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diy controll arms?

jstone8952

NAXJA Forum User
Location
florida
im not good friends with the search button on here, but after browsing i just was wondering- anyone just bought some pipe and welded on some cylinders in the ends?
im ust thinking 30 mins and 50 bucks- viola! controll arms!
im not all that new but gernerally pretty jeep illiterate so have patience and tell me what im doin wrong here... :) :dunce:
 
Not quite. You have the right idea. It seems simple at first, but then you start trying to figure out what bushings you will use, how long they need to be, should they be adjustable (yes), what material for the main section? Then once you get your material, assembly begins and you realize it takes a lot more time to fab then you thought.
Here is a link to my lca build. Read it all, but I'll tell you now, I made a few mistakes. I listed my mistakes at the end of the thread. Any Q's, don't be shy just post em up. Do try to search before you start a thread. I don't really care, but there are tons of guys on here that constantly spew "Try searching..." "use the search button". I like to call them Search Nazi's.

http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=930658&highlight=homebrew+johnny+joint
 
Jes said:
Pipe?
Pipe is to be used for plumbing in houses and such, not in automotive applications. ;)

I used pipe in my lca's, I am confident that the bolts attaching my arms will shear long before my pipe breaks. Schedule 80 Iron pipe is ten times stronger than stock lca's.
 
Love2Ride450 said:
I used pipe in my lca's, I am confident that the bolts attaching my arms will shear long before my pipe breaks. Schedule 80 Iron pipe is ten times stronger than stock lca's.


I prefer to use 1.75" .375 wall DOM or larger/thicker for LCA's and 1.5" .120 wall DOM or larger/thicker for UCA's. They are built with flex joints on the UCA and on one end of the LCA.

My life isn't worth taking the risk of using poop pipe.... Iron pipe isn't the same as steel DOM.
 
I suppose you could re-use your old bushings, but they are pretty inexpensive to buy new. That's what I used for the axle end, new stock rubber bushings. And the problem becomes the "cradle" to put the bushing in. You can buy them cheap enough from jks or rubicon express. After seeing the amount of deflection though, I would suggest using a johnny joint or something similar on one end. There seems to be a debate on which end to install the flex joint.

I am not sure if you read the whole thread, but the primary suggestion I make is to offset the pipe in comparison to the lower bushing, such as the rubi express lca's. I had to trim the axle to allow full droop.
 
TNT said:
I prefer to use 1.75" .375 wall DOM or larger/thicker for LCA's and 1.5" .120 wall DOM or larger/thicker for UCA's. They are built with flex joints on the UCA and on one end of the LCA.

My life isn't worth taking the risk of using poop pipe.... Iron pipe isn't the same as steel DOM.

I don't have a problem with that at all. I think it is important to do what one thinks is best. I didn't see my material choice as a problem, and so far it is working great. To each his own. I do however think people make generalizations about pipe that are not necessarily true. "Pipe is for poop" is one of them.
 
yeah i saw the offset part- how would you suggest doing that? and cant i just make a arm and then bolt it up to the stock controll arm brackets on the frame and axle?
 
Stock type bushings on a rigid arm is asking for trouble. They will twist them selves apart. You need either a heim type joint or some other type of rotational element.

If you are taking the time to fabricate, you might as well do long arms.

http://www.4x4getaways.net/longarms.htm


While these are not as fancy as some and do not connect to the cross member, I wheeled the piss out of them for several years before going radius arms.
 
jstone8952 said:
yeah i saw the offset part- how would you suggest doing that? and cant i just make a arm and then bolt it up to the stock controll arm brackets on the frame and axle?

That's exactly what I did. When you are shaping your pipe or whatever to weld to the cradle, shape it in a manner that will allow you to attach it to the cradle where it is not centered. I dunno how to say it, so how about a thread with pics...
http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=931906
 
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