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Cav-Fab or BDS?

J

JonnyCat63

NAXJA Forum User
NAXJA Member
Location
San Diego
Hello Naxja nation. Long time lurker, first time poster. Not new to Jeeps or XJ's, but I did want some opinions on my latest project. I currently have 2 XJ's, his and hers. 97 Sport, 4" IRO long arm, D30 E locker/D44 Detroit, 4:10's, NP242, 31's, Frame stiffies, winch, etc. 95 Country is set up basically the same way, but with TNT long arms and a NP 231. Also have a CJ6 project in pieces taking up too much room in my garage! That's going to be a retirement project I'm sure.

I just picked up a sweet 99 2 door that fell in my lap and I'm planning on building it a little more aggressive with either the new Cav-Fab 3 link, or the BDS 4 link. These are the only two I am considering and will be buying one right away.

Just wondering if anyone here is running either one and could provide some feedback. I live in So-Cal and most of our wheeling is lower speed crawling, hills, etc. Not too much go fast. Mostly out at Ocotillo wells area, but want to venture out more.

Any feedback, opinions, real world experience would be appreciated! Thanks, and I look forward to posting more here. Just reading all the information from this site has helped me a great deal in my previous builds.
 
Why just those?
You'd get more for your money with the Clayton 3 link

'Cav-fab' I'm not remotely impressed with. Rough country looking crossmember, no thanks.
Bds isn't a bad kit, but I don't have any experience with it personally.

It's your money, but if your dead set on those two I'd reluctantly have to say bds
 
With any 3 link you should be using a bridge. Any particular reason you don't want to use one? Extra work? I get that...

On the height, you don't have to go that high. Especially if you make a few small tweaks. I bought just the crossmember and used 1.5" .250 wall dom for the upper. I'm pretty tall 6.5"ish) but I think with proper bump stopping you could hit 4" and still have plenty of travel.

That is a lot of extra work though.
I know a lot of guys back in the day loved the full traction kit, which is basically the same as the bds.

If simplicity is what your after (with performance) and you don't want radius arms (I think Tnt are hands down the best there) go with the bds. I'm sure you won't be disappointed

I know there are a lot of guys, especially on other boards hot on the cavfab but I just don't see it. It's just like the b. lee kit, poorly designed. And I hate cavfab' rough country knock off crossmember.
 
BDS without a doubt. while i dont run there kit, i do run my own 4 link similar to BDS and love the way it performs.
 
Jbh97009 said:
With any 3 link you should be using a bridge. Any particular reason you don't want to use one? Extra work? I get that...

On the height, you don't have to go that high. Especially if you make a few small tweaks. I bought just the crossmember and used 1.5" .250 wall dom for the upper. I'm pretty tall 6.5"ish) but I think with proper bump stopping you could hit 4" and still have plenty of travel.

That is a lot of extra work though.
I know a lot of guys back in the day loved the full traction kit, which is basically the same as the bds.

If simplicity is what your after (with performance) and you don't want radius arms (I think Tnt are hands down the best there) go with the bds. I'm sure you won't be disappointed

I know there are a lot of guys, especially on other boards hot on the cavfab but I just don't see it. It's just like the b. lee kit, poorly designed. And I hate cavfab' rough country knock off crossmember.
Click to expand...

You are right, some are really hot on the CavFab, but I see what you are saying about the RC knock off crossmember. When you say poorly designed, is it the geometry, or strength?

Didn't want to go with Claytons mostly because of height. The bridge is less of an issue to me as I was thinking of trussing the front axle anyway. I already have the TNT arms on my 95, and they are great, but I want to do a true 3 or 4 link on this build. I've always had my eye on BDS, so I'm leaning in that direction.

I guess it comes down to what is the difference between 3 and 4 link for my moderate wheeling? Do you really get that much more flex with a 3 link? Is there an appreciable difference between the two? Or is it more of the Ford/Chevy argument?

Thanks for the input.
 
4 link will bind more, but thats what flex joints are for. you'll never "outflex" a longarm suspension because shocks/brakelines/limit straps will prevent that.

when i built my setup, my deciding factor to going 4 link was having 2 uppers. if somehow an upper failed, i would still be ok enough to drive off the trail. the same can't be said for a 3 link.
 
89eliminator said:
4 link will bind more, but thats what flex joints are for. you'll never "outflex" a longarm suspension because shocks/brakelines/limit straps will prevent that.

when i built my setup, my deciding factor to going 4 link was having 2 uppers. if somehow an upper failed, i would still be ok enough to drive off the trail. the same can't be said for a 3 link.
Click to expand...

If you have a Properly designed and well thought out 3 link or 4 link upper fail, then you have done more damage than one more upper would have fix.....

A single upper is used in some Very aggressive and abused rigs in races such as king of the Hammers, Jeep Speed races, etc. SO I think its very safe to say, its strong enough for 99.9999% of the rigs that will ever been build here.
----
Oh and a Flex joint is not made to take up the forces/travel path that a partial triangulated upper setup and a track bar, does to fight each other.

I dont think you really have the knowledge to be commenting on these things. First hand or experience should comment.
 
89eliminator said:
4 link will bind more, but thats what flex joints are for. you'll never "outflex" a longarm suspension because shocks/brakelines/limit straps will prevent that.

when i built my setup, my deciding factor to going 4 link was having 2 uppers. if somehow an upper failed, i would still be ok enough to drive off the trail. the same can't be said for a 3 link.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I always had that concern with a 3 link setup. 2 upper links seem to offer more insurance.
 
JonnyCat63 said:
How high is your lift, and what size tires are you running? Just wondering for comparison.
Click to expand...



5-6" ish with 35"s. It's taller than I'd like but it works great.
 
RWKHausSupply said:
If you have a Properly designed and well thought out 3 link or 4 link upper fail, then you have done more damage than one more upper would have fix.....

A single upper is used in some Very aggressive and abused rigs in races such as king of the Hammers, Jeep Speed races, etc. SO I think its very safe to say, its strong enough for 99.9999% of the rigs that will ever been build here.
----
Oh and a Flex joint is not made to take up the forces/travel path that a partial triangulated upper setup and a track bar, does to fight each other.

I dont think you really have the knowledge to be commenting on these things. First hand or experience should comment.
Click to expand...

well thats my reasoning. call it over cautious.

thank god my setup works then, since i have no experience.
 
POLAR_JEEP_04 said:
5-6" ish with 35"s. It's taller than I'd like but it works great.
Click to expand...

I'm going with 33's, so I would like to be a little lower. I guess I shouldn't rule out Claytons just yet. It is a nice setup and if you didn't have to use the bridge, I'd snap that one up in a heartbeat.
I like the idea of a 3 link, but it may not make that much difference, if any at all, in my setup.
 
Just throwing it out there but have you thought about the set-up from serious? In my trolling I know a lot of guys that run it and swear by it. BDS is nice but $$$$. Clayton also makes a solid set-up.
 
The rough country (and cavfab) crossmember isn't terrible, I just feel the control arm mounts are a weird shape and too low. I bent the hell out of my control arm brackets, couldn't hardly get the arms out anymore.

Then a friend who bought my axles bent a brand new rc crossmember, they sent him a new one and promptly bend that one as well... Don't know what exactly he was doing but that was pretty sad I thought. For most people, and in most situations that setup would be just fine. I just know how we progress in this hobby....

Honestly buy what you want. I think the bds would be plenty for you. The amount of 'flex' is negligible, between that and a 3 link, so I wouldn't stress that.

Just my .02
 
Jbh97009 said:
On the height, you don't have to go that high. Especially if you make a few small tweaks. I bought just the crossmember and used 1.5" .250 wall dom for the upper. I'm pretty tall 6.5"ish) but I think with proper bump stopping you could hit 4" and still have plenty of travel.

If simplicity is what your after (with performance) and you don't want radius arms (I think Tnt are hands down the best there) go with the bds. I'm sure you won't be disappointed
Click to expand...
height is a bit arbitrary for the clayton 3 link. they recommend a healthy amount of lift because it helps to keep the upper control arm out of the floor board. without bump stopping, it will find the floor and, actually pretty cleanly, clearance itself. for most, enough bump stop to keep the upper off the floor is not desirable. regardless of lift height... bump stopped for a given tire is bump stopped... if I am bumped for a 35" tire, throwing in a 3" or 10" spring isn't going to change how far the tire stuffs, just how big the air gap before bump is.

the tnt kit is awesome and built well. a buddy has it and it works really well. I decided to build and design my own 3 link. it ended up looking basically like the clayton stuff, with some minor changes. I opted for beating the floor with a BFH before the control arm ever made contact.
 
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