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clayton: 1 upper?

J

jjvande

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Albuquerque NM 505 burque
anyone who is running claytons LAs removed one of the upper arms for less binding during articulation. any thoughts or impressions? This would only be for trail use; i dont trust just 1 mount on the highway and city streets.

Thanks

-J
 
in my experiance, running just one UCA will put too much stress on the one arm and bushing you leave on. I found this out the hard way on Moab Rim during the fall fling, by tearing off the upper control arm mount from the axle, and had to limp off the trail with only one connected.
 
I was reading about teh wristed ford radius arms below and got to thinking...

mine flexes well too, just hate replacing upper bushings and dont want to do it ever again.

why did the upper mount tear off?...binding?
 
Serious axle bind! But I am running the Tera LA. I'm in the process of triangulating the upper arms and shortening the lowers. (to be more like the Clayon set-up) I do believe however, with only one upper on the Claytons you will have the same results.
 
so jjvande,you have Clayton stuff now and its binding?like I said mine doesnt bind and I havent replaced anything in 1 1/2 years so far.I would post some flex shots but I have no idea how to do it.
 
if you are getting binding issues i would call and talk to clayton or adam and tell them whats happening... its their kit.. they might have some ideas for you...
 
Sorry if I was not clear.

It flexes as much as my shocks will handle and does so in the same way as it did when I first installed the kit last summer. Plenty of good flex. I'm happy with it, but if you flex it out and have a gander at the upper bushings they are being pulled more than i like. This is due to the axle being twisted between the two arms. Removing one arm would alleviate these opposing forces, but at the same time only one upper bushing might not be adequate to control the axle.
 
jjvande said:
but at the same time only one upper bushing might not be adequate to control the axle.
Click to expand...

BINGO!!
it was designed around 2 upper links.. 1 will probably do the job fine for a while and i have seen threads here about this exact topic... i still say its a bad idea to alter a design... i would consider the bushings to be a sacrificial part that will normally need replacement..
 
I dont think you should woory about it.I have 12" travel shocks and using all the travel.My bushings are still in there taking the abuse.If yours fails I think Clayton can put Johnny Joints in there.
 
There is inherent bind in a radius arm setup that must be absorbed by a bushing if you're going to run both uppers. Running only one upper gets rid of the bind but MAY put more stress on that one upper than it was designed for, although it does alleviate the stress from the inherent binding. You can run johnny joints on both ends of the upper if you run only one. I'd just try it if you want to. If you're worried about it, beef up that one arm. If you do run just one upper, I'd run poly or johnny joints in that upper and lower. If I'm off the mark somebody slap me upside the head and tell me.
 
I agree xj92. you need the "give" that rubber allows if both uppers are attached. I think that the cast steel mount on the pump would be strong enough for a single arm, am i wrong?



Thanks for the insightful discussion.
 
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