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Long Arms

rsprman

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Silverdale, WA
OK, I just got a new neighbor that can weld and I got a problem. My Jeep rides like a bull with its B@LL$ in a vise grip. I've got a 6" Tomken lift with extended shackles in the rear, running on 32's. What I want to know is, should I go with long arms or drop brackets? I can't even tell you how bad this thing is on the trail. I checked out RE's drop brackets and they want $400+ for them. Can anyone help me with a cheaper way to fix my problems? Does anyone have any drawings of a long arm that has worked for them?
 
I run RE drop brakets as part of the 5.5" extreme duty kit. I bumped this kit another 2" by using 8" skyjackers coil and 2" blocks in the back. The drop brakets really smooth out the ride and I think I will keep them for awhile, eventually going with long arms. With 6" lift I can imagine how bad your ride is with the sharp angle the arms are at. $400 is pretty expensive for drop brackets so I would look towards a long arm upgrade. Many people here like the Clayton's kit with RE adj upper control arms. Check into that. RE is right down the street from me so it is convient to run their stuff and they do make some good stuff, there Long Arm kit not being 1 of them.
 
Teraflex works good on and off road.
I wish the mounting bracket replaced the trans mount crossmember though.

----------------------------------
90 2dr 6.5" RC + Tera LA 33" MTR, Currie Steering, Tom Woods SYE & Shaft
 
if you ever plan on going back down to stock to sell the XJ, get drop brackets... if not, get LAs

brandon
they both get great amounts of flex!
 
i heard good things about the teraflex kit. if anything i would go with that or the clayton kit of even have a local fab shop make some custom ones for you. i would stay away from the rockkrawler stuff. they have poor quality and if your rig is a DD that 3 link setup could be dangerous but hey thats just my opinion do what you want. hope whatever you do works out better than what you have right now. good luck.

-tanner
 
No drawings but plenty of pics to give you the idea,running the same set-up on both my XJ's!
Long arm Pics
 
jardine said:
i heard good things about the teraflex kit. if anything i would go with that or the clayton kit of even have a local fab shop make some custom ones for you. i would stay away from the rockkrawler stuff. they have poor quality and if your rig is a DD that 3 link setup could be dangerous but hey thats just my opinion do what you want. hope whatever you do works out better than what you have right now. good luck.

-tanner

theres nothing wrong with the RK kit... thats old info. jeremy has done a good job refining the Gen II kit

brandon
but i would go with a 4 link like full tractions, or a radius using both uppers like CRS, clayton, or TNT customs
 
If you're interested, here's a pic of the Tera kit.


JeepteraLA.jpg
 
I know most people don't like the Rk stuff , but I like my LA kit. I drive my jeep alot, and it rides and drives as well as any kit I have seen. I know they got a bad name with there first generation kits, but I have yet to see a kit that out flexes it. Just my opinion.
 
Last edited:
Yeah, but can I just make the Long arms out of my Short arms. By cutting off the ends on both and welding it to some tube. That wouldn't really cost me all that much. I mean, I kinda of understand the differences with the flex in long arm and short arm. But I am on a budget. A REALLY SMALL one. I still need a SYE ,new rear driveshaft, tires, wheels, bumpers, rock rails, and skids before I think I can get serious in this thing.
 
rsprman said:
Yeah, but can I just make the Long arms out of my Short arms. By cutting off the ends on both and welding it to some tube. That wouldn't really cost me all that much. I mean, I kinda of understand the differences with the flex in long arm and short arm. But I am on a budget. A REALLY SMALL one. I still need a SYE ,new rear driveshaft, tires, wheels, bumpers, rock rails, and skids before I think I can get serious in this thing.

Contradiction city, man. You simply can't do all that stuff on a "REALLY SMALL" budget. I could go off on why, but you just might want to re-consider Long Arms (since that's what this topic is all about). And all this stuff is WANTS, not NEEDS. SYE, driveshaft, tires, wheels, bumpers, rock rails, and skids will cost you at least 2 grand, and that's if you get shoddy or used stuff.

rsprman said:
OK, I just got a new neighbor that can weld and I got a problem. My Jeep rides like a bull with its B@LL$ in a vise grip. I've got a 6" Tomken lift with extended shackles in the rear, running on 32's. What I want to know is, should I go with long arms or drop brackets? I can't even tell you how bad this thing is on the trail. I checked out RE's drop brackets and they want $400+ for them. Can anyone help me with a cheaper way to fix my problems? Does anyone have any drawings of a long arm that has worked for them?

So you've got a 6" lift, you're complaining how bad it is on the trail, you don't have a SYE, and you're asking the kind folks here to fix your problems? There's a reason the thousands of NAXJA and forum members here haven't lifted their rigs sky-high, then come back complaining, asking for help where they went wrong, gave a list of "NEEDS", then said they were on a "REALLY SMALL" budget. I mean c'mon man.

Also, no clue where you got the $400 figure from. Rubicon Express's website (http://www.rubiconexpress.com/dynamic/mainpage.asp?folderid=820) shows those top two items @ ~$325. http://www.extremegearoffroad.com/rubicon.htm shows the two as ~$300. I've at least tried the search button here. :(
 
doodahman said:
Teraflex works good on and off road.
I wish the mounting bracket replaced the trans mount crossmember though.

----------------------------------
90 2dr 6.5" RC + Tera LA 33" MTR, Currie Steering, Tom Woods SYE & Shaft

yes teraflex's choice for mounting brackets is poor, and i think for for the price i paid for that mother fucker i deserve johnny joints on both ends of the arms.
 
AMEN!!!

In fact, my upper arms wore out in like 3 months. The reason was the arms are not long enough for 6". When they are screwed out long enough to work, the O-ring won't seat correctly and the threads wear out. I spoke to Teraflex and they told me that they were reengineering the Tera upper arms and that they would exchange my upper arms as soon as they finished their design. The new ones are supposed to have Tera's huge version of Johnny Joints. We'll see. :yelclap:
 
You might try hitting up one of the vendors on here. Like johnjohn at Bigoffroad.com. I got my RE brackets for under 300 with braces. You just got to shop around. Alot of online vendors can sell cheaper than RE direct prices.
 
McFly said:
Contradiction city, man. You simply can't do all that stuff on a "REALLY SMALL" budget. I could go off on why, but you just might want to re-consider Long Arms (since that's what this topic is all about). And all this stuff is WANTS, not NEEDS. SYE, driveshaft, tires, wheels, bumpers, rock rails, and skids will cost you at least 2 grand, and that's if you get shoddy or used stuff.



So you've got a 6" lift, you're complaining how bad it is on the trail, you don't have a SYE, and you're asking the kind folks here to fix your problems? There's a reason the thousands of NAXJA and forum members here haven't lifted their rigs sky-high, then come back complaining, asking for help where they went wrong, gave a list of "NEEDS", then said they were on a "REALLY SMALL" budget. I mean c'mon man.

I've at least tried the search button here. :(

So a newbie goes off on another newbie who asks a legitimate question.......sad. I hate the "do a search" advice.......this is a place to come and freely look for good tech info, if you don't want to bother answering then just don't answer. :rolleyes:
 
Thanks for the back up. I was going to unleash, but it didn't seem quite civil. Also, the reason I say at least 400 bucks is I live in Hawaii, which makes shipping a big deal.
By the way,
OLD MAN, do you have any measurements or could you tell me where and how the mount everything. Got no clue.
Thanks.
 
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