how high can you go w/ stock control arms?

meinert · Mar 10, 2005

well guys, just like the title says, how high can i lift the jeep while still be ok with the stock control arms?

dont worry about the shocks, break lines, etc. and also, this will be a pure trail rig, just dont have the money/fab skills at the time to make/buy some long arms.

i was thinkin i read some were that i could get away with about 5" of lift, but i just dont remember....

thanks alot

edit: it has a hp30

xj92 · Mar 10, 2005

MAX 2.5"-3" unless you use drop brackets, after that you'll start getting death wobble due to caster issues. I did 5" with mine and got death wobble, replaced the LCA's with fixed ones that were not even 1/4" longer and it cured it.

Yucca-Man · Mar 10, 2005

xj92 said:
MAX 2.5"-3" unless you use drop brackets, after that you'll start getting death wobble due to caster issues.

Yup, sounds about right.

dandecicco · Mar 10, 2005

I am at 5"s and just have longer LCAs. The uppers are stock and no death wobble or problems of that natrure. But mine is an 87 and they seem to be the exception for many things such as I don't need a SYE with my 44. I have plenty of travel in the shaft. That doesn't mean I won't put one in, but for now I can live with it.

xj92 · Mar 10, 2005

dandecicco said:
I am at 5"s and just have longer LCAs. The uppers are stock and no death wobble or problems of that natrure. But mine is an 87 and they seem to be the exception for many things such as I don't need a SYE with my 44. I have plenty of travel in the shaft. That doesn't mean I won't put one in, but for now I can live with it.

Correct, I was referring to LCA's. I'm still running stock uppers also.

rockwerks · Mar 10, 2005

I ran 4.5" for about a year with stock length lowers and adjustable uppers. NP at all

XJ_ranger · Mar 10, 2005

i blew a front DS with stock uppers and aftermarket lowers at 5.5"

now have RE adjustable uppers...

rockwerks · Mar 10, 2005

I ran short arms RE fixxed lowers and adjustable up to 7.5" without drop brackets, wheeled great and drove highway just fine Never had any problems.

Jeepin Jason · Mar 10, 2005

Personally I don't think I'd even run 3" with stock arms. If you can't do what's needed to be done for the amount of lift you want to run... WAIT. Don't get impatient and halfass stuff.

The biggest problem you'll run into running stock arms with any amount of lift and decent shock travel is going to be that the arms bottom out on the coil pads pretty quickly. This is solved by simply cutting or grinding off the back of the coil pads so that the arms will clear.

rockwerks · Mar 10, 2005

Jeepin Jason said:
Personally I don't think I'd even run 3" with stock arms. If you can't do what's needed to be done for the amount of lift you want to run... WAIT. Don't get impatient and halfass stuff.

The biggest problem you'll run into running stock arms with any amount of lift and decent shock travel is going to be that the arms bottom out on the coil pads pretty quickly. This is solved by simply cutting or grinding off the back of the coil pads so that the arms will clear.

yes you got it. nothin worse than bending the lower control arms on that bracket during some hard crawling, plays hell with alignment! Id even do it with your aftermarket arms when/if you get em. 1/4" radiused there will give you a couple inches of droop!

cyberbackpacker · Mar 10, 2005

Jeepin Jason said:
The biggest problem you'll run into running stock arms with any amount of lift and decent shock travel is going to be that the arms bottom out on the coil pads pretty quickly. This is solved by simply cutting or grinding off the back of the coil pads so that the arms will clear.

Any pics of this done on some stock LCA's to see where to cut exactly?

Thanks.

-Kevin
cyberbackpacker

Jeepin Jason · Mar 10, 2005

Well, you basically just cut off the back of the coil bracket, but not so much that you get into the shock mount. Here's an old pic of a friend's rig, you can see where he cut off the back of the coil pad.

cyberbackpacker · Mar 10, 2005

Thanks!

Fergie · Mar 10, 2005

As a point of reference with Jason's photo there, and the benefits of cutting that piece off:

With my old Rnacho LCAs, I couldnt get teh coil out without removing the arms. Once I cut that portion off, I could drop the axle enough to change the coils out without any assistance.

Fergie

MistWolf · Mar 11, 2005

It's not a matter of "how high can you go" but a matter of "how long before they wear out". How high you can go with any control arm (without drop brackets) whether factory or aftermarket is a matter of the length of the arm. When the angle of the arm gets severe, the suspension becomes harsh in bump- a really bad thing for your chassis and the fillings in your teeth.

Stock control arms are stamped sheetmetal and won't last long even on a stock XJ. The bushings will eventually wallow them out and any kind of lift (re: changing the angle so the front is lower than the rear of the arm) will create more stress and accelerate the wear. You can lift with stock arms as long as you treat it as a temporary solution

how high can you go w/ stock control arms?

meinert

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