question on building long arms

Ok so After bending my short arms over the weekend I'm leaning towards building me some long arms now. I have short arms with drop brackets.

So I have a custom crossmember/belly skid I build myself thats out of DOM and 1/4". Only uses the stock 4 bolts for now. Going to add angle iron up the sides on the frame to add another 4-8 bolts holding it on. All the long arms I see on the market, the mount on the crossmember for the arms hang below the frame, IE a rock catcher. What I want to do is mount the arms to the front side of the crossmember, on the front piece of the DOM inside the frame. So pretty much tucking the arms up so they cant get caught on the mounting point.

I will be building a Y link set up as thats what I want to do. Im set on that.

My question is will the links angle inside the frame? or with how the mounts on the axle are angled will it only let you go straight to the middle of the frame, no allowing you to angle it any more to the inside if that makes sence??

Here a pic of what I mean. Its the back side of the belly but just ignore the t-case skid and think that it was the front. Could I make the mounting points where the blue lines are, inside the frame? Will the arms let you do this??



Also would I be ok to just build my brackets on the front side of the DOM? Just welding the mounts on there and bracing them ontop. Would they hold up just fine??

Thanks

That crossmember is strong enough to support control arm mounts if they are properly welded on.

Check out T&T customs. Their Y link belly pan combo should give you some ideas.

The only thing I would think about is if you ever need to take the trans out the arms will have to come off.

When I did my arms I made the center section bolt in for transmission service.

WebDog said:

The only thing I would think about is if you ever need to take the trans out the arms will have to come off.

When I did my arms I made the center section bolt in for transmission service.

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x2 looking into claytons, they have a similar setup. This would gibe you better ideas.

You can and should mount them inboard. I think what you're asking is if the axle side mounts will allow this, correct? If not, replace them with some heavier dutier.

WebDog said:

The only thing I would think about is if you ever need to take the trans out the arms will have to come off.

When I did my arms I made the center section bolt in for transmission service.

Click to expand...

that is why i bought the crossmember from froelich.(spelling) it is a beafy crossmember and seems to be designed very well. not sure what he charges for just the crossmember now, but when i got mine, i couldnt have made one as nice for anything less.

jeeperjohn said:

That crossmember is strong enough to support control arm mounts if they are properly welded on.

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O ya Ill weld them up good. I have no problem welding.

gunselman said:

Check out T&T customs. Their Y link belly pan combo should give you some ideas.

Click to expand...

Ya Ive cheched out there but Idk, cant get a great idea

WebDog said:

The only thing I would think about is if you ever need to take the trans out the arms will have to come off.

When I did my arms I made the center section bolt in for transmission service.

Click to expand...

I would love to do that, but I already have the crossmember so I want to work with what I already have atleast.

DeftwillP said:

You can and should mount them inboard. I think what you're asking is if the axle side mounts will allow this, correct? If not, replace them with some heavier dutier.

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exactly!! Im eather going to weld bracket straight onto the front of the DOM, or cut a section out of the DOM so I can sink the brackets in a little. Then beef up from there

I was thinking about buying these brackets from ballistic fab to sink into my crossmember

http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/Heavy-Duty-Frame-Link-Mount_p_1511.html

buy 2 of them and then work with it from there.

But then I found these brackets so I would be able to make a true 4link.

http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/Dual-frame-link-mount_p_1164.html

I could notch the crossmember out and then weld these onto the frame and have the crossmember bolt around it. But the lower link would still have to hang below the frame rail. What do you guys think??

I never understood why so many people are sold on the removeable center section.

How often are you working on your friggin transmission?

I had a TNT setup on my old XJ for close to 2 years and NEVER had to drop the thing. Finally scrapped it with close to 300k on the AW4.

MoparManiac said:

I never understood why so many people are sold on the removeable center section.

How often are you working on your friggin transmission?

I had a TNT setup on my old XJ for close to 2 years and NEVER had to drop the thing. Finally scrapped it with close to 300k on the AW4.

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This kind of mirrors my thoughts as well. It's amazing how many people insist on that feature.

Just the thought of pulling the front end apart to do work on the trans or even the transfer case. I usually pull the center section and lower the trans to get to the top bolts. I have had my center section off probably 3-4 times since last nov when i installed my arms.

Both of my rigs run that same set-up,no issues ever.The front axle mounts are canted inward about 12* IIRC.

MoparManiac said:

I never understood why so many people are sold on the removeable center section.

How often are you working on your friggin transmission?

I had a TNT setup on my old XJ for close to 2 years and NEVER had to drop the thing. Finally scrapped it with close to 300k on the AW4.

Click to expand...

and we didnt even need to ubolt or rove any of the tnt setup to remove your motor trans and tcase as one

Jeep freak, do you have any more pics of your crossmember? What size DOM did you use?

My front lower links mount to the crossmember just on either side of the transmission mount.

Yes, I have to pull apart the front end to drop the transmission or transfer case but it's kind of nice to get all that stuff out of the way. You're going to put the frame on jackstands anyway before pulling the transfer case, right?

Phil said:

My front lower links mount to the crossmember just on either side of the transmission mount.

Yes, I have to pull apart the front end to drop the transmission or transfer case but it's kind of nice to get all that stuff out of the way. You're going to put the frame on jackstands anyway before pulling the transfer case, right?

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Not with 6+" of lift, no need. I am not saying one way is right or wrong, a removable center section is my personal preference.

I like the stability of having the body on stands, no movement when you are jockeying things around.

Ok one last question. After watching a guy last weekend wheling tear off his pass upper control arm mount I want to replace that while Im at it. Im sticking with the Y link set up. But was thinking about getting one of these,

http://www.barnes4wd.com/product_info.php?products_id=2400

Weld that on the axle and build a new pass upper arm. The arm would use a 2 5/8th" joint to the tower then my 1.5" ballistic joint I have right now on my upper and then still attaching to my lower. Would that work? Would that be strong enough and ok to do??