RK 3 link or T&T Y link

Trying to get ideas on a long arm upgrade for my XJ, been thinking of going with the T&T Customs Y link but after riding in a customers XJ at work with the Rock Krawler 3 link it has me thinking.
Pros and cons of each from people who actually have each, not opinions based on what others had or have posted before.

i have the tnt ylink, and i love it,
pros:it is possible to install yourself without welding all bolt on goodness. comes with a cockdeisel belly skid, and i think it rides like a dream.

cons: to work on transfercase/tranny you have to take the skidplate down which the arms are attached to, and that whole assembly is no small hunk of metal. the front driveshaft bolts are also a nightmare to get to.

but as long as you arnt taking your driveshaft and transfer case in and out every other day its no big deal. great instructions too! one of the biggest things that won me over was the bolt in ability. i dont have access to a welder, or have anyone nearby who could weld things up.

I would get the RK three link. No radius arm, no high clearance arms to leave the DS hanging low, no suspension to drop with tranny/clutch change, less expensive, you can buy/fab another crossmember, so it's not prone to bending.

I don;t care for the TNT kits. Except the rear 4 link. That's a sweet set up.

I'm new here and don't have a lot of experience with lifted vehicles, but I just finished the install of my Y-link last weekend. I was also trying to decide between the two kits for some time. What made me finally choose the Y-llink was the fact that the Cherokee is unibody. I use mine as my daily driver also so the unibody stiffeners and belly pan seemed like a great idea to give the body some more reinforcement and help the vehicle survive longer off road. Not to mention some serious protection for the transmission and transfer case.

Some other things I like about the T&T kit are it comes with the JKS quicker disconnects which seem far better than any anti-roll bar disconnects that come with other kits. Also I like the u-bolt eliminators and new rear shock mounts that really clean up the rear axle, and allow the use of a flatter leaf spring.

I do have a couple of cons though, first the install really kicked my butt. However as I said earlier I haven't had any previous experience lifting a vehicle so perhaps I was just unprepared for the degree of difficulty. The u-bolt eliminators and shock mounts obviously require welding so that is an additional expense if you don't have the equipment or skills to do so. I was also surprised to find that nothing was painted. Maybe that is the norm but I am used to buying car parts that are painted or powder coated.

Other than that all I can say is that I am really pleased with the y-link and am very happy with my choice.

I have the y-link and I like it.
I like that it allows for some insane flex out of the front end that a lot of similar long arms won’t allow.
With the unibody stiffeners I have no worries about ripping something out of the sheet metal.
It’s very easy to set up, and moderately easy to install.

The only things I really don’t like about it are:
The high clearance puts my drive line as my lowest point behind the axle, so I have to be very careful with that. I’ve often swore Id never go high clearance again because of this.
The lip on the front of the belly pan makes it very hard to fab a solid skid plate for the tranny and oil pan. This and That's belly pan only covers 1/2 the tranny pan.
I hate having to drop the entire belly pan to work on the tranny, t case, and even front drive line.

I have the RK 3 link. so far i couldnt be more impressed with it. I really dont have any complaints with it except the fact that the krawler joints come with zirk fitting placed in a vulnerable (sp?) position,all of mine have been knocked off. The install is super easy & definately the worst part is cutting the damn stock lower CA mounts off the frame. I wished i had a plasma cutter.
The arms are super beefy & slide over rocks sooooo nice & easy. Articulatation is smooth & far better than my previous 4.5" short arm kit. It even has great control when driving resonably fast (im no jeep speed guy but....). I though this area may have been compremised with a 3 link but so far so good. Its still stable & tracks true on the freeway too.
Plus you really cant argue with the price...... and with the money you save over some other LA kits, get yourself a super beefy DPG belly skid!!

Thanks for the replies guys. It is a really hard decision and based on what people are saying about the front driveshaft I think I'm leaning more to the RK 3 link, knowing how I wheel and on the terrain(95% rocks).

Do the 3 link Rob, I like the Y-Link but I know you're just tryin to figure which one will get your butt up Kodak Finally, haha. Having your front DS draggin up it again won't fly.

Zac I made it over Kodak Rock last weekend, I was also informed that I actually climbed Kodiak the weekend of the Jeeperz weekend at URE and the rock I've been trying to climb is called Budwiser rock(should have used a better beer co. name).
I never even considered the thought of dragging my front driveshaft with the T&T Y-link till it was metioned in this thread.

Id just ad that if your steering geometry is not dead on with the 3 link, your gunna be in for a wild ride.

Everything has its up sides and down sides.

BakersfieldXJ said:

Id just ad that if your steering geometry is not dead on with the 3 link, your gunna be in for a wild ride.

Everything has its up sides and down sides.

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And how is that? All the upper links do on the road is keep the axle from rotating. All you need is one. If you have two uppers, unless they are triangulated, they will bind, and that includes radius arms.

The pumpkin on an axle is already the lowest point when crawling over something, and I always pick my line accordingly; the driveshaft just follows the pumpkin. I don't see how adding clearance with TNT's arms is detrimental. Just one more area that doesn't hang down as low. With that said, I'm running a homemade setup similar to the RK setup and I like it. I've also seen both setups wheeled on trail runs with both performing similarly. Not one setup seemed to conquer obstacles easier than the other.

Edit: Look at RockKrawler's site. The new lower arms they have have a clearance bend in them similar to TNT's.

I didn't even notice the clearance bend in the RK arms untill I read it was notated. I did some looking around and I'm thinking the only real benifit to the T&T Y-link is the belly pan which I could order seperately or get another skid and cross member(mine is bent all to hell).
I was talking to a friend of mine who has a radius arm system similar to Claytons on his ZJ and he was informing me that when he was wheeling at a place called the Devil Playground(invite only) his front end was unloading very easy on steep climbes, his ZJ flexs like there is no tomorrow.

rob92xj said:

I didn't even notice the clearance bend in the RK arms untill I read it was notated. I did some looking around and I'm thinking the only real benifit to the T&T Y-link is the belly pan which I could order seperately or get another skid and cross member(mine is bent all to hell).
I was talking to a friend of mine who has a radius arm system similar to Claytons on his ZJ and he was informing me that when he was wheeling at a place called the Devil Playground(invite only) his front end was unloading very easy on steep climbes, his ZJ flexs like there is no tomorrow.

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I'm running RK's 3-link.. First off I like it.. It's never caused any problems, failed, broken, anything.. It is very flexy...and cheap... If I had the cash at the time I would have purchased Clayton's front and rear cross memebers and skid and built my own arms. I most likely will do that sometime over the winter.. But again RKs 3-link is a decent kit... I will say though I dont like how they made it all "bolt-on"... I think there should be some welding involved with something of that nature...

Devil's Playground has some short steep rock climbs and depending on how your setup it'll unload very easily when the XJ is almost vertical... most will no matter what arms your running...

uncc civilengineer said:

I'm running RK's 3-link.. First off I like it.. It's never caused any problems, failed, broken, anything.. It is very flexy...and cheap... If I had the cash at the time I would have purchased Clayton's front and rear cross memebers and skid and built my own arms. I most likely will do that sometime over the winter.. But again RKs 3-link is a decent kit... I will say though I dont like how they made it all "bolt-on"... I think there should be some welding involved with something of that nature...

Devil's Playground has some short steep rock climbs and depending on how your setup it'll unload very easily when the XJ is almost vertical... most will no matter what arms your running...

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Thanks man I've seen you at UNF a few times.

xj92 said:

The pumpkin on an axle is already the lowest point when crawling over something, and I always pick my line accordingly; the driveshaft just follows the pumpkin. I don't see how adding clearance with TNT's arms is detrimental. Just one more area that doesn't hang down as low. With that said, I'm running a homemade setup similar to the RK setup and I like it. I've also seen both setups wheeled on trail runs with both performing similarly. Not one setup seemed to conquer obstacles easier than the other.

Edit: Look at RockKrawler's site. The new lower arms they have have a clearance bend in them similar to TNT's.

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Thats always something people say about the Y links is how the driveshaft is now exposed. Ive never seen how the Ylink makes them more exposed.

I have the TnT stuff on mine with a hp30, and my driveshaft is not exposed.

Only other downside is like mentioned above, is having to drop the front suspension to do tranny work.

uncc civilengineer said:

I will say though I dont like how they made it all "bolt-on"... I think there should be some welding involved with something of that nature...

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You could, you know, just WELD IT ON instead.

Gaius said:

You could, you know, just WELD IT ON instead.

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Yep. I've done that with a few bolt-on things over the years. If I'm worried about the strength oif the attach point, just add a few stitch welds that could be easily ground off if you had to remove the part. Peace of mind, provided it's a realistic spot to weld and you're a competent welder.

The RK instructions say to weld in the frame inserts anyway.