Tomken Longarm

Hello All, I am new to this board. I have read it for a while just never registered. I was wondering why there arn't more people with the Tomken longarm kit. I know the mounting area of the crossmember is a little small and only has three bolts, but is there something else wrong with it? I have had my Tomken short arm kit for about 5 years now and I have had no problems. Any answers would be helpfull. I'm thinkin of going longarm here in a couple of months. Waiting to see what the Rubicon kit will look like. Thanks Alot

Alan

I think it is because the Tomken kit isn't a radius arm kit - it retains the original uppers, and people are concerned about the resulting suspension motion from unequal length arms.

Nay

That makes sense. never thought of it that way. thanks

Alan

The RE kit is out and they are Junk. My friend installed one on his XJ a couple months ago and it just didn't work. He had DW and just poor handling all around. He ended up calling RE and they paid to have the kit sent back to them to be checked over. They didn't know what was wrong.

Yes he installed it right and yes it was aligned and he even put it in a frame rack to make sure the frame was still straight as it had been previously wrecked. In the end I think he decided to go with short arms.

That's a bummer. Anybody else have any experience with the RE long-arm kit yet? I've been planning on getting one in a few months. What is a better kit? Clayton's? I've never welded yet so fabricating my own isn't an option yet, but maybe in the future if all the kits out there aren't that great.

I rather doubt the previous comments on the RE kit!
For one DW has nothing to do with the LA kit.As for the driveabilty how could it possibly be worse than lifted short arms.I built mine but I used RE patrs and it drives better than when Brand New!

Looking at the RE kit, it seems decent, that's why I'm planning on getting it. The one thing I haven't been able to get a good look at is the crossmember they sell and how their arms mount with their system. Anybody have any pictures of the crossmember or everything mounted up, etc.

If your friend had a re long arm kit and installed it and removed it already why hasn't anyone done a write up on it?

i just got email from Rubicon Express saying that long-arm kit is not available for sale just yet. soooo, if some people alreay have it, let's see some pics, as i am seriously considering it.

Man somebody says something bad about RE longarms and suddenly there's a lynch mob to kill him. All I can say is my friend, who graduated finally, bought an XJ this past May and he said he bought an RE longarm kit for it. When he installed it he couldn't drive over 30 mph because it was downright scary ie. wobbles, wallowing, just poor handling. He called them up and they gladly took them back. He said they were not going to ship him out a new kit until they figured out what was wrong. He said they had only shipped 12 of them when he bought it and everybody was having problems so they stopped shipping kits.

As for a write-up what do you want? He installed it, drove it, got scared, took it off, sent it back. No he isn't on this forum nor are a lot of the people I know who wheel XJ's.

Anybody have a Rusty's LA kit? I like the fact that it is bolt on instead of welded like the Clayton's. Do you think Rusty's comment about welding to the frame rail makes sence?

Rusty "Surprisingly this kit bolts on to the uni-frame with minor drilling. NO WELDING is required or recommend. This is very important on the uni-frame XJ Cherokee vehicle. The uni-frame is constructed of 14 gauge formed steel, not much more than the outer sheet metal. Welding to this material can cause costly damage to the frame and is not advised by the vehicle manufactures. As we use these hard core Jeeps, flexing and twisting them, weld fatigue happens, causing the cracking problem. But not with Rusty's long travel kit"

Tomken longarm

A buddy of mine is running that kit, check it out at:

www.michianajeepers.com/bronson.html
http://www.rtr4x4.com/eric_b.htm

Rob Bubala
98 Cherokee, 5.5, 32s

when i was at Rubicon Express two weeks ago, picking a lift up for my buddy's wrangler, i talked to the guy about their long arm for the cherokee and he told me they hoped that they wouyld have their prototype kit on their test rig by the end of this month, so i don't know how your friend got his kit unless he modified a tj long arm kit. also everything i have on my jeep is by RE and i have not had a problem with any of their products.