BDS Long Arm kit

I have the RE 4.5in SF kit on my XJ, and am looking at going to either long arms or drop brackets sometime in the near future. I have a few questions about the BDS LA kit... Does anyone have any experience with the BDS LA kit? Would I be better off going with Drop brackets? Would the BDS 4-Link LA kit have the same unloading problems associated with radius arms?

What spawned questions was an incident that happened this weekend while I was wheeling with a buddy of mine. He was in his TJ heading up a pretty steep incline, and got a tire off the ground. At that point, he started to slowly tip backwards, and would probably have rolled if it wasn't for some of us in the group putting weight on the jeep. He was under the impression that if he had been running Radius Long arms, he would have experienced the unloading that is sometimes associated with them and would have rolled.

Now I don't know if that's necessarily what would have happened, but either way I still don't like the thought of suddenly having the suspension "unload"... Which is why I like the idea of a 4-link or DBs.

anybody have any thoughts?

This is a better kit for many reasons... not that BDS is a bad one. http://www.tntcustoms.com/page.asp?pageid=169

I have no experience with the BDS kit, but as for the unloading, that is an easy fix with the use of a limit strap on the center of the axle.

I run 8.5" on a BDS kit and would not run anything else, they have the softest/flexiest rear leafs on the market for the lift hight of 5.5" and the front true 5 link not a risted lower link kicks the s@%t out of RE's kit. I couldn't be happier with my lift its just a lot of money is all. I install lifts for a living and I have put just about all of the on cherokees, sky,BDS,RE,Rustys,Fab,Procomp,Super lift, granit not all thous comanys offer anything more than a basic 3 or 4" lift but BDS's kits I like the Most.

PS: not to be mean dude, y-links suck, pionon angle throw out the suspension travel? yeah it binds. not so on a true 4 or in this case 5 link.

^^^ haha im pretty sure your the one with the 8.5" lift on your XJ... kinda retarded in almost everyones opinion. Im not saying that the y-link is the best suspension by far, i was simpily offering a solution to the unloading problem.

REVROK said:

This is a better kit for many reasons... not that BDS is a bad one. http://www.tntcustoms.com/page.asp?pageid=169

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The TNT kit IS a Radius long arm kit......which he doesn’t want.....

Radius arm front ends Are prone to unloading in steep inclines and off camber situations unlike a good 4-link..

I have no experience with the BDS kit but its the only 4-link bolt on that I know of. So I don’t know the handling differences between It and a Radius kit.

But every well made 4-link or 3-link long arm I have seen out performs any radius arm long arm out there.

Full Traction and Rock Krawler both make 4 links....

swbooking said:

I have no experience with the BDS kit, but as for the unloading, that is an easy fix with the use of a limit strap on the center of the axle.

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A center limiting strap mite work, But from what I have seen it only stops the front end from completely unloading......

The front end can still jump/bounce/hop around, creating the loss of traction in the front end………which can be just as bad/dangerous compared to it completely unloading

The one and only good way that I have seen to fix both hopping and completely unloading is a suck down winch.

JNickel101 said:

Full Traction and Rock Krawler both make 4 links....

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O yea...forgot about those...........the full traction kit is well made.

But I think there is more stuff to get hung up on on those kits...... compared to the BDS kit.

Rock Krawler's kits are 3-link.

As for running radius arms... I've yet to see a 4-link (or 3-link) "outperform" a similarly equipped rig running radius arms.

Binding shminding, IMHO and in my experience it's a non-issue unless you're trying to do something like a 14" travel suspension, but for the average Joe wheeler running a bolt-on suspension with ~10" travel shocks radius arms work just fine. We've been running the RE Long-arm kit on our TJ for about 5 years now with no issues on or offroad.

Same goes for caster changes. I could maybe see that as an issue if you're doing high speed desert racing, but crawling on the trail? Suspension travel on the road during normal driving isn't enough to cause enough caster change to cause any problems. IMHO the toe/alignment changes from running an inverted-Y steering probably cause more handling quirks than running radius arms. Again, non-issue.

Yes, unloading can be an issue with radius arms though, so that's definitely one down-side to keep in mind. While I've witnessed our TJ's front end unloading on climbs while standing/watching outside the vehicle, it's never been something I've consciously been aware of happening while driving it, especially when compared to running the same trails, lines, and obstacles in my XJ (4-link, short arms, RE drop brackets).

Jeepin Jason said:

Rock Krawler's kits are 3-link.

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You might want to look at them again.

http://www.rockkrawler.com/pages/catalog/index.php?r_itemID=143

Hmm, really?

http://www.rockkrawler.com/pages/catalog/index.php?r_itemID=3

(fwiw, that 4-link kit only just came out recently, RK's claim to fame is their 3-link systems).

I know Jason. It was pointed out to me the same way. I run the Gen2 RK long arms on my heep and hadn't looked at their site in quite some time.

Thanks for the input everybody. Ok, so now on to question 2... Would I be better off going with the BDS Long Arms or CA Drop brackets?

I priced it out, and I can get the LA kit (just the LAs, belly pan and mounting hardware) for $849...

I can get RE DB kit for $354, but I'd still have to buy new adj UCAs, since I'm currently running fixed uppers. That's another $239, which would put me at $593. Still a big investment, and for $256 more I could be getting long arms... which I feel would be better? Thoughts?

Rough Country drop brackets FTW. That's my plan, at least. If they give me problems, they are inexpensive enough to be a temporary solution until I can afford a high-end long arm kit. If I have no trouble, they are beefy enough to be a permanent solution.

If they are good enough for GoJeep, they are good enough for me.
http://www.go.jeep-xj.info/HowtoREdropbrackets2.htm

Not that there's really any difference btwn RC's and RE's other than the price and the braces, but Marcus (GoJeep) is running RE's.

Anyway, the only thing I don't particularly care for about the BDS LA setup is the lack of a t'case skid. Depending on how low down their crossmember hangs though, you might could use t'case skids designed to mount to the stock crossmember.

That's one of the things I like about T&T's setup -- crossmember, t'case skid, and LA mounts all in one, with ~1" clearance over the stock crossmember. I don't think anyone else's kit incorporates a t'case skid? RE's comes close, but I know their crossmember hangs down relatively far, and it doesn't totally cover the t'case.

Jeepin Jason said:

Not that there's really any difference btwn RC's and RE's other than the price and the braces, but Marcus (GoJeep) is running RE's.

Anyway, the only thing I don't particularly care for about the BDS LA setup is the lack of a t'case skid. Depending on how low down their crossmember hangs though, you might could use t'case skids designed to mount to the stock crossmember.

That's one of the things I like about T&T's setup -- crossmember, t'case skid, and LA mounts all in one, with ~1" clearance over the stock crossmember. I don't think anyone else's kit incorporates a t'case skid? RE's comes close, but I know their crossmember hangs down relatively far, and it doesn't totally cover the t'case.

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These are the reasons I like the TNT kit... had never really thought about the whole unloading-radius arm issue :doh: (though it is a hybrid link-triangulated arm that should not unload much).

hey i have a little experiance with the bds long arm ive had it on bout a month now ..moved up from the RE 3.5.. 2 weeks ago we went out and gave it a pretty good test and i must say .. the difference is night and day... the jeep did everything i asked it to.. i can only say that at first it was down right scary.. the thing flexes like mad.. i thought i was gonna roll a couple of times but i was no where close.. its just a case of gettin the feel for it ..