Long arm handling on the street?

Alright, I'm getting ready to sell my poor '87 XJ with RE 2" lift in favor of a later model XJ, and I'm contemplating lift ideas. I'm thinking of lifting it somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 to 6 inches, depending on prices and tire fit.

What I'm debating right now though, is whether I should stick with regular control arms (adjustable and/or drop brackets and such), or if I should pick out the lift I want then find a good long arm kit to put under there.

What worries me about most long arm kits is the lack of frame mounted upper control arms. I have faith that a well-engineered LA kit will not be a weak point for breakage, but I'm concerned about how it will handle on the street, seeing as how the caster will change with every dip, bump, pothole, etc. Will this really be a problem, or am I blowing this out of proportion? I understand the handling WILL be affected, alas I realize I'm not driving a sports car, but this XJ will be a daily driver, so I don't want something that's going to handle too wonky to drive on the highway.

Anyone have any insight? Maybe I just need to find somebody local who will let me drive their LA equipped XJ so I can see for myself...

My wifes 5.9 Zj has a LA like you are describing at around 7" of lift. The castor change is minimal. I'd let you drive it but I don't know how it would really compare to what you are looking for.

You can come drive Tim's or mine next week as we should have an R&D version of a new LA kit on. Look on the www.PNWJeep.com BBS there is some pricing info there. looks like it should take the best features of alot of the stuff out there along with some stuff that no other "kit" has.

Caster change will be a fraction of a degree in normal driving conditions, no desert racing.

Long arms are fantastic on the street. I have also found I can run far less caster with good handling and tracking with long arms than with the stock setup, which is a very good thing for a d30 on 6" of lift. The place to worry about long arms is offroad in terms of clearance.

I'd take a hard look at the new Rock Krawler three-link kit for starters as it somewhat minimizes the clearance loss and will exhibit zero bind offroad. Although this is a kit for the more hardcore...no rubber left in those arms.

Nay

Ditto the others, it's been my experience the the longarms handle better on the road then shortarms. Again to quote the others, caster change is so minimal on the highway that it is not an issue.
If I were you, I'd first decide the tire size I wanted to run, then based on at, figure the amount of lift & trimming required, then determine the lift. If you end up only running 4.5" or less, then long arms may be out of the question due to clearance issues. Also what type of wheeling your into may have a bearing on which lift design is best for you.

All the above comments are valid,I built my LA's just about a year ago and love them.Since I have a LP30 I was able to dial the caster down(increasing my pinion angle) and it still drives great.The amount of clearance loss will depend on the design,I lost almost nothing.Check out my homepage for pics(installed and being built)!