Rough Country drop bracket install w/ pics

Hi Denton, I haven't even had a chance to mess with the other XJ yet. Last weekend was my time to finish the big one up. I'll probably work on the other XJ in 2-3 weeks. I'll send you a before and after picture when I finish that one.
 
Just wanted to chime in to the chorus.

The drop brackets are great and very robust.

Jason provides great customer support to NAXJA members. He is responsive and no nonsense. Very much appreciate that.

Use 5/16 holes for the brace holes in the frame rail. (little tighter)

Don't forget to put ALL the alignment bolts, including the 2 that replace the old LCA adjustment bracket in place before tightening.

Am very happy with the new geometry of the suspension. At 3.5" lift with standard LCAs my caster sucked and so did my flex. Now I am at 5.25 the wheel is centered
am using adjustable control arms though.

Thanks again Jason.
 
I didnt need any, but it was on a trail rig so my alignment is not 100% at any given time :D
 
I have a 5.5 lift on my xj and factory control arms. Can I run the drop bracket with my factory control arms or will I have to replace the control arms as well?
 
Do the drop brackets get in the way of your offroad capabitlities? I've seen guys get stuck just because of the brackets and i dont want to have to deal with that headache
 
Just got mine today!
I'm going to go 4.5" and stock arms for now.
I might look into GC arms for heaveier duty and bend for bigger tire clearence, later.
I'm sure they'll get in the way if you don't keep em in mind, just like cross member, and diffs. Hopefully with skill and finesse the loss of 4" will be negligable, still more clearence than stock. If I get stuck, getting unstuck is half the fun, right?
 
Read back through the post on the prior 11 pages, this has been covered. As far as the arms on a 5.5 lift, you need new arms. Your stock ones will not allow you to have proper pinion angle and that will affect your road manners when you axle is cocked down like that. If you get drop brackets, you should still; get some adjustable arms to be able to set pinion angle with. They are not required, but HIGHLY recommended. There is another thread about this as well, do a quick search and you will find out more information.
 
96xjmarine said:
Do the drop brackets get in the way of your offroad capabitlities? I've seen guys get stuck just because of the brackets and i dont want to have to deal with that headache
Click to expand...

Some people will tell you that they do, but I have seen guys run them and not have a problem and a many people swear that they are not a problem.

-Alex
 
Jeepxj13 said:
on a 5.5 lift do i needed new lower and upper control arms?
Click to expand...
Is there any chance that you happened to read the replies to your question at the top of this page before you asked it again??

Jim
 
I think we should just suggest that for the drop brackets, EVERYONE should get adjustable uppers and lowers. You can still use factory length, or adjust accordingly, as your lift height/caster/pinion angle needs determine. Plus the stock arms are just plain weak.
 
JNickel101 said:
I think we should just suggest that for the drop brackets, EVERYONE should get adjustable uppers and lowers. You can still use factory length, or adjust accordingly, as your lift height/caster/pinion angle needs determine. Plus the stock arms are just plain weak.
Click to expand...

Why? I have stock upper control arms and they work great. The lowers are RE because they came with the lift. Why should a guy on a budget spend more money than he has to?? I have a RE 3.5 SF, 1 inch boomerang shackles, and 1 inch coil spacers for 4.5 inches of lift netting 5.5 inches of lift after 2 years of "settling".
 
Started the install of this kits yesterday in conjunction with an RE 4.5 lift. The parts appeared good, but vary in spec from piece to piece. The crush spacer for the lower control arm box was a tight fit on one side and a no-go on the other. 1/16" of material had to be removed and then force fit with hammer. Fitting the LCA with alignment bracket was even tighter, but I dare not try and remove material from the LCA eye to mount. Light taps with BFH encouraged the assembly together over the course of about an hour at which point I quit out of frustration prior to attempting the next side.

None of the bolts were tightened prior to attempting assembly...just for those that were curious.

I have never installed a kit like this before but other posters have said the parts slipped together with no problems. This tells me that parts spec will vary from kit to kit and quality control issues may still be present.

Currently I would not recommend this kit unless you are tolerant of parts that require finesse with large heavy tools to assemble.
 
Ok I thought I would add some input to this thread again I just finished wheeling the truck this weekend. I would say my truck handles a lot better than what it use to. And I will have to say I never got hung up because of the brackets. Well kinda they did stop me from backing up off the rocks but I think if I would have had the support brackets I don’t think it would have been an issue.

Here are some pics of the truck on the rocks and a short video of the truck climbing around on the rocks. I never could make it up these before because my front set up was all wrong and would bind up.

So on to the pics:
These pic does not show really well what I am hung up on but the pic after that shows a buggy on 44’s hung up in the same place.
318786733.jpg

318786728.jpg


I have more pics of me being hung up I just haven’t had a chance to up load them yet.

Here is a shot video of me going to over the rocks side ways and for all of you that say these will hang you up yeah I guess your right (maybe):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BmHr5w8CZY

Here is one more of how much flex the front end of the truck has now:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JSS63pBjYA


And here is me being pulled off the rocks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZU7oRsnZRA

So over all I am very happy with the drop brackets and Rough Country

Thanks again
Watson
 
Finally installing these on my own rig tonight-89 xj, 4.5 re kit, just a couple questions, my axle is already adjusted forward with upper and lower adjustables to correct my pinion angle,as it is my coils almost tough the sway bar disco's. Should I base my initial adjustments back to stock and hope for good pinion angle? I just don't want driveshaft vibes. And, has anyone done any welding for added strength or just leave them as bolt ons? Looking forwars to a smoother ride.
 
Kinda sounds like you might have to give a little on both ends - adjust accordingly so that your coils dont hit your discos, but at the same time, keep your pinion angle/caster in check to avoid vibs. Or, you could look at the swaybar relocating brackets (I think RE sells some, maybe some other places too), or get extended lower swaybar links, which might help too...

EDIT:

Oh, and I've never heard of anyone welding them - I think a lot of people like the fact that you can "return to stock", since they are just bolt on - but then again, this is NAXJA and i'm sure SOMEONE has welded them on ;)
 
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