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Help me pick out a long arm upgrade

smiley

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Kentucky
So i currently have a 3.5 inch rusty's lift, bilstein shocks, adjustable trac bar. 31 inch tires.

I do a fair amount of short hauling of a boat with my jeep and I want to upgrade the lca and ucas. My local jeep shop is swearing that I should go long arm even with this small of a lift. I want to do the UCA and LCA or a long arm upgrade since I am getting a little DW. I know the DW is from unbalanced tires and I know i need an alignment... so i want to the the UCA/LCA before I go ahead and have the alignment and balance done.

What are you thoughts on a kit or maybe even help me piece one together. I would like to do sub 1.5k because I am also going to go ahead and do an SYE at this point....

Any suggestions would be helpful.

You guys are awesome!!!
 
With low-lift vehicles long arms can get hung up on rocks. For 3.5” I think you’d be fine with adjustable short arms.
 
With low-lift vehicles long arms can get hung up on rocks. For 3.5” I think you’d be fine with adjustable short arms.

OP, for what it's worth, I do agree with this guy. I ran short arms on a 4.5" lift and it flexed and handled decently.
 
Great advice thank you guys. Last note, this is going to be a lifelong jeep. I will probably always keep it under 4.5 inches and use it to tow... my offroad shop is really pushing towards a long arm kit because of the ride (I always want a second opinion, hence you guys).

Anything else I should be looking at replacing while I am at it?
 
The lift is already on. How is the ride now? If it's not bad I'd ignore your local shop. (long arms won't address DW). I tend to agree with the others who say long arms aren't necessary on 3.5" lift.

I was on 4.5" with short arm for a long time and didn't mind the ride at all. That being said, I did notice an improvement in the ride when I added control arm drop brackets.

If you want to spend the money for long arms, take a look at Stinky Fab's new kit.
http://www.stinkyfab.com/sfr-4-link-long-arm-kit-for-jeep-xj-cherokee/

That's top of my list if I ever put long arms on.... they offer it in 4-link or 3-link.
 
I have about 4" of lift and for the budget you have, Va LA upgrade would be perfect. At that lift height the long arms will be nearly perpendicular to the vehicle giving you awesome on road comfort as well as off road. As for the rocks, they will hit so pick a good kit, hitting the arms on rocks isn't the end of the world.

So far I like the suggestions. Personally I would go with a Rubicon Express kit. I running a RC kit and it's ok (lots of rock scrapes and hard use) but it's held up. For $1,500 you can get a better kit and still have $$$ left over for a SYE, assuming your installing everything yourself.

What bad bilsteins and springs/leafs do you have?
 
https://www.tntcustoms.com/jeep_par...e_rock_tek_jeep_cherokee_xj_87_01_tnt_customs

This is the kit I ran, for a 4 link I think it's the best, I did a fair bit of research. It says it will work with as low as a 3.5" lift.

I have it on 5.5"s of lift, and granted, there are other elements at play on my XJ (Deaver springs and shackle relocation kit) but it rides GREAT on the road.

The TNT kit is not a 4-link!

With low-lift vehicles long arms can get hung up on rocks. For 3.5” I think you’d be fine with adjustable short arms.

That would depend on the kit. I built my LA's about 16 yrs ago and still don't hardly have a scratch on them. I've seen DB's rip the frame rail apart!
 
The TNT kit is not a 4-link!

:roll:

At the risk of sounding stupid (lol), what is it considered if it isn't 4? I would assume it's because the UCA's are connected to the LCA's?
 
:roll:

At the risk of sounding stupid (lol), what is it considered if it isn't 4? I would assume it's because the UCA's are connected to the LCA's?

The Stinky Fab I posted is.
http://www.stinkyfab.com/sfr-4-link-...p-xj-cherokee/

It has four individual links attaching the "frame" to the axles.

The TNT has two links that attach to the "frame" and they each contact the axle at two points.
 
:roll:

At the risk of sounding stupid (lol), what is it considered if it isn't 4? I would assume it's because the UCA's are connected to the LCA's?

It would be a 2-link, but best known as "Radius ARMS"!
 
Yes that's a radius arm design. It's the easiest to produce and install, but also offers the lowest performance. That's the reason you often see radius arm kits from the budget companies. Its cheaper and easier to build and has fewer components. It also has a lot of negative characteristics on the street and the trail. True 3 and 4 links cost more because of the added complexity and parts count, but they also work better, flex better and are more stable.
 
It would be a 2-link, but best known as "Radius ARMS"!

Boom. Thanks for the clarification.

I'm kind of wondering if I shouldn't have got the SFR 4 link setup now. :eeks1::laugh:
 
You guy's are lucky, I built mine because there was almost nothing out there. I follow "ZPD's" radius arm build with a few changes. I still have seen anybody move the arms more towards the middle!
17520005_zps1ejc8y51.jpg
 
Damn edit button.......... "followed" ZPD........."I haven't seen".........
 
SFR
IRO rock link
Ironman4x4fab 4 link are all great kits
personally I will be going with the IRO kit.
Core4x4 also makes a 4 link kit but you have to contact them directly about it.
 
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