The Story Behind Exceed Fab's Gladiator Tube Door Development

[Exceed Fabrication]

Hi, my name is Kelvin, I am 25 years old.

In four days, It’s the 1st anniversary of my first post! (on the Gladi forum)

Many people said that they enjoyed the journey of developing tube doors with us. This is the beginning of our dream. We hope to go further with everyone.

In this year, we have learned a lot and met many people. They said that they enjoyed the journey of developing tube doors with us.

Maybe many people in the JL forum don’t know us, so I want to tell you how we developed the SD1 tube door, which is basically our self-introduction.

And I noticed that some people can DIY their own tube door, and the workmanship is very beautiful! It would be great if our experience and story can help you!

I don’t expect everyone to buy our products, but I hope to share our experience to help those who silently watch this thread.

For those who are also starting their own business and those who struggle with life, I also hope that our story can encourage you! Don’t give up when you encounter any difficulties! May our enthusiasm accompany you through the cold winter!

If you prefer watching videos, I highly recommend you check out our youtube.



If you’d like to hear me ramble on and know more about this story, Welcome to continue reading and I’ll tell you everything we learned along the way.

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[Exceed Fabrication]

The story begins with a 2022 gladiator hydro blue Willys, and a passionate fool flew thousands of miles to buy it.

At that time, I didn't know what my first product would be, and I didn't know what to name my brand.

Maybe you will ask, why do you start with Gladi?

To be honest, it's not that I like it so much, but Gladi is a combination of Wrangler and pickup. I think Gladi is suitable for us to develop products in two markets, that's all.

I really didn't think so much at the beginning, and all my actions followed my intuition.

I took these photos in the desert of Inner Mongolia. The wind was freezing cold, and you would get a headache if you stayed outside for three minutes.

Although I was born in the north, I haven't experienced such a temperature for more than ten years. I think it was only about 15℉.

This was my first time to the desert. The owner took me to experience it after completing the transaction.

On a slope, I was not decisive enough when stepping on the accelerator, and I completed my first achievement, "the truck got stuck for the first time."

 

[Exceed Fabrication]

Then after I shipped the Gladi back to Canton, I started thinking about the name of my brand.

When watching the factory tour video of Fox Racing, one of the people said, "Our products should not only meet the test requirements, but also exceed the test requirements."

I thought the word "exceed" sounded interesting. Maybe our brand can be called "exceed fabrication", and the "E" part is a stag beetle.

We hope that our products are as strong as the shell of a beetle, so that you don't have to worry about our products when you go off-road.

I used AI to create a beetle that broke out of the ground, Completed the first version of the logo, but Jamin (our product designer) thought it like a brand that sells keyboards, so we abandoned it.

After countless adjustments, we all agreed that this design was the best, classic, old-school, and not boring to look at for a long time, so we finalized it.

 

[Exceed Fabrication]

After a series of research, I decided to start with tube door, which is a highly competitive but interesting market.

This was the conclusion I reached at the time.

We spent several months testing a lot of tube doors that we could buy on the market. I can’t tell you their names, but I can tell you they are all ones you can buy on Amazon or other websites. , and they are all models with good sales. Combining my previous experience in other projects and everyone’s comments I have seen online, I think our first tube door (codenamed SD1, the abbreviation of Sturdy door) should Has the following characteristics:

1. It will use a 2-inch diameter steel tube, consistent with the first-tier brands, instead of the 1.25-inch diameter popular on Amazon. We believe that the thicker tube will give people a stronger visual experience and sufficient security. As far as I know, many people install tube doors because they want to protect their wives and children, so I don’t want others to have doubts about whether our tube doors are strong and reliable.

2. It will have an expanded steel tube design to give people more leg room. My height is 5.9 and my weight is 185lbs. I know that many American customers are taller and stronger than me. You need more leg room than me... And the expanded steel tube can also protect the passengers' arms when the gladiator is scratched by branches or stones.

3. It will be laser welded. The tube doors I have seen have relatively few bad reviews on surface treatment, but many people hate ugly welds. We avoid using low-cost and poor-quality GMAW. Instead we use laser welding to create more beautiful and concise welds, giving you more confidence when off-roading

4. The rearview mirror must be standard configuration. We also felt this when going off-road. It is very important. It is difficult to drive without a rearview mirror.
5. I can’t promise too much about the price yet. Due to our cost and craftsmanship, it may be a little more expensive than the one on Amazon, but I can guarantee that while it achieves first-class quality, the price will be much lower than those big names.

6. Our design will follow the body lines of JT. You can see from our samples that the upper lines of our tube doors are flush with the bed.
I know that many doors on the market adopt JL's low body lines in order to cater to the larger JL market. But we don’t think so.Our upper lines are consistent with JT. As far as I know, there is only one brand on the market that has made the half door of JT’s rear line.(I love the packaging of that brand, and I’ve been thinking about how to create unique packaging for the SD1).

7.SD1 is expected to be completed in March, and the shipping period will be about 45 days. We hope it will be on sale in May.

8. When we were testing some AMZ tube doors, there were four different screw specifications on one door, and it was very troublesome to switch tools back and forth.
So we will try our best to choose uniform specifications for the screws on the car door, so that you can install or adjust them with one tool.

 

[Exceed Fabrication]

Our post attracted some equally enthusiastic people. Their encouragement gave us the confidence to move forward.

We made the first version of the SD1, using two exaggerated protruding tubes to try to get some unique looks, and got some feedback.
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[Exceed Fabrication]

Many people suggested that we should consider the comfort of the armrest. I have done research before. Some brands use some Oxford covers, and some use ABS plastic.

When we were making tube doors, we met a PU material supplier by chance. Their main business is anti-collision buffering for roller coaster seats and amusement equipment.

We are trying to use this material on SD1. On amusement equipment that is exposed to the sun and rain every day, this material can maintain durability for at least three years. I think this is enough for SD1.

This is another design we made. There will be a steel tube inside that is about the same height as the arm rest on the JT original door. If you are driving on the road, you can put your elbows here.

If we were to make PU wrapping, it would probably be on this tube, and there would still be an expanded tube on the outside for extra protection and grip.

 

[Exceed Fabrication]

As things progressed, an issue came up that I couldn't avoid...

One member misunderstood our identity.

And you who are reading this, and I both understand what we are talking about.

Here is my reply to him:

Hi Todd, I’m glad to see that you are enjoying Jeep with your wife. I also hope that my girlfriend will be more interested in Jeep.

If you are willing to help me test the product, I will contact you again when I have a suitable product that I need to test.

By the way, I also want to talk about it. When I started the EF brand, many people advised me not to reveal where I came from.

They say you should go behind the scenes and make the product, find an American to show it off, and pass yourself off as an American brand, like a lot of people do on Amazon

(In fact I think a lot of people do it stupidly, they don’t even know that Americans are used to describing size and weight in inches and pounds)

Because you know that many people refuse to accept Chinese brands because of the shoddy quality of Chinese products. Pretending that they are local brands will reduce a lot of trouble.

But I don’t think so. I think that first of all, it is difficult for you to completely disguise yourself as an American brand. You can tell whether you are a real American from the scenery in the photo, the license plate, and even your English proficiency.

Rather than spending time on this, why don’t we spend more time on more meaningful things, such as how to create truly valuable products?

I have read a lot of opinions expressed by people on JGF. I know that some people will firmly support American brands. I think this is right. It makes sense to support your own country’s brands and industries at all times. So if someone says: Kelvin, I’m sorry I won’t buy things made by Chinese people because I love my country and I want to support local brands.

I would say, yeah, it doesn't matter, in China we will also be taught this idea, telling us to support our national industry.

I am proud of my country, but I do not think that my country is superior or worse than other countries. I treat it with a normal heart.

I want to use quality products to compete with brands from anywhere in the world, and strive to win the trust of consumers.

Just like Toyota, Samsung, and DJI, they will impress consumers with their high-quality products and sell them all over the world.

So I firmly believe that a good product can speak for itself. If my product is made with care, people from anywhere in the world can feel it when they get it.

Just as Jeep is an American brand, Tacoma is from Japan, but that doesn’t stop me from also liking their design, and it doesn’t stop me from liking these trucks. (BTW, I really like the Easter eggs on Jeep and Bronco. I find them very interesting. I’m also thinking about how to incorporate this feeling into my products)

 

[wibornz]

Nice work. They look fantastic.

 

[Exceed Fabrication]

Continue designing, developing...
Because we couldn't make too many metal samples quickly, I thought maybe we could use 3D printed parts combined with metal frames to verify our ideas.
As shown in the picture, we fixed these 3D printed parts with tape.
At this time, our idea is to get as smooth lines as possible. To be honest, I really like this design, but we also overlooked several fatal problems brought by such a design:
1. Weight: More steel = heavier. Many people should have experienced the pain of disassembling JK doors, especially the front doors, which make people feel like they weigh almost a ton! Weight brings higher transportation costs, more likely to cause carton damage, and more difficult to install and carry them (and perhaps more curses from FedEx deliverymen)
2. Welding difficulty: The welding cost is calculated based on the total length of the weld on the product. This design will bring a lot of welds to deal with, and because some angles are very tricky, the difficulty will also increase significantly. Too much welding will also make quality control more difficult, which will lead to further cost increases.
3. Electrophoresis: Too many cavities inside will cause the electrophoresis fluid to fail to cover every corner, and the parts ignored by the electrophoresis fluid will rust over time. Maybe one day you will see yellow rusty water flowing out of the door after it rains.
4. Cost: More steel means more cost, and according to calculations, the material cost of such a design will be at least twice that of similar doors on the market. Making products is not charity, and it is obvious that these costs will also be reflected in the selling price. I believe that not every consumer wants to spend a lot of money to buy a bunch of tube doors that hurt their backs when they are lifted.
5. Tube expansion: This design includes both inward and outward protruding tubes, which makes packaging difficult, the volume will increase, and the risk of bumps and damage will be further increased.

In summary, we paid the price for our lack of experience and started all over again.

 

[Exceed Fabrication]

I was full of confidence at the beginning, and I thought it was not a difficult task, but when I found that the solution we spent a long time thinking about was almost impossible in terms of production and cost, I felt a little frustrated.

So what should we do? I even started to wonder if our first product would face the dilemma of not being able to continue. Should we give up on this matter in time and challenge some simpler goals?

When we released the photos of the combination of metal and 3D, we received comments from JGF members, and they even helped us draw the design drawings directly! Shout out to these enthusiastic people!
These opinions made us suddenly enlightened! Maybe the simplest is the most effective! We shouldn't spend too much energy exploring various weird shapes.

Keeping everything simple and clean, doing a good job of details and after-sales service, maybe it's enough for most people!

 

[Exceed Fabrication]

After finding the direction again, we took action immediately and produced a new plan in about two weeks!

This time, it is quite close to the current SD1!

Since the PU mold can only be produced in March, we temporarily found four Pu tubes and placed them on the door.

It looks pretty sketchy, and the final Pu will have a concise ending.

In the initial concept, I hoped that SD1 would use laser welding, but we searched all nearby factories and no one could meet our requirements, so we could only use traditional GMAW.

We require the factory to polish the outer welds smoothly and make fish-scale welds inside, so that both beauty and strength can be taken into consideration.

There are still some details waiting to be optimized. Since the Chinese New Year is coming soon and the factories are on holiday, we have no choice but to continue production in early March.

I couldn't wait to take these pictures after I got them! The more I look at them, the more I like them!

We finally got it right this time.

 

[huey_atx]

I have a set of these tube doors & a few other items from @Exceed Fabrication & let me tell you, the quality is unmatched. The design is sleek and functional, providing excellent visibility and ventilation while maintaining a rugged look & IMO the best tube doors on the market & TMK, the only company that offers storage bags for their doors. It's a one stop shop too as they have the mirrors & the wall hangers as well.

These pics are from the Hybrid Jeep I used to have but will get pics of them on the 392 as soon as the weather cooperates!!

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