Thinking about going to a long arm setup

Hey guys, I was thinking about upgrading to a long arm setup and had a few questions. First off, I have a Skyjacker 4-4.5" front lift and I am going to make a bastard pack using stock XJ leafs and the S-10 leafs that I already have on my XJ.

1. Would I need a Drop Pitman Arm? If so, how big of a dropped arm do I need?

2. I was looking at Rough Country's Long arm upgrade kit. Would this be compatible with what I already have? Link to the kit here: http://www.roughcountry.com/jeep_xj_689U.html

3. Is there anything else I should upgrade as well, such as: Adjustable Track Bar, Control Arm Drop Brackets, or Tie Rod Upgrade?

Any advice or recommendations are appreciated in advance! Thanks!

1) If you don't have a drop pitman now and you're steering is fine then you don't NEED one, but without one your steering components could potentially become the only thing limiting your suspension travel/droop. The long arms will allow for greater articulation, but of course you know this - that's why you're wanting long arms anyways, right?

Additionally, if you drop the pitman arm you're probably going to want to drop the trac bar/bracket the same amount to keep your geometry in check.

2) It should be compatible. All it really does is replace your short 4-link arms with two long y-link arms on a custom crossmember. You're probably going to want extended front brake lines if you don't have the already. I'm not 100% but I doubt that relocated stock lines are long enough for a long arm - even at 4.5" .

3) If you're going longarm you don't need drop control arm drop brackets - you'll actually be cutting off your stock control arm mounts (lower). An adjustable double shear trackbar would help. It'd be a shame to put those nice long arms on and have a hiem or tie-rod style track bar keep them from flexing as much as possible. Also, make sure your transmission mount is in good shape. If it's sagging you'll have clearance issues on the rough country kit.

That's all I've got for now. Hope it's helpful.

oops double post....

Long arms are a very very good upgrade probably some of the best $$ i have put into my XJ. I run the Rough Country LA upgrade kit, my pre-existing RE 4.5 Superflex kit had no problem with it. I just swapped the arms and perfect! the really nice thing is the crossmember, and arms so much beefier and solid then stock and feels so much more solid on the road, trail, and freeway! and the way it takes the potholes and bumps in the road is night and day over the short arms.

1. If your steering is fine as goober said then your fine, but the rough country LA kit does come with a Dropman pitarm.

2. Yes it is... you keep all your springs, leafs, steering, but you loose the short arms, stock crossmember and the LCA brackets (gotta cut them off) For the money i strongly suggest this kit! its awesome in the desert, trail, and road!

3. everything that goober said is right on! one thing that i strongly suggest is if your going to be doing the any high speed desert trips is to get longer brake lines, limit straps and bigger bumpstops... umm cause my first trip to the desert i learned the hard way, ended up getting it up to 55 on the whoop sections. LA have so so much more movement and travel it felt like! well i broke a front brake line, snapped the shock, shaved off half my stock bumpstops and put a really nice fat dent in my oil pan and headers. So just dont go balls to the wall. But overall i love my RC Long arms!!

oh i forgot to say if you have 4wd and a np242 transfercase, you will have to take a couple inches outa the crossmember for the front driveshaft to fit right... i had alot of grinding and such, just cause the kit was made for the NP231, and the NP242 sits like a 1 or 2 lower then that so just some minor cutting and it fits like a glove.

Sweet! Thanks for all of the advice and answers guys! I am 4wd so I will look into what transfer case I have and adjust it along with extended brake lines and bump stops accordingly when I save up enough for the upgrade kit.

short arms with DB's will flex just as far as long arms will, its all about shock length

1990heepxj said:

short arms with DB's will flex just as far as long arms will, its all about shock length

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Once you put the money into upgrading the control arms and drop brackets and such, might as well go to a long arm setup.
Besides that, once you upgrade to stronger control arms with new poly joints on one side and a solid joint on the other, you will wear out your poly joints twice as fast. The short arms and stock geometry have a pretty distinct triangulation on the upper links that will fight with your track bar causing bind and indeed limiting flex, as well as wear out joints quicker like previously stated.

Long arms definitely rock. Ride is more smooth and flexing is just effortless. Can't say the Poly longarms flex more than the RE short arms I had before, but they definitely would if I had longer shocks. Plus they keep the suspension geometry intact.

forgot about this one, anyway short arms/db's with a 12 inch stroke shock will flex just as far as long arms on a 12 inch stroke shock(assuming same amount of lift). no matter which one you run you can get both to let the coil to separate from the seat since the limiting factor is the shock. you can flex the same and with db's my wheel climbs up a rock very smoothly. i havent actually been in an xj with long arms so i cant say they ride the same and id assume they are smooth to go up a rock too. i got my heep with the short arms and no db's, since ive added 1.5 more lift and db's and im very happy with it. only thing killing me is i keep putting off getting longer shocks. had i started off stock i would obviously go with long arms but short arms/db's seem just fine to me, least for now

hmmm, A limiting factor as in 1 of many limiting factors is the shock but it isnt the only limiting factor. Maybe just in your case because you've said yourself, you still need longer shocks. Im not saying DBs suck or they arent even a near comparison or they dont perform, but also like you said. If you would have started out stock, you would go long arms. Im guessing for more than enough mentioned reasons.

Ground clearance sucks with DB. I hit my stock control arm mounts all the time and bent them up pretty good, running 5" of lift and 32's. My longarms brackets hang below the frame now, but I think I hit them twice even out in the huge rocks I was doing. The longarms act as sliders now so if I land on them, I can easily just slide right off with a little throttle. I feel like you'd get hung up much more on the DB's.

Longarm all the way!! I run a BDS and love it! I do however really like what redrider2911 has........... may change over :yelclap:

Mine is mostly street and hwy driven. What will change the ride for the better, the most, DB's or LA's?

LAs. You have to remember that the LCAs being more parellel to the road is not the only advantage. With long arms you will also have longer lower and upper control arms that travel through a bigger pivoting radius. Since its a DD you would want poly joints on atleast one end of the control arms to help absorb road shock.

dont forget the fact that a huge portion of your ride comes from coil rate and shocks

The ride itself isn't bad for a 5 inch lift on SA's. But any sudden bump like a pot hole is a real shock as much of the hit is sent into the pan due to short CA angle. I would like to find a LA that has the factory rubber clevite bushings in both ends of the CA. The actual amount that the bushing has to flex or rotate with a LA is less than a short arm. My coil rate is 169 and Bilstein 5100's. I just want my XJ to ride like the new GC,,,LOL.

the problem here is that i learned when something takes bigger bumps well it doesnt usually take things like pot holes or speed bumps real well. my ranger prerunner on SAW 2.5s sucked over speed bumps but ate up whoops no problem. i have a few diff friends with well built rangers coilover'd and not and they all complained about how it was harsh on speed bumps or pot holes and they all did good through big sections. take your new gc out and attempt a whoop section and youll learn quick that it feels like its gonna break in half yet your xj probly will do pretty good

I hear ya. Just always trying to improve the beast. Just kidding about the new GC, it would drag over the big whoops.

Highway XJ said:

The ride itself isn't bad for a 5 inch lift on SA's. But any sudden bump like a pot hole is a real shock as much of the hit is sent into the pan due to short CA angle. I would like to find a LA that has the factory rubber clevite bushings in both ends of the CA. The actual amount that the bushing has to flex or rotate with a LA is less than a short arm. My coil rate is 169 and Bilstein 5100's. I just want my XJ to ride like the new GC,,,LOL.

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I could make up a kit with bushings at both ends. You would really have to tighten down the jam nuts on the joints really good or else you risk them breaking lose before the bushing actually squishes to allow flex.