Upper and lower control arms question

[ehall]

You don't need adjustables but its damn nice to have. I have adjustable uppers and lowers, same set for several years. Can screw with lift, change axle position, change caster, whenever I want, because of having the option.

I have the JKS lowers, the ability to rotate makes for some awesome flex, even with limited articulation, and the rubber bushings have held up great as well. The uppers are basic jam-nut style that I bought in a hurry, they don't rotate nearly as well, and I have to leave the passenger side jam nut loose to prevent from tearing the axle side UCA bracket again (yep again).

I like metalcloak design and would like to try it, but I don't see how it could possible rotate as freely as the JKS. Not possible. The JKS turns freely on the threads.

 

[rockclimber]

the only way to get the axle centered and the pinion angle/caster adjusted is to have both sets of arms be adjustable.

I am not a fan of metalcloak's joints. I think its a poor design.

 

[themauler]

I am not a fan of metalcloak's joints. I think its a poor design.

I do not own these but I figure the look good for the mall crawling crew.

Are you trying to say the rubber would fatigue quickly if it saw real rock crawling action?




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[rockclimber]

I do not own these but I figure the look good for the mall crawling crew.

Are you trying to say the rubber would fatigue quickly if it saw real rock crawling action?




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yes

 

[lazyxj]

I have the JKS and they are OK. They are big and beefy. But I think they are causing a clunk. I would go with the Metalcloak next time, or possibly something else.

My JKS LCAs have over 140,000 miles on them and are still tight, with the bushings in decent shape. No clunks here.
The only maintenance has been to give them a shot of grease, when lubing the chassis.
In the same time, the RE Super Flex UCAs have had their flex joints replaced and require periodic tightening.

The Metalcloaks do look nice. Wish they made an axle side, upper control arm bushing.

 

[Johnnie Walker]

Consider looking into RK. I have their upper adjustable arms. Got them for a good price through extreme terrain.

 

[kev4dez]

I have both adjustable upper and lower Metalcloak arms on my '99 XJ. Have had them for about 3 years now and am very satisfied with their performance. They are nice and quiet on the road, about 40% of my useage, driving back and forth to the desert. They flex well off road and in desert terrain. I don't see much hard core rock crawling though, only mild stuff so YMMV. I have taken the bushings out of the arms a few times to check them and can see no wear or deterioration so far. Also the guys at Metalcloak were very helpful when I ran into an issue on their sway bar links for my son's Xj, so customer service gets an A+.

Kevin

 

[bentroia]

I have a set of the 7100 on my XJ. Do you know what caused the clunk?

https://www.quadratec.com/products/16213_101_07.htm

Im not 100% certain of cause. I believe it was the slight amount of play in the interface of the threaded shaft and control arm body. After hours of trying to identify and solve the problem Removing and replacing with metalcloak corrected it.

 

[burntkat]

I think you don't adjustable control arms on both. Either uppers only or lowers only. Before I went long arm I was running Rocky road drop brackets with fixed length Synergy lower arms and supreme suspension adjustable uppers. It worked pretty darn good.


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Incorrect. It's completely fine to run adjustables in both places. I have them on my wife's Grand in all locations, as well as my son's XJ. Works fine.

Core4X4 makes a darn good product.

 

[burntkat]

youll never use the features you spent extra money on after you dial it in where you want unless you make a significant change. the jam nuts on the long arms i made are now welded to keep them from getting beaten loose...

Yeah, but.. no.

HAving the adjustment abilities allows for greater flexibility in future plans. they don't cost much extra, it's dumb not to get them.

As for the jam nuts loosening... might be time to do a little upper body work. Or, there is this stuff called "thread lock". It works great!

 

[burntkat]

In hindsight I would have opted for a long arm set up but I think four links are safer for daily use and hindsight is 20/20

Would love to know what you base this on. Why are longarms not safe for DD?

BTW- I've been DDing longarms for going on 13 years now..

 

[burntkat]

Coils are built on spring rate and RE parts are typically made for overload. Unless you have a heavy winch bumper up front it is going to be a stiff ride. An unweighted RE 3.5" kit will give you nearly 5" of lift. The quality of their parts has never been an issue.

This. Listen up, he knows what he's talking about.

 

[burntkat]

The metalcloak setup looks good, made in USA which is the only stuff I'll purchase, but your only speaking of 3.5 inches of lift.
At 6.5 inches of lift I find Rusty's adjustable upper and lower w/ the forged flex ends(Johnny joints) to be superior in flexibility and quality to a rubber bushing.
But they do clunk, that's a jeep thing though

I'd be less concerned with clunking and more with the welds holding together.

I have personally seen two of Rusty's longarm kits have catastrophic weld failures. One while in the "severe abusive service" of backing out of a driveway!

I really am amazed they haven't been sued yet.

 

[bwinter1946]

I originally installed JKS lowers with stock uppers on my OME/DPG 4 inch lift. After 40,000 or so miles I started getting a clunk in the front end. Turned out the passenger side JKS lower arm was the source despite regular greasing. These are the arms I had.
http://jksmfg.com/i-9056838-j-axis-...omanche-mj-1984-2001.html?ref=category:381144

I replaced them with these:
http://jksmfg.com/i-19723123-j-flex...herokee-xj-1984-2001.html?ref=category:381144

I like them so far. A little more road jar transmitted to the vehicle with these.

 

[DesertRat1991]

Anyone have experience with the IRO control arms? I was thinking about grabbing a set for a budget build I3 working on.

http://www.ironrockoffroad.com/10169.html

 

[RWKHausSupply]

Without reading all post, I did read many..
With OE designed, shorter upper than lower CA. How is it that when you lift it, a longer lower and non adjustable upper is going to help?
Your pinion angle and caster is already suffering with the shorter upper with the arc of the arms when lifting the front, the caster went good, but the pinion angle went south, literally.

Now put a even longer lower on it(all aftermarket non-adjustable lowers are longer then OE), and you get even worst pinion angle, and caster for that matter. Then I read someone say, adjustment on the cam bolt? Really, now your going to shorten the effect length of the LCA and shorten the wheel base back to stock, why get control arms at all, if you are going to do that.

Then you put a non adjustable upper, and you get what ever the manufacture feels you need for caster/camber.

Not the right way at all, if you ask many. If you want to get your wheel base back to OE when lifted more than a few inches, and you do it with control arms, then you need to have at-least Upper adjustable, but why not both upper and lower?

One of the original and Best out there.
No reason Not to ever get Currie control arms, except cost, right?
You can get both Upper and Lowers together at $494 for all 4.

http://www.currieenterprises.com/CE-9106XJ

http://www.currieenterprises.com/CE-9102

True Johnny Joint ends, that are ran in more vehicles, then likely All other orbital eye joints out there added together. There's a reason for that. And why many "manufactures" buy Currie Johnny Joints and attach them to their arms...
Adjustable Upper and Lower.
At that pricing...

So whats the question again?
:callme:

:wave1:

 

[burntkat]

I'm a big fan of these:
https://www.core4x4.com/

I bought the Tier One full adjustable set for my wife's 3" lifted ZJ. $600 got me 8 arms with poly bushes. They work great, the vehicle haas never driven so well.

I have a 90 XJ with Clayton longarms on it. The only reason I am not running Core's solution is.. I have Claytons already, and they've been doing great for something like 14 years (I honestly don't recall when I bought them, but it was WELL over 10 years ago, more like 14 I'm pretty sure).

Just bought my son a 97 XJ. It has factory suspension, for now. If the suspension arms give me any issues, I'm putting Core arms in it. It will depend on how we build at that point whether they will be short arms or the long arm upgrade. We're about to put a 2" budget boost (urethane coil spaces and a longer shackle) in just to run some low-mileage 31s I have sitting around doing nothing. He's 17, so I don't want to complicate things for a new driver with too many changes at once.

 

[RWKHausSupply]

I'm a big fan of these:
https://www.core4x4.com/

I bought the Tier One full adjustable set for my wife's 3" lifted ZJ. $600 got me 8 arms with poly bushes. They work great, the vehicle haas never driven so well.

I have a 90 XJ with Clayton longarms on it. The only reason I am not running Core's solution is.. I have Claytons already, and they've been doing great for something like 14 years (I honestly don't recall when I bought them, but it was WELL over 10 years ago, more like 14 I'm pretty sure).

Just bought my son a 97 XJ. It has factory suspension, for now. If the suspension arms give me any issues, I'm putting Core arms in it. It will depend on how we build at that point whether they will be short arms or the long arm upgrade. We're about to put a 2" budget boost (urethane coil spaces and a longer shackle) in just to run some low-mileage 31s I have sitting around doing nothing. He's 17, so I don't want to complicate things for a new driver with too many changes at once.

Both Clayton and Core buy Currie's "Johnny Joints" and use them on their higher end arms.

As for Core, why not buy Actual Currie Built arms with their Johnny joints at Both ends, and not lower cost and less flexable poly bushings, With hardware you will need, for 10$ less?

Their choice of colors is cool though.

 

[Green XJ Jeep]

Both Clayton and Core buy Currie's "Johnny Joints" and use them on their higher end arms.

As for Core, why not buy Actual Currie Built arms with their Johnny joints at Both ends, and not lower cost and less flexable poly bushings, With hardware you will need, for 10$ less?

Their choice of colors is cool though.

Following the links you posted its over 700 for upper and lower Currie set. A bit more than a 10 dollar difference

 

[burntkat]

Both Clayton and Core buy Currie's "Johnny Joints" and use them on their higher end arms.

As for Core, why not buy Actual Currie Built arms with their Johnny joints at Both ends, and not lower cost and less flexable poly bushings, With hardware you will need, for 10$ less?

Their choice of colors is cool though.

Because I prefer poly on the wife's grocery-getter. It's functional, the vehicle isn't a rockcrawler, the arms came with hardware, and the price difference was substantially more than $10 at the time (though in truth, had I wanted them, it wasn't insurmountable).

As you say, Clayton uses the Currie Johnny Joints. In my experience (I was an early adopter), there is noticeable increase in NVH in my 90 XJ. Not so much that I really care (it's an XJ on 35s, after all), but for a mall crawler it would be more an issue. I hear enough about "wierd sounds the Jeep is making" as it is... I wasn't about to add to my list of phantom non-issues to check out.

Poly does the job and is a hell of a lot more durable than rubber, with only slightly elevated NVH concerns... simple as that.