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Teraflex Long Arm upgrade

jeeperjohn

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Temecula, CA
I was having death wobbles after lifting my heep without using drop brackets for the lower control arms so I Bought the Teraflex long arm upgrade and I was very pleased with how beefy this system is. It looked much weaker in the pics on their website. It has Johnny type joints at the axle end and vulcanized rubber at the frame end. As you will see in the following pics I had to modify the mounts due to existing mods on my jeep. This kit would fit excellently on a stock jeep. Many thanks to Ryno44 who helped me out and took pictures for me.

This the reason you need long arms at this level of lift. The lower control arms are at way too much of an angle causing death wobble from hell.
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Once the control arm is removed off goes the bracket on the frame.
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The naked frame.
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Dean got into the act and helped me plasma cut the brackets off, Way to go Dean!!
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The rod ends of the kit are so beefy I had to cut a notch in my previous control arm skidplates.
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Test fitting the frame mount bracket.
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Uh oh, gonna have to modify the brackets due to my slider setup.
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A little notch here will do it.
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Here's the only problem I saw with the kit. One of the bolts is right under the rod end so I had to grind down the head of the bolt so it wouldn't hit the rod end. Note that this probably wouldn't be necessary on a stock rig. Mine is modified with 1/2" crossmember mount bolts.
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The arm mounted up.
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The kit calls for modifying the stock crossmember. That's just not my style so I had to make a new crossmember. I used 1 1/2" X 2 1/2" tube and welded the mounting bars included in the kit to the new crossmember.
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I finished the install, now I just gotta get it aligned. I drove it a little and I noticed the nose dives under braking. All in all it's a smooth ride though. It should be even better once the alignment is done. Here's what the final install looks like.
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I will be installing upper arm relocating brackets to alleviate the brake dive and strengthen the upper arm attachment.
 
If you dont mind me asking, how much di it set you back? I need to do the same as my short arm angles are insane and give me a chitty ride. I have been looking at the LA Upgrades and have been considering this one.
 
seems like a waste of money to me as the uppers are still in the factory location
 
Looks good John, those arms are beefy.
 
Tera-Flex and longarms shouldnt even be used in the same sentence,what a joke(along with the words:good flex,works great,etc)!
 
wouldn't waste my money on the uca relocation brackets. build 1 uca and mount it to the interior drivers side like RK does and make it a 3 link. currie sells a axle side jj $ 50.00, and use a heim from ruff stuff frame side. even with uca relocation brackets the uppers will still be to short. and if those brackets are not sleeved, at least tack weld them. my .02
 
If you dont mind me asking, how much di it set you back? I need to do the same as my short arm angles are insane and give me a chitty ride. I have been looking at the LA Upgrades and have been considering this one.
Teraflex long arm kit at off road warehouse= $621 + tax
Upper control arm relocating kit from Tomken machine= $179+tax
 
wouldn't waste my money on the uca relocation brackets. build 1 uca and mount it to the interior drivers side like RK does and make it a 3 link. currie sells a axle side jj $ 50.00, and use a heim from ruff stuff frame side. even with uca relocation brackets the uppers will still be to short. and if those brackets are not sleeved, at least tack weld them. my .02
I will perimeter weld the existing upper control arm mounts at the frame. The arms I have are JKS adjustable and can be lengthened enough to move the axle forward 1 inch. The uppers are shorter than the lowers but the difference will not be unbearable. I am quite poor due to being underemployed and this is the best solution I could come up with given the time I have to work on my rig and other issues I am dealing with (bad radiator). For the money I feel that I got a high quality beefy kit that with the relocating brackets will give excellent ride quality and articulation. We'll see when I wheel it some. I would have preferred a Rock Krawler 4 link upgrade but I is po'.
 
I have decided to extend the upper control arms and fab up some mounts that will go onto the cross member. This will be the best compromise I can make while not costing me much. I will post up some pics after I get it done.
 
I made the mounts for my upper control arms and welded them to the crossmember tonight. The next and last step is to lengthen the control arms. I plan to do that probably this weekend. The rear mounting point will be almost exactly in the same place as the lower control arms but about 2" inboard. Is this an ideal setup? No, but it will be significantly better than what I have now and it will only cost me about $40 and my time to do. It should eliminate brake dive and minimize caster change with suspension compression. I won't narrate the pics this time, here they are:

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I got my upper arms extended to a total length of 35 1/2" today. I didn't take any in process pics due to time constraints but I will post up some pics of the completed job. Now my upper and lower arms are almost exactly the same length and the frame side mounts are separated by about 1 3/4" vertically. I expect much better road manners and no brake dive. I hope to eventually make some shock hoops for the front and rear to allow much longer shocks to take advantage of the increased articulation ability of the long arms.
 
Last night I took my springs out and flexed the suspension to check for any possible binding or clearance issues and I discovered that he driver's side UCA hits the driveshaft when the driver side is compressed and the passenger side is drooped. I consdered my options and decided to put some triangular pltes on the mounts at the axle end to raise the UCA 1 1/2- 2" to clear the driveshaft. There is room for the arm so it won't hit the floor boards when fully compressed. I believe this will be the last mod needed. Too bad I am not rich so I could just buy a system already engineered :D
 
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