home made long arms

[ZacSquatch]

Of course... what kind of jeeper do you think i am....

 

[Goatman]

If your going to end up spend that much money on Hiems, why not run Johnny Joints or RE flex joints... around 50 bucks, rebuildable and scweeet.

I wouldn't do heims...rubber on at least one end for sure.

I run rubber all the way around myself and with my shocks disconnected (they're limiting me now) I can drop coils and overstretch brake lines.

No more rubber for me. I hate the slop and I don't like having to replace them. Big heim joints are great because they stay tight and they never wear out.

I'm also done with johnny joints, the RE ones wear out the race too quickly, and the Currie ones are a PIA to remove and get a thicker washer into to take up the slack when they wear. I quit pulling them apart and just beat around the inside edge of the washer with a punch to tighten them up periodically.

Big heims are the only zero maintenance way to go, and they're stronger then either the bushings or the jj's. Of course, I'm assuming a guy really wheels his rig regularly.

 

[Lowrange2]

Of course... what kind of jeeper do you think i am....

Lol good point. I'll at least have supeflexs on the frame end of the LCAs. and mostlikly stock rubbers at the axle end. Don't they sell a supeflex joint with bolt already on it to thread into the arm for adjustment?

 

[RCP Phx]

Lol good point. I'll at least have supeflexs on the frame end of the LCAs. and mostlikly stock rubbers at the axle end. Don't they sell a supeflex joint with bolt already on it to thread into the arm for adjustment?

No and yes,RE sell theirs with a female thread,so just weld the bolt in the arm!Or build up a shell like I did.

 

[Goatman]

I look at it from the side of safety on the street.Radius arms "act" like torque arms,so I would rather share the load between instead of putting it all on one.Like I said you can make a "pin-able" "scissor" arm for the trail and have the best of both worlds!

I guess the 3 link factory rear suspension of a Mustang GT, or Rousch or Shelby enhanced Mustang isn't safe for the street.


Any idea how many of us run a 3 link front suspension on our XJ's?

I like a single upper arm for a number of reasons, among them that it puts no bind on the suspension joints since the arms can move freely, and since I hate sloppy bushings you can use a solid joint in the upper arm when there's only one arm. When using two upper arms on a radius long arm type setup the joints need to be flexy rubber to absorb the deflection that happens during articulation. Then, since the rubber bushing has to absorb so much deflection the bushings tend to wear out leaving more slop until they are replaced.

 

[Lowrange2]

No and yes,RE sell theirs with a female thread,so just weld the bolt in the arm!Or build up a shell like I did.

Whats the thread in that RE piece? How much is it? - $58 You got that shell from JKS didn't ya? - yes $15 each Edit: Answered my own questions...

 

[ZacSquatch]

I got Male threaded bungs with mine.. dunno where the guy got emm though.. JJ's or heims may be your ticket after all

 

[WheelinJR]

I wouldn't do heims...rubber on at least one end for sure.

I run rubber all the way around myself and with my shocks disconnected (they're limiting me now) I can drop coils and overstretch brake lines.

No more rubber for me. I hate the slop and I don't like having to replace them. Big heim joints are great because they stay tight and they never wear out.

You must be really hard on your Jeep. There are a few people running the arms I run, some for 3-5 years and have never needed to replace a rubber bushing.

I never really noticed any slop in mine, seems very solid on the road and trail to me. Also I have a bit of a daily driver mindset, since I do daily mine, so having all hard mount points to me seems...uncomfortable.

 

[Lowrange2]

The only thing I wonder is will having rubber bushings on one end of the LCAs and Superflex on the other end give me a harsh ride on the road? Will one rubber bushing be enough to absorb the road shock?

 

[WheelinJR]

Our shop Jeep runs rubber at the frame end and a johnny joint at the axle end, and is quite comfortable on the road, even on 37's

 

[hellbilly04]

You must be really hard on your Jeep. There are a few people running the arms I run, some for 3-5 years and have never needed to replace a rubber bushing.

I saw Goatman at JV & he does wheel the hell outa his JX..

With the wall thickness your using on the LCA mounts you never had a problem of streaching the wall where the stock bushing is? I couldn't get more than 2 trips on them before I had to remove the arm & beat tube round again so the bushing wouldn't want to walkout of the arm. That is one of the reasons I went to Johny Joints on my LCA's & their only $8 bux to rebuild.

If I didn't DD it I would do Like Goatman did & go all Heims & never have to worry about it again.

 

[xj92]

The more rubber the more it will absorb road noise, bumps, etc. There's even a huge difference in the feel between rubber & poly. I built my current lowers with rubber at both ends cause I was broke when I built them, but my shocks and brake lines limit my downward travel, not the bushings. They feel great too. I'm building uppers now and I'm using Johnny Joints on one end though. If I ever modify the lowers again I'll put a super flex or jj on one end for the increased flex.

 

[Lowrange2]

Then thats what I'm gunna do! Rubber at one end or the other... I guess I'll do rubber at the frame end, superflex at the axle end, a hiem and the RK upper for the upper length. Decision made! Ordering tomorrow!

 

[WheelinJR]

With the wall thickness your using on the LCA mounts you never had a problem of streaching the wall where the stock bushing is? I couldn't get more than 2 trips on them before I had to remove the arm & beat tube round again so the bushing wouldn't want to walkout of the arm. That is one of the reasons I went to Johny Joints on my LCA's & their only $8 bux to rebuild.

I've never had that problem. The only time I have ovaled out bushing cradles was the one time I went about pressing them incorrectly, with the normal 1/8" wall pieces.

I will say that since I did that, I replaced mine with RE cradles, which are about 3/16" thick cradles.

But there's a handful of these kits out and none of them have ever had that problem, even with the 1/8" cradles.

 

[RCP Phx]

Whats the thread in that RE piece? How much is it? - $58 You got that shell from JKS didn't ya? - yes $15 each Edit: Answered my own questions...

No,thats a RE Super-flex joint.1-1/4"x12 thread

 

[Lowrange2]

Oh ok... they are 42 bucks...

 

[RCP Phx]

The only thing I wonder is will having rubber bushings on one end of the LCAs and Superflex on the other end give me a harsh ride on the road? Will one rubber bushing be enough to absorb the road shock?

If you include the UCA there are 3 rubber joint per arm!

 

[RCP Phx]

Then thats what I'm gunna do! Rubber at one end or the other... I guess I'll do rubber at the frame end, superflex at the axle end, a hiem and the RK upper for the upper length. Decision made! Ordering tomorrow!

You need to have the flex joint at the crossmember,the ones on the axle will never see any movement(other than the compression from binding),all the movement(flex) is at the crossmember!

 

[Lowrange2]

If you include the UCA there are 3 rubber joint per arm!

Super flex on the frame end LCA, Rubber stock on the axle end of the LCA, and I only plan to run one upper link so I'm gunna put hiem on the lca end of the UCA and the RK joint in the axle end of the UCA. Therefor there would be one rubber bushing per side. two total.

 

[RCP Phx]

The problem with running only one upper arm is that you can't use the stock axle side rubber UCA bushing, it's just not up to the challenge, and the axle wrap will be uncomfortable. I didn't like the axle wrap from using both stock rubber UCA bushings. With one upper arm, the joiunts need to be hard, like johnny joints or rod ends, and the axle mount needs to be reinforced to be very strong.

Read this again,everything is different when your only running one upper!