J Arms Vs. Mid Arms

[Erik]

Well it's time to get the parts together for the winter mods. One priority is to get rid of my clunky Terraflex arms. I was looking at Mark H's J Arm set-up at Moab, but I never had a chance to see them in action on the trail. Does anyone have any experience or opinions on them? I was hoping that they may give me the benifits of a mid arm, without having to cut my stock body mounts off. They do give you slightly decreased clearence, but no more than 3/4". And the rounded tubes should slide off rocks easier than the stock axle mounts would. But now I'm giving my opinions, what do you guys think?

PS - Yes, I have Mark's number.

 

[CRASH]

There is a reason you never saw that thing on the trail.

Can you say "Trailer Queen"?

CRASH

 

[BrettM]

are there pics anywhere of his J arm setup?

 

[CRASH]

Currie's site has pics of J-arms.

CRASH

 

[XJEEPER]

Been thinking down a similar path Erik.......I've talked to Mark a little about his TQPR J-Arm setup and he used Currie's J units designed for the TJ rear. He worked the axle mounts one arm at a time and said that they locate themselves that way. Bracketry is the only fab issue that I see.....IF your steering and trackbar has already been moved up out of the way. The axle brackets for the J LCA's are located right under the axle coil "plate".
I don't have any pix.......maybe he could share?

 

[XJJPR]

I don't have any but there were a bunch of people taking shots at the S&S event in Moab.

I'll take the camera to work and see what I can come back with.

mark
orgs mfg

 

[Paul S]

Due to the bend in the J arms they have to be made super beefy, this adds a lot of unwanted weight. Mark went so far as to TRY & make an Ameba to counter the added weight.
Go mid arm
Paul

 

[XJJPR]

Due to the bend in the J arms they have to be made super beefy, this adds a lot of unwanted weight. Mark went so far as to TRY & make an Ameba to counter the added weight.
Go mid arm
Paul

Unwanted wieght at the LOWEST part of the suspension????????


Mine aint no ameoba, it's a MJ looking thing.

hinkley

 

[CRASH]

I would imagine .188 wall tubing would be desirable in the J-arm, since your thinning the most vulnerable part of the arm by putting a bend in it.

My bender will do 1.5" x .188", but it's not fun.

CRASH

 

[XJJPR]

Crashet,

they are more like .3?? wall x 1 5/8" dia.

can your bender handle that?

hinkley

 

[zjmikey]

Uh, yeah, the J arms I believe are .375 wall..

pretty thick.... good luck with the bender...

Eat your wheaties

 

[CRASH]

Good Lawd, my bender HAS done 1.25 x .25" wall, but .375" is out of the question.

Of course, I did recently start working out again. I'll be huge shortly.

CRASH

 

[XJJPR]

Good Lawd, my bender HAS done 1.25 x .25" wall, but .375" is out of the question.

Of course, I did recently start working out again. I'll be huge shortly.

CRASH

1 1/4" what clr

try 1 5/8" x .250 dom at 3.0 clr

mark

 

[CRASH]

4.5" CLR.

3.0"

CRASH

 

[Erik]

Well my big mod is to do the WJ knuckle conversion, which should move the tie rod and track bar out of the way. I'm also thinking of getting rid of my ARB bumper, and replacing it with a very basic tube bumper, which should save some weight. So lets see, if Paul sez Mid-arm, and Andy sez long arm, then maybe J arms are the best way to go.

 

[XJZ]

I think the front of the j-arms could work great as a ski tip and just slide over the rocks, like mogul skiing Johnny Mosley(?) look out!!

Hey Mark, the arms are to help when climbing ledges, etc., as opposed to adding any lenth, right?

Any chance this is a future ORGS Mfg product? Better hurry, think I saw something just like it in the URF catolog!

 

[CRASH]

The URF catalogue is always expanding. You never know what you'll find in there next.

CRASH

 

[zjmikey]

The J Arms are a Currie Product..

as you probably are already away, Mark makes alot of the parts under the currie badge..


acos, miniskid, trackbars, etc....



Call Currie up and order em...

be prepared ... they are $329 pair....

 

[XJJPR]

The basic idea is just a mid arm without hanging the body/frame mounts. John came up with them to go with his axles. They seem to be working nicely. They do slide over rocks and such much nicer than the arm mounts. I'm going to mess with the upper arm some more in the future to see if I can dial in the whole thing in as a complete unit, rather than just adding on the j-arms. I am becoming a j-arm fan quickly!

Currie has fixed or adjustable ones. They are $$$$$ but seem to be worth it so far.

mark
orgs mfg

 

[Goatman]

put your thinking caps on

OK, I have a question for you all about the J arms. When arms are longer, they move through less arc, so the axle moves fore and aft less, giving the axle a more straight up and down movement.....relatively. That's the benefit of longer arms.

The idea is for the axle itself to move in less of an arc. How does attaching the arm in front of the axle cause it to travel through a different arc than attaching the arm behind the axle? The axle is still in the middle, and the distance from the center of the axle tube to the arm mount on the frame is the same with either arm.

So, how does the J arm give the axle a better arc?

(I stayed home today with a sore throat, so have nothing better to do)