Long arm vs. Short arm

[jeepfreak1020]

Ok so i know people ask this all the time, but ya. What is the difference between a long arm and a short arm? I bought a 98 with a 4in lift, shorty arm. The girl i bought it from said it was a 4.5 in but she dident know for shure because she brought it from a guy. But it looks more like a 4in. And it also looks like a custom lift, because it has bliston shocks, 2in block in the rear, with add a leaf maybe. Upfront it has full coils, no spaces, and custom control arms. How would i be able to tell what size lift it is? And whats so good about a long arm? Would a long arm be better?

 

[swbooking]

Try this its amazing what you'll find.

 

[ColoradoRaptor]

Short arm is what comes stock on your XJ. Works great until you put some air underneath your rig!! Things start getting rough around 4" and anything over 4.5 or so you really need drop brackets for the short arms or a longarm set-up! The idea is to have your arms parallel to the ground for maximum ride comfort! And finally a longarm will flex better than a shortarm!!

 

[Yucca-Man]

Do you still have the stock flares in the stock positions? Then measuring lift height is easier than digging through countless thousand "how big is my lift?" questions.

Measure from the center of the front wheel, straight up to the bottom of the flare. Subtract 17.5" and you'll get the height of the lift. Just for grins, measure the other side too.

In the rear, measure from the center of the hub, straigt up to the bottom of the flare. Subtract 17.0" and you're good to go with your lift height.

The beauty of that method is that you can have stock tires, 33s, or flat tires and still get the same measurement...as long as you parked relatively level.

Jim www.yuccaman.com