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custom control arm drop brackets

J

JDComptonXJ

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Rocky Mount, VA
I'm looking to build some drop brackets, searched and couldn't find any thing other than "go for it... really helps ride and flex". I've found many articles on building long arms, but I really want to keep short arms and build drop brackets. Can anyone point me to a good reference for this job? Thanks!

Also, I'm wanting to use 2"x.250" wall tubing for the lowers and uppers and use RE super flex joints on both ends. The large joints still only have a housing of like 1.75" wide if I'm not mistaken. Am I going to have to drop the tubing size down to 1.75"x.250"? Thanks again,

Josh
 
I think this has been talked about before. Everyone agreed that by the time you design, buy materials, fabricate and then install, you would be better off just buying the drop brackets.
 
$$$$, my wife won't let me buy any, it's not my DD and I can leave it in the garage until it's done. I'm thinking of just shaving the factory mounts off, sleaving the unibody with 1/4" angle, then welding some new mounts to that. I don't think it will be that hard, especially for the lowers, I'm just not sure about the uppers. I'm gonna weld it all to the unibody, not trying to fab up a bolt on kit.

Anyone done this before, or can throw a link my way?

-josh
 
If it's not your DD, then why don't you just build long arms. if you space out the build your wife won't see it as that expensive. Also with all the trouble your going to go through to rebuild lower short arm mounts you might as well go with LAs.
 
Well, I've thought about Long arms, But I drag over everything as it is, I don't want the loss of ground clearance associated with Long Arms. Plus everybody and their brother has long arms, I want to be able to say, "yeah, I built them" and I seem to be in a habit of re-inventing the wheel. Then again, if it's going to be twice as hard as to do drop brackets, then I might go with long arms. I'm going to be building a beefier crossmember and skidplate anyway, it'd be real easy to just add some control arm brackets to that and "radius arm" the uppers.

That brings me to my other question, How do you get the 1 3/4" large RE joints to mate up to 2" or bigger tube?

Is there nobody running custom drop brackets?

I know the Long Arm horse has been beat into dog food, but I can't seem to find any good info on drop brackets or RE joints.
 
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They are just very complex with all the different shapes/shoulders/angles!They could built but it would take alot of time/patience/measuring/bending/welding/grinding/etc!
RE9900.jpg
 
I don't think you guys are quite gettin my idea here. I don't want to build RE drop brackets. I want to cut off the old mounts, sleeve the frame, weld new beefier mounts to the sleeve only lower. I know what I need to do for the lower CA. I haven't quite figured out what I want to do with the uppers.

Here's a new idea I was kicking around. Building a radius arm setup with short arms. What's the shortest the lower control arm can be while using a radius arm setup? I've seen a radius arm setup using the stock lower CA mount. It didn't look very good though. It was running prolly 5+" of lift and the angle on the lower just looked horrible. But would it be ok if the lower was dropped some?

Thanks for being patient while I try to figure out what I'm doin.

-josh
 
short radius arms would be a BAD idea.....I can't see them flexing much.

2"x.250 on short arms is overkill big time, RE short arms are made from 1.5" .120 wall dom......if you wanted to upgrade you could go with 1.625"x.134 wall dom and stiil get your ends on and have a stouter arm w/o the extra weight and cost.
 
Josh- Instead of making a short arm radius design. Why don't you just make a bracket that sits in the the current upper arm mount and has the same drop as your lower arm mounting point. Then make your lowers and uppers a few inches longer than they are stock, to locate the axle where you want it. Just My .02
Ron
 
that's what I'm talkin about! I'm just trying to get some tips on doing it, from say anyone that's done it before.


I just found this, holy crap this is bad! I'd love to do this, Takes care of the LA ground clearance issue, I just don't think I'd be able to make that crossmember, I think a piece of .250" 2x6 would stilll be good though. Dang it why didn't I think of that? Well, stop the presses on this whole short arm/drop bracket discussion, I just found my new Idea. what do ya'll think?

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=132575

Google does ok sometimes.
 
you know i have seen this kit and the guy did a good job but ...i don't think he thought it thru all the way .you can see it binding at the upper joint under a hard flex .the upper part of the arm should be able to rotate .the bushing is only going to get torn up in time

DSCN5642.jpg
 
Easy fix, just stick a threaded bung in that end and weld a bolt to the RE bushing housing., I'd make em adjustable anyway. Do ya'll think 1.5" x .250" wall dom would be stout enough? I've got a 1.5" mandrel for the JD2 bender already, I don't want to have to get a 2" mandrel just to get these done.
 
If a longer short LCA, or mid-arm is what you're looking for then you can do this yourself by simply moving the frame bracket mounting hole back a couple of inches. To do this, the factory caster adjuster needs to go away, but you'll be adding longer adjustable arms so they won't be needed anyway.
You can also trim out the top of the shock bracket and LCA axle mount and move your axle LCA mounting hole up about 1". This also allows you to relocate your shock mounts out and down the side of the mount so a longer front shock may be run. The combination of these two mods will get you an LCA angle that is close to the angle you see with a 3" lift, running a 6-7" lift.

Improved onroad ride and better trail performance are immediately noticable, a huge improvement to say the least.


Paul Sinclair turned me on to this mod a while back and it's pretty easy to do if you have a welder and some fab skills. I have a few more details on this mod, if you want to give it a whirl then PM me.
Get on the creeper and stare at if for a while, it should make complete sense......if not, then buy a kit.
 
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XJEEPER said:
If a longer short LCA, or mid-arm is what you're looking for then you can do this yourself by simply moving the frame bracket mounting hole back a couple of inches.
Click to expand...

Can you do this without making adjustments to the upper arm though? Wouldn't changing the relationship between the 2 cause binding? Forgive me if I'm missing the obvious, but suspensions confuse me. :wierd:
 
JDComptonXJ said:
that's what I'm talkin about! I'm just trying to get some tips on doing it, from say anyone that's done it before.


I just found this, holy crap this is bad! I'd love to do this, Takes care of the LA ground clearance issue, I just don't think I'd be able to make that crossmember, I think a piece of .250" 2x6 would stilll be good though. Dang it why didn't I think of that? Well, stop the presses on this whole short arm/drop bracket discussion, I just found my new Idea. what do ya'll think?

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/showthread.php?t=132575

Google does ok sometimes.
Click to expand...

Maybe you should do a little more research before you change your mind so fast!Use the "search" feature,tons of threads on short,mid-arm,radius arms!This one was just last week!
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=45942
 
JP said:
Can you do this without making adjustments to the upper arm though? Wouldn't changing the relationship between the 2 cause binding? Forgive me if I'm missing the obvious, but suspensions confuse me. :wierd:
Click to expand...

It doesn't change them enough to create a binding problem from my experience. Paul S has been running this setup longer than I, perhaps he will jump in here......
 
XJEEPER said:
It doesn't change them enough to create a binding problem from my experience. Paul S has been running this setup longer than I, perhaps he will jump in here......
Click to expand...

That's hard to say. Here's what I did & found:
I initially cut the LCA mounts off the farme & made new mounts maximizing on the design of the mount & the shape of the frame, I also modified the axle end LCA mounts. This netted about 3" longer LCA's, with 1" more clearance at the axle, about 1/4" more clearance at the frame, & decreased CA angles from about 26* to 13* (with about 6" lift).
I cycled the suspension in my garage & there was no noticable binding, however, after 2 - 3 trips out to the hammers I tore my passenger side UCA mount 3/4 of the way off the axle & got a very small crack in my drivers side frame end UCA mount.
After that I cut the UCA mounts off te frame & moved them back & down, making the UCA's the same length & angle as the LCA's. This made a surprisingly noticable difference in how the jeep handles. The front end articulates very freely now with no binding.
It's a lot of work, but the results are nice.
Paul
 
Thanks for the insight Paul. That is what I suspected. Lately there have been several posts about only making changes to the LCA and that didn't make sense to me.
 
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