long arms? johnny Joints?

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drknyt

NAXJA Forum User

Location

Cedar City, UT

• Oct 11, 2008

• #1

i have a 94 xj with a long arm set up in the front, im not sure what brand it is, i bought it this way, its not adjustable and it doesn't flex alot because it uses factory bushings, would johnny joints be a good upgrade or no?

 

xcm

NAXJA Forum User

Location

Southern Oregon

• Oct 11, 2008

• #2

if it uses factory rubber bushings at both ends, upgrading one end to a misalignment joint would prove to be a good upgrade for flex, ride quality might suffer a little, if you care! you say they arent adjustable, so how do you plan on attaching these JJ's, chances are if the previous owner fabbed em that way, he didnt intend the ID' of the tube to match up with the OD' of a jj, it may match up, it might not! you might end up needing to weld in a spud to receive the threads of the joint,
AT WHICH POINT, you might as well fab up some new arms, and keep the old ones as spares/resell if your not a certified welder

 

xcm

NAXJA Forum User

Location

Southern Oregon

• Oct 11, 2008

• #3

btw, a picture is worth a thousand words!
if its home fabbed, i would start over on new arms.

 

TRAILREADYXJ

NAXJA Forum User

Location

Raleigh NC

• Oct 11, 2008

• #4

X2 on pics!

 

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drknyt

NAXJA Forum User

Location

Cedar City, UT

• Oct 12, 2008

• #5

hope that helps, thanks

 

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drknyt

NAXJA Forum User

Location

Cedar City, UT

• Oct 12, 2008

• #6

i need/want more flex out of the front end, i can weld but don't have benders or notchers, i'm stuck on building some, or buying some, or if there is anything to make these better, if i were to buy i've been looking into rustys long arms, just the lowers, are they decent or crap?

 

xcm

NAXJA Forum User

Location

Southern Oregon

• Oct 12, 2008

• #7

do those control arm mounts attach to the crossmember at all? if so how.
and, is that the oem crossmember?

 

goodburbon

NAXJA Forum User

Location

Westcliffe Colorado.

• Oct 12, 2008

• #8

From that picture those don't look like they safely attach to the frame.

 

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drknyt

NAXJA Forum User

Location

Cedar City, UT

• Oct 12, 2008

• #9

the mounts are made of 1/4" thick metal that wraps around the frame and is welded to it and also the cross member holds them up, its hard to tell but where they are welded to in the picture is a plate that wraps around

 

xcm

NAXJA Forum User

Location

Southern Oregon

• Oct 12, 2008

• #10

thats what i was thinking, similar to rk's 3link brackets.

 

TRAILREADYXJ

NAXJA Forum User

Location

Raleigh NC

• Oct 12, 2008

• #11

Assuming those brackets ARE safe, and the tubing is thick enough DOM... You could cut off the frame side bushing, weld in a tube adapter, and use a flex joint.

One thing that will hurt your flex here is the lack of triangulation. If you look at most radius arm setups, the arms mount to the cross member. By moving the frame side arms closer together, you create triangulation and less binding during flex.

RK can get away with frame brackets because they use a true 3 (or 4) link, and do not bind as easily as a radius arm setup.