should order this k-member. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks!

-Joe Michael

 

[Dominus]

Here's a couple of nuggets of joy, courtesy of ponyfrak:

the K member bolts right up. You can purchase them from AJE. Be very careful about getting anything from this company though. This is the third K member i have had in the second car. If anything goes wrong you are on your own, they will not offer any support.
You are looking at $1000 for a setup like this.

Be very careful to go over their return policy, as well as their support policy, just in case.

phreakness also has the AJE k-member and says it is A-ok.

 

[Roadboss]

Save your money, it's more of a race only item.

 

[Frogman]

I ordered a Kmember and LCA's from AJE.

I had bought a K member out of a 97 mark from a junk yard on the East coast and sent it to AJE, because they said they don't/didn't have any jigs for the Mark VIII. They were pretty sure it's the same setup as the MN12 chasis, but said "sure, go ahead and send us one".

I don't know what/how they made the jig thoguh...

The First K member did not fit. The mounting holes were WAY off. See pics.

I sent that one in, and they made another one. The second one, again, did not fit properly again. I had my machinist enlarge/center the four munting holes, and bolted it up to the mark. I then went to install the LCA's. That was not going to happen though. First off, in order to bolt up the air struts to the LCAs, I had to force/bend the Air Struts forward about an inch. I did not like that idea too much though. Even with the Struts bent forward, I had to unscrew the strut rod part of the LCA all the way out to reach the front of the K member. I had 2 threads left on that bushing bolt when it was all said and done. That, deffinitely did not sit well with me. I started wondering if they even used the OEM k-member I sent them to jig up their K member and LCA's (yes, I had an OEM LCA sent tot hem as well).

I know for a fact my mark has NEVER been in a wreck. Period.

I then called them up again, and told them I would like to return the whole setup, as IT DID NOT FIT, and gave them the reasons why it didn't. The guy I spoke with (IIRC, his name was Jim) tells me that's fine, but he'll have to charge me a restocking fee. A WHAT????????? For a defective piece of equipment? Something that should have bolted right up? Horsesh!t!

I sent their 2nd K member back (Did I tell you how I had to pay for BOTH k-members to send them back? Jimbo there said he'd include a prepaid label for the 1st K member when he sent out the 2nd one; that didn't happen). When I asked him about it once I was ready to ship both K members back to him, he said he wouldn't pay for it.

Their reasoning for the "restocking" fee? Simple. "What if I can sell that K member to someone else? I have to keep it in stock until I do.", said Jim. Sell a Defective Kmember to someone else and pass it off as a new one? Uhhh. Ok. Their second reason for the restocking fee was they have to pay 6% for credit cards. I don't know who they use for a CC processor, but 6%? Either they are hard up for a CC processing company, or no other company will deal with them. Hell, I sell around 500-1000 dollars' worth of firerams a month, and when I take a CC - which is very seldom-, my processor charges me 3.5%.

Moral of the story: Don't even waste your time with those jokers.

edit: The pics I have uploaded are around 2 megs a piece. If you want links to them, PM me.