I have an 01 XJ. I am thinking about running a 6.5" Rough Country long arm kit. Any body have any good or bad experiances? I currently have a 4.5" Rubicon Express that has about 100,000 miles on it. It sounds like the front end is going to fall out when I hit bumps or holes in the road.
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6.5 Rough Country long arm
- Thread starter Jonesy51
- Start date
clean4drxj
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- CT.
RC longarms are decent, I know your jeep will ride ALOT better with this rather than shortarms. do some research tho as there are kits that are better for around the same kinda money.
xjbrian219
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- planet earth
why not put new bushings in the RE kit you already have?
CaliXJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Oceanside, CA
SEARCH!! There are an a** load of threads on the RC kits
Comanchedude
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Cincinnati,Ohio
I run the RC long arms on my MJ for 4 years now. they have corrected/ improved the lower axle bushings and flex joints to the point the system has no weak links any-longer. you will like the system alot. it works great! rides great, handles great. i only had one complaint and that was with the original joints and bushings they were weak. the current stuff is solid.good as any other brand.
CaliXJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Oceanside, CA
ok ok i'll add my 2 cents on it.
I went with the 4.5 complete kit 3 or so yrs ago and the only thing i have left are the LA's. Went through 3 sets of leafs (all warrenty) before i finally traded them to used RE leafs and finally bought BDS leafs.(money well spent i might add) The 2.2 shocks are junk. Blew a front my first trip out and the rears soon followed. Swapped over to 5100's. I to had the crappy style flex joints that i had to rebuild every other trip. Swap the upper and lower flex joints to Currie JJ's and was done with it. Recieved the new style flex joint bushings, rebuilt them and they now collect dust on the shelf as trail spares. Seemed like RC used us XJ guys in the beginning for the R&D and worked out the bugs based on our complaints. So the question is... Would i do it again based on all of that. NO! I would save a little more and do it right the first time with something quality. Yes, RC customer service is great. I just don't like fixing the same thing over and over and over. :banghead: Some have had good luck, others not so much. If i would have really listened to what people had said here. I would have saved a ton of time and had a lot less headaches. Not to mention $$$
Have you thought about just fixing the RE kit? Maybe adding some bigger coils, shackles, drop brackets to the lift height you want? Might save you some $$ in the long run.
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I have the drop brackets already and have replaced the bushings. Maybe the Johnny joints are worn out?
CaliXJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Oceanside, CA
With 100K on the lift.. I would assume that would be the case. I could be a number of things but that where i would start.
95XJ_Cbiscuit70
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- South Jersey
I just installed the 4.5" LA kit, it now has about 125 miles on it. Today was the first highway run to see how it would handle. Got it to 70 and it handled much better than I thought it would. Steering is a little sloppy yet thats likely the box since its 17 years old.
Rear leafs are really stiff but I think they'll settle down in a bit. I think, for what I spent on the kit, its more than adequate for my needs. Not looking for rock crawler, just a decent performing rig to get through the woods.
Went with 32x11.5R15's called for in kit, speed is off about 5 MPH. Geraing doesn't seem to be issue, does kick down when going up hill.
One odd thing is the grease I used for the bushings and u-joints. Standard cartridge grease noted as high temp yet it looks like grease is breaking down to the point it drips from the joints. Any suggestions on what grease you use?
Surprised that you can't rebuild what you have as most of the reviews for RE are really positive.
Good luck with it.
Rear leafs are really stiff but I think they'll settle down in a bit. I think, for what I spent on the kit, its more than adequate for my needs. Not looking for rock crawler, just a decent performing rig to get through the woods.
Went with 32x11.5R15's called for in kit, speed is off about 5 MPH. Geraing doesn't seem to be issue, does kick down when going up hill.
One odd thing is the grease I used for the bushings and u-joints. Standard cartridge grease noted as high temp yet it looks like grease is breaking down to the point it drips from the joints. Any suggestions on what grease you use?
Surprised that you can't rebuild what you have as most of the reviews for RE are really positive.
Good luck with it.
CaliXJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Oceanside, CA
I use the Lucas high temp tractor grease on everything.
CaliXJ
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- Oceanside, CA
There really isn't any need to go that big man! I trimmed my finders a little at 5.5" of lift and have plenty of room to run and stuff 35" tires if i wanted too. At 7.5" of lift your really going to limit you off camber situations. Just something else to think about.
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