Attn Farmermat and other radius arm folk....? about wristing...

[RCP Phx]

You correct on the angle,but the arms are so short youll get a lot of axle rotation(pinion/caster changes).I found out after my first test ride thar I had 0* caster but it was driving great.I am up to 2.5* now.Ive still got to add about an 1" to the wheebase(curled the pass. fender under this weekend).

 

[FarmerMatt]

I'd be afraid to use such a short arm. Stock XJ's have a hard time climbing a ledge without the front end trying to rotate back under the rig. If you mount the arms level it would counter act this, but containment of the axle starts to be comprimised & bushing life will be short with the axle having greater leverage over the mounts. The ford style arms I use have treated me really well & I have no complaints about not wristing them. In fact I've switched to the stiffer poly "C" bushings to increase the swaybar effect. This has help with body control on off camber stuff & has helped balance the suspension front to rear & still allows full use of the 14" travel shocks. This is the same reason a lot of guys are running Curries "AntiRock" swaybars. In short all bind is not bad & huge uncontrolled articulation is not always good.

Matt

 

[Safari Ary]

Matt, what do you mean by "containment of the axle" and could I do a long-arm esque center limiting strap to fix the problem that arises from such a short arm?? Also, if I'm using poly bushings at the axle and JJs at the frame, what bushings would wear out. I'm really not trying to be a stubborn a$$, I just think that the arms would be about the same length as a stock LCA and we all know stock XJs flex respectably in stock form. I also can appreciate the "not all bind is bad" idea, which is what I've based my on-road handling desires on. I just think that with the short arms the pinnable wristed setup would be the best of both worlds.

What if I were to make my arms longer, say in the 22-24" range, would that alleviate problems? or would I just have to go to like a 30" arm to see any difference. Thanks for your help guys.

Ary

 

[Cresso]

hmmm, I'm gonna have to back pedal a bit here. I think FarmerMatt is right about the axle pushing underneath the vehicle on a steep ledge. There are ways to fabricate this to keep bushings alive so I don't think that'd be a problem. I don't think flex would be a problem either. However, I think you'll be disappointed with how it reacts to ledges/large rocks/steep climbs. I wouldn't be as concerned about cutting off the stock lower mounts - there's enough thickness in the frame there that you could weld on some mount tabs if you decide to go back to a stock style LCA in the future. Plus, you wouldn't want to miss out on all the fun of cutting through those 4-layer thick LCA mounts, would you? =)

EDIT: the shorter arm would definietly have a more profound difference between pinned and unpinned, but too short and you'll lose capability even when unpinned. Stock bronco arm length seems to be really good, whatever that is.

 

[FarmerMatt]

What I mean by containment is control of the axle by the arms. It sounded like you were wanting to build mounts up off the axle in order to keep the arm level with the ground. The further away the mounting points are away from the axle the more leverage the axle has over those mounts. The ford "C" busing mounts allow very little leverage by the axle over the bushings because it literally wraps around the axle tube. The rover arms allow a little more because they mount away from the tube 2-3" fore & aft. Now you build mounts & mount the arms over the top of the axle to level out the arms another 3-4". This is like putting a cheater bar on the end of a breaker bar. It puts a whole lot more stress on the mounts & mounting bolts. Everything will need to be super beefy. The axle could also have a tendency to want to hop in high traction situations. I would also question whether the stock LCA mount would be up to the task of pulling double duty for both the LCA & UCA mounts. I'd like to see these beefed up if you were to go this route. A center limiting strap will help on a straight up ledge climb, but most of the time you try to climb these at an angle so the problem comes when the one side is compressed & the other extended. The extended side wants to go backwards under the truck rather than up the rock face. If you go with a longer arm & bigger arc that the axle travels this becomes less of a problem. I believe that stock ford arms are around the 25-27" range. Mine are about 7" longer than the stock arms. This would be measured from the center of the axle to the end of the arm. Don't hold me to those #'s though. It's been awhile since I've measured a stock arm. In short the longer the arm the bigger the arc. You need to take into consideration where you want them to mount, ground clearance, & angle of the arms to name a few, but I'd say an arm around 28-30" would be a good start. Measure it out & see where that would put the mounts & if you would be happy with that.

Matt

 

[Safari Ary]

Now I get what you're saying. Actually, with my lift height and setup, the arms would be parrallel to the ground with the brackets mounted pretty much tight to the tube. The rover arms are setup originally to wrap under the tubes due to room constraints. By flipping the arm over and putting it on top of the tube, I would gain quite a bit of height, and the mounts on the axle would still be tight up against the tube. I totally see what you're saying about building up a bracket above the axle, but that's not what I'm wanting to do at all. I was also thinking that if I stayed with the stock mounts I could install the LCA braces that come on MJs in order to strengthen them. Maybe I should do up a drawing so you guys can see what I'm talking about. Thanks for the opinions guys. Peace

Ary

P.S. One of the reasons I wanted to keep the arms short is so that I maintain my ground clearance. Keep in mind, I'm not running 8" of lift or anything, just a meager 4.5-5" after all is said and done. Thanks again