over the axle bracket bushing D44 ??

lst year I build a set of long arms per
Toms writeup
(old man)ive been runnin the OEM rubber bushing and Im rebuilding my upper arm on the drivers side and was curious if anyone is runing
a heim instead of the rubber stuff and if it works..

ive read a lot that it has to be rubber becasue of the forces applied to it. but mounting this stupid bracket to my new arms seems crappy ..any thought s would be appeciated

Are you running uppers on both sides or only one? Radius style arms? When running the radius style with both uppers you need the rubber to allow some twist while it articulates. Say the drivers side stuffs it will want to rotate the axle backwards and if the passenger side droops at the same time it wants to rotate the axle forward. You need the rubber bushing for give otherwise it will just bind.

yes Im running radius arms

my thoughts are if the drivers side arm is adjustable wouldnt the the twist of the threaded rod and the coupler turn back and forth with the twist of the axle

this would mean that the jam nut is backed offf...... say an inch ..

and then for any onroad travel just tighten it back down at ride height??

also Im thinking that with say a poly bushing runnin just the drivers side upper ...wouldnt let the axle twist as much ( withthe pass side off) basically a three link kinda thing

ive ran without the pass side for more flex but ..it seems kinda iffy to me

i ujust want to get it on the trail and blow out in the first obstacle:helpme:

You're thinking wrong on the twist. It would basically need one arm to get longer and shorter as the axle articulated. The twist isn't as much of an issue as the caster changing. If it's a solid mount the axle becomes a massive sway bar.

Also I would trust the stock 3/8" bolt on a single upper. I don't have any issues with running a 3 link on a radius arm setup (similar to the wristed arm idea for the Ford radius arms) but you need some beef on that single upper. I've seen people run high quality 3/4" shank heims but I don't think I would run anything less than a 7/8".

Unless you're planning a total redo, just run two arms with the stock bushings at the axle end. If you're having problems with the joint where the uppers meet the lowers just replace that end with a good quality joint. Johnny Joint, heim, etc.

For maximum articulation you should drop the passenger's side short arm when wheeling. It's nice on the road, but limits flex offroad. You can use RE SuperJoints or the like on the axle end, but the ride will be harsh. You will feel every crack in the road.

What I always wanted to do for the short arm was to use a double action hydraulic cylinder on the passenger side instead of the short are. I would then plumb the two ends together with a valve. On road the valve would be closed, effectively locking the cylinder, while offroad the valve would be open, allowing lots of flex.