Rough Country drop bracket install w/ pics

truck7575 said:
Does anyone know if you have to have adjustable control arms with the drop bracket kit from rough country. I have the RC 4.5 inch lift with 2" front spacers.. making it about 6-7 inches of lift. The 4.5 inch kit came with longer replacement lower control arms but Do I need an adjustable upper to use this kit?
Click to expand...

If you can get good caster angles with stock or fixed arms then there's no need for adjustables.
 
truck7575 said:
I am looking for adjustable upper and lower control arms for my 86 XJ Wagoneer along with the drop brackets. If anyone knows anyone who has some for sale/trade or both email me at [email protected].
Click to expand...

Probably have better luck posting in your local chapter's classified forum, this is at least supposed to be a tech thread.

Robert
 
Semper Fi said:
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".
Click to expand...

I have this same lift and thinking of adding spacers as well. Any chance this will let me run 33s? I am willing to trim fenders.
 
georger said:
I have this same lift and thinking of adding spacers as well. Any chance this will let me run 33s? I am willing to trim fenders.
Click to expand...

I run 32s (265X75X16s on Moabs) with RE 3.5" Full packs in the rear & RE 3.5" coils in the front with one extra coil isolator (To level it out) + RC drop brackets.
I have ZERO contact, 33s will work in my setup. With the little extra lift you mention you should have no problems at all with 33s.
I do run an aftermarket front bumper that eliminates all that crap from the front bumper area, So if you are stock you may have to trim down the bumper.
 
garr said:
I run 32s (265X75X16s on Moabs) with RE 3.5" Full packs in the rear & RE 3.5" coils in the front with one extra coil isolator (To level it out) + RC drop brackets.
I have ZERO contact, 33s will work in my setup. With the little extra lift you mention you should have no problems at all with 33s.
I do run an aftermarket front bumper that eliminates all that crap from the front bumper area, So if you are stock you may have to trim down the bumper.
Click to expand...

Thanks, how are you geared?
 
This is a long thread, and I haven't read the whole thing, so pardon if this has been addressed. I couldn't help but notice from the initial post, you have coil springs around your front shocks. I have seen them for the rear, ( Monroe sensatrac with the coil wrapped around it), but have never seen them for the front. Can you tell me are they commercially avail, or are they a self fab job? (I am assuming they are not "coilovers")
 
Read the whole thread, tons of useful information thanks guys!

I just received my rc drop brackets today. I am at 5.5" and will be using skyjacker fixed control arms and stock uppers until I can find a good deal on some aftermarket ones. The lca's I got are 16" so after checking over the chart it seems like they will be the perfect length. Everything will go in this weekend hopefully!
 
So I just got my set of brackets in the mail and I started it last night. Started the driver's side first and can't get the damn bolt out of the upper control arm, frame side. Right now, I have the RE 6130 kit on, using that stock flag bolt. The bolt is literally moving around-I can spin it, move it up and down a bit, but it will not come out. I've banged and banged. Check out the youtube links to see what I mean. Anyone run into issues like this and have any suggestions?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmFabJtKYLc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBbJYQM-maM
 
XJFever said:
So I just got my set of brackets in the mail and I started it last night. Started the driver's side first and can't get the damn bolt out of the upper control arm, frame side. Right now, I have the RE 6130 kit on, using that stock flag bolt. The bolt is literally moving around-I can spin it, move it up and down a bit, but it will not come out. I've banged and banged. Check out the youtube links to see what I mean. Anyone run into issues like this and have any suggestions?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmFabJtKYLc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBbJYQM-maM
Click to expand...

I'm betting the sleeve is seized to the bolt. Try wacking the nut side as hard as you can to break it loose.

When you install the new stuff, USE ANTI-SIEZE on all the bodies of the bolts that are inside the bushing to keep this from happening. Use locktite on the threads where the nut tightens to.
 
Ya, to get that out, use a sawzall and put the blade between the inner wall of the bracket, and the control arm bushing, cutting the bolt so that a portion of it remains in the bushing, but you can remove the arm. Then you can either try pressing/hammering the bolt out of the bushing once it is off, or get a new bushing/sleeve.
 
so yea, it was seized to the sleeve pretty good. I had to cut the bolt out which sucks now, cause where am I supposed to find a new bushing and sleeve in town? Both got pretty messed up in the process.

Anyone know if Napa or carquest would have one of the hourglass types? Something for another vehicle that would match up. I could order online but I have little pantience...
 
only place to get RE bushings if from the internet. i just installed new bushings on all my RE arms today ironically. unbolting them and drinking beer was the most labor intensive part. they pressed out and the new ones in in seconds. world of difference, but my bushings were 4 or 5 years old.

try using heat and pressing the bolt out of the metal sleeves. if you dont save them, youll have to get new sleeves and bushings.
 
I thought I had the install finished last night but I ran into a slight problem-the inner tie rod end was touching the steering stabilizer. I don't know if it was the 2 degree upper ball joints I also had just installed that affected that but it also could have been the bracket not being done correctly. Can I get some advice on what I may have done wrong?

I'm thinking the lower control arm at the frame should be pushed foward more to affect the angle but the upper control arms seem to have no slack.

A side note-it's the rubicon 4.5 superflex kit. the control arms came with the kit and were not adjustable ones.

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What is your wheelbase? Is it 101"? It could be that your axle might be too far forward. It looks like your pictures are at full droop and maybe that's what pulls the draglink up more making the tie rod contact the bolt. Did you check it at ride height?

Both springs look different, one being straight and the other bowed forward.

For what it's worth, I installed the brackets with 4" of lift and stock arms. The axle was pushed too far forward and I needed adjustable arms to bring it back. I used RC's flex arms below and Iron Man's adjustables up front. I had to set the uppers at 14" just to get the axle at 101 with proper caster. I would think 4.5" with aftermarket non-adjustable arms would scoot the axle too far forward. Check the wheelbase (and caster) at ride height.
 
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Actually, when I had it all set up, I had the wheels on and the bolt was actually touching the tie rod end. I took off the wheels because I was going to see if I could fix it, which I havn't yet. Im not sure what the wheelbase was but I know its pretty off-the passenger tire was toed out while the drivers was centered.

When you say 101 with caster, what do u mean?
 
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