For the short arm suspension: We run the stock control arms on the race truck - no bracing or reinforcement. (quit laughing, it's a BITD class requirement :rof: ) Interestingly, while we've taken hits hard enough to bend the track bar, and to warp the spring pad/bump stop area, bent the front axle truss, and generally tear up the truck we've never managed to damage a control arm.(What's really funny is we have a full set of spares we carry on the truck. :dunno: )
A lot of people make the assumption that the stock arms are weak because they will twist as the suspension moves. They miss the fact that the arms are supposed to twist. If you braced the arm enough where it wouldn't twist, all the play would be taken up in the bushings, and they would wear out and tear pretty quickly. Because of the geometry of the stock link setup, there has to be both fore and aft, and side to side play in the system. That's why the huge rubber bushings and twisty links.
Generally when you see someone with a broken passenger side upper control arm mount, you see the rig has solid one-piece link arms with hard poly bushings or heim joints. When you take all the play out of the system, the weakest link becomes the passenger side upper control arm mount. Which twists and flexes until it breaks off.
As long as you're not bashing rocks into the arms, the stock arms probably won't be the first thing to break.
Currently installing Full Traction's Long Arm Kit. I really like the geometry, but I hate the way the upper control arms mount. It uses a 9 inch long bolt that runs through the unibody rail to catch the control arm on the other side. Trying to line up all the brackets and unibody rail to allow that 9 inch bolt to slide in smoothly is a pain in the butt. The other problems is that Full traction is the only one you can buy that bolt from.
If I was going to do it again, I think I would go with this kit:
http://www.polyperformance.com/shop...avel-Front-Rear-Kit-4-Link-Front-p-25694.html
I'd like to hear the opinions of folks about a y-link setup... preferably people who have run it in the desert. =)
I'm running TnT's long-arms with coilovers up front and think it's a great system, but people keep saying I should take off the passenger upper arm of the Y-link to prevent binding. Thoughts?
that bolt its a mother f. i hate that bolt.. be carefull before torqueing that metal lock nut on. make sure everything is perfect because that nut aint coming off... i turned up my IR impact and it still wouldnt come off. so my passengerside control arm is on upsode down still.. but my heep just sits in the garage and i havent switched it yet so im not too worried about it...
RE uppers's lowers w/ drop brackets and my cage tied into the brackets, feels great at speed.
I was talking to a jeepspeed guy at a vorra race here at prairie city who was running drop brackets and he said the drop bracket short arm set up was faster than a long arm set up. I immediatly stopped the search for long arms.
Can anybody validate this?
It makes sense though because short arms are lighter therefor creating less unsprung weight on the axle end equaling less work for the shocks and less stress on bracketry n such.
I was talking to a jeepspeed who was running drop brackets and he said the drop bracket short arm set up was faster than a long arm set up.
Can anybody validate this?
The reason there are myths about short arms being faster in JeepSpeed is because Ray Griffith was a great/fast driver and just happened to have short arms.
-Randy