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building my short arms

jeepcomj

NAXJA Forum User
Location
wisconsin
I'm in the process of building control arms for my 87 comanche for 6.5" of lift, and thought I'd share them with you both to get feedback and maybe (if my ideas work) give you ideas.

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those are sleeves for the UCA bushings of the control arms I'm building. managed to find the proper diameter solid stock and I bored out the center to match the OD of the bushing itself, and had bruce finish the proper machining on it.

the arms themselves are 1-3/4" OD, 1-1/4 ID so they're quarter-wall. these are just the upper arms...they're going to be adjustable so I'm using some 2-1/4" square tube that's 1/4 wall to go around the bushings, then welding a 2" sleeve to it and putting the 1-1/3" machine thread stock in there. it'll be adjustable similar to the rough country adj. UCA's...though I will have a lock-nut on them which I will loosen when offroad, and tighten when on-road for flex purposes.

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I need to chop the uppers down, then put the lower threaded inserts into a section of pipe and weld them up, then trim down the C-channel (it's 2" ID square tubing with a side cut off) and weld that up too.


the LCA's are fixed with RE superflex joint on the axle-side of the arm, and stock bushings on the body-side of the bushing. I'm using stock bushings simply because it is what I had to work with
 
Why spend so much money on short arms at that lift height?No "Super-flex" joints?Seems like a lot of work with no gain!
 
i didn't spend any money on it ;)

i think there's about $70 into the project, and I'm also in the middle of building longer LCA's with mounting points set back further, using superflex joints. i don't have time for that at the moment. I traded bullykatz a comanche topper (which he has yet to pick up...*ahem*) for a set of "longarms" with superflex joints on either end of them, which are being put to good use.

:D
 
My first thoughts would be to get a camera that will focus so that your pics don't look like crap!!!
 
lol...cell phone pics do suck don't they?

these are long enough to be "long arms" for the bottom...
 
f this f that you all suck ha ha just kidding I like the tabs that are on the axle side they are very beef!!
 
I'll give you an A for effort. Why would you put this much work into short arms? With just about the same amount of work you could have built long arms, or a three link.
 
razdrvr said:
I'll give you an A for effort. Why would you put this much work into short arms? With just about the same amount of work you could have built long arms, or a three link.

time.

i don't have it...it needs to be on the road 2 weeks ago. my 86 comanche with the camaro motor spun some rod bearings, and I don't have the $$$ to replace the motor nor do I want to rebuilt that motor since I'm upgrading it sometime in the fall.

so, i've got everything else for it right now, and I will be building a 4 link longarm setup or something like so at some point this year...but right now I don't have time to make the mounts.
 
I'm at the same cross road. Currently doing a complete from axle build with WJ knuckles and OTK steering. Eventualy I want to go with longarms, but the main difference is just a couple of extra welds, so I'll also be going with short arms first and then switch to longarms later using the same flex joints. The only reason why I'm going short arms first and then longarms is with all the changes to the steering setup, etc. I'd like to do as few changes at a time to ensure that everything tracks true and should some problems creep in it will be easier to solve that way.

I'm also using OE bushings on the opposite side:
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...with Johnny Joints on the other side. The two big ones are for the LCA and also big enough to for use in longarm application. The two smaller ones are for the UCA and the narrow one in the foreground for the trackbar. The upper Johnny Joint however will not be used on the longarms as those need rubber joints for a radius arm setup, not?
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Check the sheer size of the LCA Johhny Joints!!
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Everything looks bigger in a midget's hands....

:D

you're right that thing is huge (thats what she said...)
 
lol. nice so far.

how do you propose to use those johnny joints on the axle end of things on the uppers? the axle side UCA bushings are fixed...
 
The upper bushings I'm showing are actually the replacement axle sleeves and bushings for the new axle I'm building. The Johnny Joints will mount on the body end.
 
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