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Long Arm Options


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I don't care for radius arms but if I were to buy one it would be Claytons.

 

The last one I would buy would be the IRO. I know some people are happy with them but there single upper and goofy cam adjuster is too sketchy for me. I also don't like the idea of one 10mm bolt holding my axle in place.

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I ran Rock Krawler long arms on my xj and loved them. I designed the Krawler joint in the axle end so I am a little biased. There is no better long arm kit than the RK setup. Long arms are not something to cheap out on. Pay for a good setup and be done with it the first time.

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I'm biased against radius arms so if I were to buy an off the shelf kit, it would have to be the RK 3-link or 4-link setup with separate arms. The only thing I hate about them is that there isn't even vertical separation at the frame end.

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I have Clayton radius arms and love em but wished I would've gone with the 3 link. Good thing about Claytons crossmember is that the center section is removable and the arms are still connected to the frame so you can drop your tranny without removing everything like other companies setups.

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I have Clayton radius arms and love em but wished I would've gone with the 3 link. Good thing about Claytons crossmember is that the center section is removable and the arms are still connected to the frame so you can drop your tranny without removing everything like other companies setups.

Good call, cuz you can't do that with Rough Country :wall:

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Another nice thing with Claytons is you can easily upgrade from radius arms to 3 link later on.

 

Just install the 3 link conversion kit and remove the upper Y links.

my plan for when I swap to my fullwidths is to make my own upper link and mount on the pass side and have 7-8" of axle side separation and hopefully 4" at my frane end without having to "modify" the floorboard too bad lol
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my plan for when I swap to my fullwidths is to make my own upper link and mount on the pass side and have 7-8" of axle side separation and hopefully 4" at my frane end without having to "modify" the floorboard too bad lol

 

You will want closer to 9" axle separation, which isn't hard to do. If the LCA mounts hang below the frame then 4" is simple to get. If you can, try to get closer to 7" if you can. Those might not sound like a lot of difference but it makes a massive different on anti-squad and anti-dive numbers.

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my plan for when I swap to my fullwidths is to make my own upper link and mount on the pass side and have 7-8" of axle side separation and hopefully 4" at my frane end without having to "modify" the floorboard too bad lol

 

this is what I'm going with. built the whole front set up using some ballistic brackets and ruff stuff heims. going for more frame side separation though. make sure the upper is a little longer than the lower.

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this is what I'm going with. built the whole front set up using some ballistic brackets and ruff stuff heims. going for more frame side separation though. make sure the upper is a little longer than the lower.

 

That's a somewhat debatable statement, all matters what the vehicle is primarily used for. For offroad, a longer upper is better to keep the pinion pointed at the transfer case under flex. For onroad, an equal length upper is better for caster angle. The thing you will notice the most in either situation though is the angle of the long arms, keep them as parallel as you can with the ground for best manners.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I run the RC long arm system . love it. I upgraded the joints and the lower axle bushings to the new style Clevie type busing they use now. very nice system. I can't comment on advantage or disadvantage of 3, 4 or radius as all the reading on the subject does not provide any advantage for me. the system I have works perfect on and off road.

as for cross member I have only removed tranny and or transfer case 1 time in 8 years so removable section on cross member is of no concern to me.

what i like is the long arm upgrade was around $400.00 when i bought it and i have spent $50.00 to up grade joints in the last 4 years. so damn fine system in my opinion.

i could have spent 3 to 4 times the money and would not have got any gains for my use.

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Yup... we went there:

 

529491_379432442155625_429999910_n.jpg

 

On the larger John Deere tractors that piece is all cast. Extremely robust and built to take a ridiculous amount of abuse.

That's true. A ridiculous amount of abuse however also a little loose and clunky so everything lines up without much fuss. The problem comes in when someone sees them and thinks, "Yeah! These are cheap and they kinda look like those fancy rod end heim thingers that I see in those buggy magazines!" They are klunky and a little loose for a reason. When someone turns around and drives their rig on the street with those, then it turns into chasing the steering wheel around because their alignment won't stay true. I'll say it again just for good measure... they are klunky and a little loose for a reason. Flip through the Ghetto Fab thread on Pirate4x4 and you'll see tons of them! In lots of applications, I'd very much call them hack. In some situations where you want a ridiculously cheap trail rig that goes on a trailer to head to the trails I think they'd work out just fine. On the trail... plenty of flex and easy to find a replacement. On the road... scary and liable to kill a family of four in a minivan.

 

So... with all that, and in the right application, they can work very well:

307897_379485788816957_1681932137_n.jpg

 

Dude's username on here is Doc... hasn't been on in a long time, but I know him. He actually gets a ton of grief over his truck. It performs awesome! It also has the same tractor joints for upper and lower control arms both front and rear. Speaking of the rear... it's a Dana 35 with moly shafts and some (I think) 4.56 gears. He says that he's broken a few axles with it, but it was the type of lines where the tire got really pinched. Overall, it's a cool rig and quite the trail monster.

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You know Duane eh? Didn't know that.

 

Over there in Princeton?... yup. We've talked a few times in the past. Last time was about a year ago when I picked up a set of coils off him. We've passed messages back a forth on MN-Jeep a bunch too. Neat little truck he's got. I would assume you know him too?

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