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BEST control arms for mild lift

chelms27

chelms27

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Elkhorn, Nebraska
Got another new to me Jeep recently and am wanting to invest some money in good parts as my last few have been on a bit of a budget. I drive my Jeep daily 30- 50 miles one way and want a nice ride with good habits off road on the weekends and frequent trips on Colorado mountain roads. I am ordering the DPG hybrid 2.5" OME kit and also want to upgrade my stock control arms. Not sure which will be the best bang for the money, I like the JKS arms and a few others but not sure which route to go. also with that I am not sure if I should run an aftermarket drag link? if so, any recommendations? Thanks again everyone on NAXJA!!
 
i run the DPG 3.5 on my DD, it came with lower JKS arms and i ran stock uppers for a few months, but have since switched to upper JKS as well, rubber bushings at both ends makes for a nice rattle free DD, and JKS arms flex like a MO-FO. stock arms flex great as well, JKS lowers and stock uppers @ 2.5" would do just fine, just depends on how hard your going to beat it.

talk to Dirk, he wont do you wrong, i was on the phone with him today lookin to buy some boomerangs and ACOS, he could have sold me parts but instead gave me free advice and steered me away from changing what i already have. great guy. cant go wrong with dpg

just stick to JKS, you cant go wrong, steering wise, i run the drop in currie setup, i know its not the best for everyone, but for a DD its tough as ballz and cheaper than buying all new stock parts, and is designed to work at a lifted height without putting undue stress on the TREs.
 
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Anyone think it is even necessary to use aftermarket arms with that small of a lift? Anyone know of a good place to get new bushings for the stock arms? Thanks
 
chelms27 said:
Anyone think it is even necessary to use aftermarket arms with that small of a lift? Anyone know of a good place to get new bushings for the stock arms? Thanks
Click to expand...

Depends on tire size and how hard you plan on wheeling it.
It is a lot easier and not much more money to replace the complete stock control arms, instead of messing with changing bushings.
 
If you're going to be wheeling, replace them with aftermarket. RE makes good lowers. Currie does as well. The stock arms can bend if worked hard enough
 
Are they needed? No. Are they nice to have? Yes. I have a similar setup on my daily driver, I started with srock arms and then found a set of old school teraflex adj lowers and RE adj uppers for short money so I upgraded to them. Makes it easier to make adjustments and take more abuse when I get into the rocks.
 
I bought and installed my 4 inch OME/DPG hybrid lift. It came with JKS lowers and JKS adjustable track bar. I like them alot. They are strong, quiet, and well made. They came in handy when it came time to adjust the front pinion angle/caster.

Is it needed with a 2.5 lift, probably not. Try it first, you always add the arms.
 
IRO adjustable lowers and uppers. Extremely well built and the package deal is at a price that cannot be beat for this kind of quality ($319).

Good for future higher lift as it allows installation of a drop kit.
 
WJ control arms.

Ride nice, real nice, top speed on our way back from TN last week was 86 MPH. They also have a kink in them so you can ru na 10" wide tire and not scrub them on the control arm using factory wheels.

We fit 245/75R16's on the DD XJ with factory wheels. 2" of lift and WJ controls arms. They are fully boxed, so they're pretty stout. We wheeled it at Harlan during the crawl and they held up to some mild rock rashing just fine.

plus you have the option of going to a parts store to get another one if you bone it up, and not have to deal with special joints. You will have to trim the bushing down a bit, as they are a touch wider than stock.
 
i think you can get away w/stock uppers up to 6". after that, you really should change them.

OP, i also second w/going w/bushings over joints. my current xj is my third build, and i knew what i wanted.. ride>flex. i bought the ironman4x4 arms. BEEF and have tapered bushings, so ride great and flex real good.
 
fallacist said:
What about uppers? At what point is it worth it to replace uppers?
Click to expand...

I rocked stock uppers at 4" and wheeled the snot out of it. Tellico, Harlan, Moab, all with stock upper control arms. THe problem with the uppers isn't the length so much as the weakness. Tey're not boxed in, so if you take a real hard hit to the front of the tire sometimes they collapse and just fold up.
 
fallacist said:
What about uppers? At what point is it worth it to replace uppers?
Click to expand...

Depends. While the lowers center the axle in the wheel well, the uppers are responsible for the diff angle to the shaft. They also have a role when trying to properly align a lifted XJ.

I needed them after about 4" when installing drop brackets...
 
Thanks for all of the replies here, I have always ran stock arms with no issues when I lived in California going to Johnson Valley and Big Bear most of the time( almost every weekend) and never had a problem, I just have the money to do it right and like a smooth ride for a dd so thought while I had it apart I might as well, thanks for the different options I will keep shopping around and researching.
 
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