anybody have long arm pics from their own build?

[adamusmc2002]

Hey guys, haven't been in the advanced fab and eng forum much, but my buddy and I are looking to build our own long arms, and I'm in search of some do's and don'ts I guess. We've noticed that most kits run 36" arms, and mount right next to the trans crossmember, or it integrates a whole new crossmember. We're trying to figure out if we would want to run 32" arms, and just bracket the arms right in front of the trans crossmember. Any thoughts? Also, when a long arm suspension is stuffed, does the lower arm come in contact with the frame? That's our primary concern right now, but I didn't know if we'd even be able to stuff it that much. Thanks all

 

[RCP Phx]

My arms are about 32" because they mount to the front of the crossmember.The TNT kit is basically the same as mine only they added the bend(their arms are about 32" also).The arms are mounted inboard so no clearance issues.
http://hometown.aol.com/__121b_hq51gQJZjgg3M13QnEnq07dcuSjA4ZG3

 

[needsrepair]

http://www.4x4getaways.com/LongArms.htm

http://www.xjworld.4wdriver.com/longarm.htm

Im doing the same. A guy on here sent me some photos of his set up. Its a radius arm. It has rubber at all ends and looks like it would offer the best ride. His is built into the cross member. He did a good job and he says he and his buddies have used it with no problems.

 

[85cherokeechief]

I am running 38" arms on mine, and they mount behind the cross member. At full stuff, the arms are about 1/2" from the frame rails, and they run directly underneath them. Here is a picture. http://cherokeechief.zoto.com/user/...AT.0_YER.2006_MON.02/average_rating-desc/0-30

 

[RCP Phx]

I am running 38" arms on mine, and they mount behind the cross member. At full stuff, the arms are about 1/2" from the frame rails, and they run directly underneath them.Here is a picture.

"Holy loss of ground clearance,Batman".What a "rock magnet".

In this pic you can hardly even tell that Ive got LA's

 

[98XJROKS]

What are your specs? I like the look!

 

[85cherokeechief]

I have never had a problem with the arms hitting anything, plus I would much rather drag on the arms than the frame rails, or even worse the drivetrain.

 

[rehab]

im not really too happy with the way they hang down so low, but i havent hit them off anything yet (lack of rocks in MI). there made out of 2in DOM 0.25 wall upper and lower. im working on a new crossmember to put the mounts up 'inside' the frame rail. POLY BUSHINGS ALL THE WAY!

 

[xj rockn]

this seems like it couldnt be too bad after all these write ups, long arm kits are so expensive..

 

[xj rockn]

also what is the best way to mount the rear of the arm, weld the angle iron on or drill a hole and bolt some steel in that way

 

[rehab]

also what is the best way to mount the rear of the arm, weld the angle iron on or drill a hole and bolt some steel in that way

we at BBC offroad..haha, yeah its a little thing my buddies and i have, found that if you take some angle iron and weld it to the frame (drill holes in it then weld it that way) and then bolt on a stiffener plate to the angle iron. i will be doing either a write up soon, or selling kits or whole arms with unlimited possibilites. we have to make a set for a guy and were gonna set up a jig when we do that so we can knock out arms and sell them on ebay. hopefully everything will go well with that.

 

[RockControlXJ]

I'm at about 36" also. Johnny Joints at the crossmember, and rubber bushings at the axle. Very flexy and quiet.

The Frame-side brackets only hang 1" below the bellyskid. You'll want to inboard your hangers, i hated having mine under the frame the mounts got hung up on everything.

As for mounting them, i would advise you to sleeve the entire bottom of the "framerail". I used a 4"x6" box tube and cut into two 4"x3" C-channels. I then drilled 36 1/2" holes in each channel to weld to the truck. This trick goes a long way toward stiffening the whole unibody.

 

[vetteboy]

Here's mine:

How it attached to the frame:

(the angle iron is extended from the old LCA mount to the rear spring hanger)

Finished:

Worked pretty well for what it was. Flexed to the limits of the shocks without binding up at all, had pretty good manners on the street and was predictable on the trail, and had shitty ground clearance. For a quick project without a whole lot of design headaches I was happy with it. Arms were around mid-30's IIRC (you could PM Timmay if you really wanted to find out, as he's using those arms now).

 

[ponyracer1]

QUOTE]


HOLY GOD!! I am PISSED that my 1/2 plate crossmember had to sit on the bottom of the frame rail instead of in between them. Guess I shouldn't worry about it to much.....

 

[vetteboy]

HOLY GOD!! I am PISSED that my 1/2 plate crossmember had to sit on the bottom of the frame rail instead of in between them. Guess I shouldn't worry about it to much.....

had shitty ground clearance

Told ya so.

Like I said, it worked well for what it was. I didn't get hung on it much.

But, there's also a reason why it's like this now:

Fitting a NV4500, 231 crawl box, D300 non-flipped and rear 4-link is not the easiest thing to do while not having anything hang down. My choices were to drop everything by 1" and have a flat belly skid or to remove the entire transmission tunnel and most of the floor. I think it'll work ok though.

 

[adamusmc2002]

wow man, that's impressive vetteboy. And thanks to everyone for your 2 cents, really helps. We'll take pics along the way and post up on our progress.

 

[vintagespeed]

im not really too happy with the way they hang down so low, but i havent hit them off anything yet (lack of rocks in MI). there made out of 2in DOM 0.25 wall upper and lower. im working on a new crossmember to put the mounts up 'inside' the frame rail. POLY BUSHINGS ALL THE WAY!

Man I love longarm threads...

I can't see in the pic but you may want to wrap a piece of strap around those bushings at the frame end and tie it into the arm itself, the sleeve is pretty thin and with all the force you're gonna see at the x-member during flex they could fail.

And we all know that a longarm failure at the frame is a BAD thing.

 

[vintagespeed]

Here's mine:

...

Yikes. To all those aspiring fabbers out there getting ready to hack your framerails......buy a holesaw.

 

[T&A-XJ]

Heres a few from the setup i built a few years ago, with 4" of bump stop the arm just clears the frame. These arms are 32.5" long. I run 5" bump stops now and am very happy with it, with the exception of the radius arm geometry. 3 link is in the near future.

http://www.pnwxj.com/images/zoom/XSJWUQ/viewsize/DSCN0366.JPG

http://www.pnwxj.com/images/zoom/XSJWUQ/viewsize/DSCN0382.JPG

 

[scottsxj]

does the square tubing present any strength issues as opposed to round, and the same question of strength goes to how you cut and welded the lower control arms. Looks like a nice design, and one badass jeep