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chopping and extending lca's

D

dfete91

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Palestine Texas
I have an extra set of Rusty's lca's laying around and I was thinking about extending them. I was wondering if I could cut and sleeve the arms to make long arms? Anyone done this? I was thinking about a foot or so and build some frame brackets get some adjustable uppers and call it long arm.
 
Their steel tubing. It should be easy and strong as if not stronger than than buying new ones. I have a friend that is a professional welder for oil feild equip. He can put a stronger weld on it than Rusty's. In my opinion.
 
buy some real long arms and build it right. there are too many half-ass xj builds i seen in the past couple of months that are just flat out scary. its cheaper and safer to do it right the first time. what do you plan to gain from an extra foot in length? every long arm on ive seen mounts to a reinforced trany crossmember. be prepared to get flamed on this topic especially since you mentioned using rustys crap.
 
Say what you will about Rusty's I've had great luck with their products and customer support. I have a well used 6 inch lift I got for next to nothing. The lca's I'm running right now are procomps. Rusty's shocks suck but everything else is great. Long arms are expensive. if I put a solid weld on it I don't see the problem. A foot was an estimate, i haven't measured yet.
 
you do whatcha gota do, that was just my personal opinion. long arm arnt that expensive, i picked up mine for $200 with shipping from Rubicon Express. whatever you do get a beafy mount to bolt them to.
 
Money is an option for some of us. If I could just make a list out of a catalog and put it on the credit card i would'nt do it anyway. The best part of having a 4x4 is the ability to use your imagination and resources to build it the way you like.
 
dfete91 said:
Money is an option for some of us. If I could just make a list out of a catalog and put it on the credit card i would'nt do it anyway. The best part of having a 4x4 is the ability to use your imagination and resources to build it the way you like.
Click to expand...

Just for your info i have built everything but the long arms on mine as i did not have the time to do it. i have limited funds as well, and by no means am i made of money. I am also a profesionall welder so i know what will be safe and what wont. if your serious about building long arms then build them from scratch with 2in, 1/4 wall DOM tubing.
 
dfete91 said:
What else would i need to go from a short to a long arm setup?
Click to expand...

where do you plan on mounting them to the frame?
 
Where do you suggest? Every longarm setup I've seen has went back to the crossmember. I woul rather not mess with the crossmember, maybe right in front of it with. I guess any other location and i would have to weld to the unibody.Right?
 
dfete91 said:
Where do you suggest? Every longarm setup I've seen has went back to the crossmember. I woul rather not mess with the crossmember, maybe right in front of it with. I guess any other location and i would have to weld to the unibody.Right?
Click to expand...
Or use a bunch of bolts.



Go hit the search button and use that for the next two days. It should answer most of your questions.
Figure out if you want to do radius arm, 3 link, 4 link, etc. Find where you can place the mounts, and reinforce the heck out of them. In a nut shell.
 
Starboard M said:
Go hit the search button and use that for the next two months.
Click to expand...
Fixed it for you!
 
TnT sells a heavy duty xmember made from 3/16 plate.
The stock welded nuts in the unibody have enough meat to run 1/2" hardware.
Get your hands on that heavy duty crossmember, drill & tap xmember & nuts to 1/2" spec, weld your mounts on (I bet ballistic fabrication has something for ya) & sleeve the chopped control arms. That should be a solid start for mounting - take a look at what Claytons, TnT & others are using to mount their crossmembers.
I bet this could be done USDA Beefy for under 200 and give you solid durability with solid performance gains as well.
 
yossarian19 said:
TnT sells a heavy duty xmember made from 3/16 plate.
The stock welded nuts in the unibody have enough meat to run 1/2" hardware.
Get your hands on that heavy duty crossmember, drill & tap xmember & nuts to 1/2" spec, weld your mounts on (I bet ballistic fabrication has something for ya) & sleeve the chopped control arms. That should be a solid start for mounting - take a look at what Claytons, TnT & others are using to mount their crossmembers.
I bet this could be done USDA Beefy for under 200 and give you solid durability with solid performance gains as well.
Click to expand...
I can only speak for the years Ive owned(93 and above),but I dont see how you can do that.The nutserts are extremely thin(I had to replace a couple).Ive heard of going 7/16" but not 1/2"??
 
actually, yes. a lot of though and calculations go into figuring out the correct set up and geometry of suspention componens- ranging from stock to long arms, 3-4 link etc. simple is rare.

can it be done at home and for cheap, sure. but i would definetly sugest to read up on the subject as much as you can. yes, searching can and does bring up a lot of posts/threads that dont realy apply, but the info learned from the threads that apply to you is imeasureable.
 
you can obviously do it, its not that complicated, you just need to know where to make things strong. and I do believe it will cost a little more then $200.

first, your frame tie in. you definately have to beef up and support the frame with additional metal if you plan on bolting into it. I made a new crossmember out of rect tubing 3/16" thick, and welded some 1/4 plates to the frame and drilled and tapped 1/2"-12 bolts. totaling 6 bolts on each side. and welded the tabs for the long arms high up on the cross member so it barely hangs down.

as for the control arms, you shouldn't just add a foot of metal inbetween. just cut off the two eyes off, and weld in a new tube. i used 2" OD 1/4" DOM and weld on the upper control arm mounts to that.

of course without pictures it doesnt' mean tooo much, I'll try and snap a couple tomorrow and post them up so you get a better idea. Look at Rubicon Expresses website or few others as well, you can get some ideas on how they design the setup. but dont be discouraged into not building it. just plan it out, and build it carefully.
 
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