Long-arm vs control arm drop kit?

[BIOSHK01XJ]

In an effort to correct control arm geometry and ride quality, what do you XJ guys recommend?

Long-arm offers great flex and ride quality but will get hung-up on rocks easier being mounted further back, regardless of the high clearance option. Using a drop kit seems superior to me in this aspect, but again I don't like losing ground clearance as I've already scraped my stock control arm mounts, and using a drop kit will lower them ~3".

Thanks for your time and advise,

-Tyler Beck

[TheBigDogg]

[quote="BIOSHK01XJ"]In an effort to correct control arm geometry and ride quality, what do you XJ guys recommend?

Long-arm offers great flex and ride quality but will get hung-up on rocks easier being mounted further back, regardless of the high clearance option. Using a drop kit seems superior to me in this aspect, but again I don't like losing ground clearance as I've already scraped my stock control arm mounts, and using a drop kit will lower them ~3".

Thanks for your time and advise,

-Tyler Beck[/quote]
well I don't have an XJ, but if you ask me I would go with long arm, but then again what size tires you going to be running, tires is what gives you your ground clearnace, and tire clearance depends on how much lift you have, I know a guy that use to have a XJ, he had 8" lift, long arms, running 35's, he went all over the place, I remember him getting over a rock out at Calico where a JK on 37's spent like 40 min trying to get over, yes the XJ ended up with smashed doors, but he did it, if your trying to get ground clearance and only running like 31's, then you have a lot more to think about, just my 2 cents

edit: I just looked at your pics, drop brackets will get hung up a lot more than long arms,
[img]http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/thebigdogg49/large5-1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i281.photobucket.com/albums/kk215/thebigdogg49/IMG-20110122-00070.jpg[/img]

hey but its your money!!

[chrisrigby]

dont know much about jeeps but i do know desert racing suspension. why not fab a long arm with curve to it? then even in a full extended position you still have clearance.

[TheBigDogg]

[quote="chrisrigby"]dont know much about jeeps but i do know desert racing suspension. why not fab a long arm with curve to it? then even in a full extended position you still have clearance.[/quote]
on this page you can see how Rusty's arms are not straight
http://rustysoffroad.com/mm5/merchant.m ... sus_xj_kit

[chrisrigby]

yeah exactly what im talking about

[Goatman]

Having wheeled XJ's for a long time, I'd rather have drop brackets than most long arm kits. The drop brackets are pretty close behind the tires and don't get hung up that much. Most long arm kits have the arm mount below the frame rail which severely decreases the break over angle and will get hung up now and then. The TNT Customs kit does not have the arm mount below the frame, and has a mostly flat belly pan, so it works pretty well. There might be another company that makes a high clearance kit by now, but I'm not aware of it. The kits that mount the arms below the frame but inside the frame are better, like the RE and Synergy, at least then you have more clearance when pivoting around rocks.

Flex really isn't the issue, it's the angle of the arms. Less arm angle helps the ride and also helps when climbing up onto big rocks or ledges. Either drop brackets or long arms will work.

[BIOSHK01XJ]

many thanks

[REDxj5150]

I have been looking at Clayton offroad's long arm kit. It's very similar to TnT or Rusty's, but cheaper than both. The cross member may not offer as much protection as the other kits, but I like the idea of the freedom of making my own armor. Either way if you draw a straight line between the bottom of the tire and the drop brackets, or long arm links at the cross member the angle will pretty much be the same. Cons of Claytons: I hate square tube radius arms.

http://claytonoffroad.com/index.php/cPath/18_68

[Loki XJ]

have you looked into www.ironrockoffroad.com? Their long arm is pretty decent. When I decide to go longarm that will be the direction I'll head towards...

[BIOSHK01XJ]

I've never heard of ironrockoffroad, so i checked them out, thx for bringing them to my attn. Not sure which direction I want to go ie: long-arm, drop-kit, or just keep it as it is. I really need to get a job before I do anymore spending, then decide how crazy I want to mod it haha.

[JeremyRowell]

I've had my RE 5.5 lift with Drop brackets and 33's for over 10 years. I've gotten stuck on the brackets twice. I wheel pretty hard trails (Rubicon, Dusy, JV) I hit them and scrape the often, but they slide over everything pretty good. It rides and flexes just as good as long arms. You'll be happy with either long arms or short with DB's. But getting stuck on the DB's is not an issue.

[BIOSHK01XJ]

[quote="JeremyRowell"]I've had my RE 5.5 lift with Drop brackets and 33's for over 10 years. I've gotten stuck on the brackets twice. I wheel pretty hard trails (Rubicon, Dusy, JV) I hit them and scrape the often, but they slide over everything pretty good. It rides and flexes just as good as long arms. You'll be happy with either long arms or short with DB's. But getting stuck on the DB's is not an issue.[/quote]

Cool thanks man