XJchris98
08-02-2009, 06:34 PM
Its been about 3 years since I've had the lift on my Jeep and the original RE superflex arms have been long lived. Being the 2nd owner of them they had alot of miles on them and were in dire need of a rebuild. Instead of replacing all the bushings and johnny joints in them though, I figured I'd fab up some LA's.
Heres the problem though; I currently have the TnT (now Treks) full belly pan. Now this skid is probably the toughest and most well-built skid available for the XJ to date (pre-fab that is), so I didnt want to trash it/or sell it for something less. So, to get some longarms under the jeep was going to be a bit of a task. When I originally got the skid, I never really had intentions of doing LA's, as I knew the short arms would get me through what I wanted to do...and they did. But times have changed and I've since changed my mind. The skidplate had no mounting areas for control arms, so it was all going to be custom fabbed.
I like the high-clearance idea of the Treks arms, but wanted to use 2x2 for the arms instead of DOM. I knew for Longarms and lift height I was going to be on the shorter side, so I wanted to make sure I wasnt going to hurt anyhting if I had to use the control arms as a slider. I got most of my ideas (for the arms) from Claytons setup. I used 2"x2"x1/4" for the lowers and 1.5"x1.5"x1/4" for the upper "Y" links. 2-5/8"s JJ's at the frame side with matching bushing size at the axle end. A call to Ballistic (and about 4 weeks wait time:021:) and metalsdepot, I had all the parts I needed to put these together
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1300.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1301.jpg
Because 2x2 was overkill for the uppers, I chose the smaller tube size and decided to use heims instead of JJ's. Im not a big fan of heims (esp for a daily driver), but my options were kind of limited and wanted to try and place 1 order with 1 company for all my link parts.
Since I was using 2x2 instead of DOM and not running high-clearance arms, I couldnt tuck the arms up into the skid like Treks does with theres. To get everything to line up correctly, I had to cut a 5* angle into the end of the tube for the bushings at the axle end
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1311.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1337.jpg
Props to Matt (KROD) for helpin me get all these arms cut and fabbed up...
With all the arms done and tabs welded to the skid, everything went back together really well actually. I still need to tweak the links some to get some better angles, but it drives pretty good right now. I figured with the amount of adjustability with the new links/arms, I could finally get the front end stretched out to where I want it to be too.
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1352.jpg
The upper links have 3/4" heims with stepdown spacers to 5/8" bolt. I could've gotten away with 9/16", but figured Id kick myself for not going bigger on the bolt size when I do future mods. The drivers side, axle side mount needed a slight chamfer cut to get the arm to clear the driveshaft/yoke. ((dont mind the grey finger prints, anti-seize tends to get EVERYWHERE when moving parts around))
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1360.jpg
Passenger side
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1361.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1362.jpg
Drivers side overall
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1364.jpg
While I had it all torn apart, I replaced the "well-known-to-drastically-fail" Rustys trackbar end with a QA1 3/4" heim. The bar itself is fine, but relying on that joint alone to hold the axle in place, I figured it wouldnt hurt to beef things up a bit.
Overall everything went pretty much as planned. One thing I did learn/recommend is that Ballistic is SLOOWWWWW when it comes to shipping their parts. I understand they are dealing with thousands of parts on a daily basis, but I was told everytime I called "the parts are being shipped today", 5 days later still nothing. So if your planning on using them as a supplier for your joints, i'd allow yourself ample time to get them. I do have to say though that shipping form AZ to PA took about 3 days from FedEX when they finally did ship. :icon_super:
Next step is new shocks and 1ton steering. I can tell already the steering is going to hold me up so that'll probably be replaced here soon. Im going to have to do something with the sway-bar as well, its rubbing a little on the front of the springs...but should all be taken care of as time allows.
Heres the problem though; I currently have the TnT (now Treks) full belly pan. Now this skid is probably the toughest and most well-built skid available for the XJ to date (pre-fab that is), so I didnt want to trash it/or sell it for something less. So, to get some longarms under the jeep was going to be a bit of a task. When I originally got the skid, I never really had intentions of doing LA's, as I knew the short arms would get me through what I wanted to do...and they did. But times have changed and I've since changed my mind. The skidplate had no mounting areas for control arms, so it was all going to be custom fabbed.
I like the high-clearance idea of the Treks arms, but wanted to use 2x2 for the arms instead of DOM. I knew for Longarms and lift height I was going to be on the shorter side, so I wanted to make sure I wasnt going to hurt anyhting if I had to use the control arms as a slider. I got most of my ideas (for the arms) from Claytons setup. I used 2"x2"x1/4" for the lowers and 1.5"x1.5"x1/4" for the upper "Y" links. 2-5/8"s JJ's at the frame side with matching bushing size at the axle end. A call to Ballistic (and about 4 weeks wait time:021:) and metalsdepot, I had all the parts I needed to put these together
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1300.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1301.jpg
Because 2x2 was overkill for the uppers, I chose the smaller tube size and decided to use heims instead of JJ's. Im not a big fan of heims (esp for a daily driver), but my options were kind of limited and wanted to try and place 1 order with 1 company for all my link parts.
Since I was using 2x2 instead of DOM and not running high-clearance arms, I couldnt tuck the arms up into the skid like Treks does with theres. To get everything to line up correctly, I had to cut a 5* angle into the end of the tube for the bushings at the axle end
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1311.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1337.jpg
Props to Matt (KROD) for helpin me get all these arms cut and fabbed up...
With all the arms done and tabs welded to the skid, everything went back together really well actually. I still need to tweak the links some to get some better angles, but it drives pretty good right now. I figured with the amount of adjustability with the new links/arms, I could finally get the front end stretched out to where I want it to be too.
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1352.jpg
The upper links have 3/4" heims with stepdown spacers to 5/8" bolt. I could've gotten away with 9/16", but figured Id kick myself for not going bigger on the bolt size when I do future mods. The drivers side, axle side mount needed a slight chamfer cut to get the arm to clear the driveshaft/yoke. ((dont mind the grey finger prints, anti-seize tends to get EVERYWHERE when moving parts around))
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1360.jpg
Passenger side
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1361.jpg
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1362.jpg
Drivers side overall
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k161/JeepinXJchris/IMG_1364.jpg
While I had it all torn apart, I replaced the "well-known-to-drastically-fail" Rustys trackbar end with a QA1 3/4" heim. The bar itself is fine, but relying on that joint alone to hold the axle in place, I figured it wouldnt hurt to beef things up a bit.
Overall everything went pretty much as planned. One thing I did learn/recommend is that Ballistic is SLOOWWWWW when it comes to shipping their parts. I understand they are dealing with thousands of parts on a daily basis, but I was told everytime I called "the parts are being shipped today", 5 days later still nothing. So if your planning on using them as a supplier for your joints, i'd allow yourself ample time to get them. I do have to say though that shipping form AZ to PA took about 3 days from FedEX when they finally did ship. :icon_super:
Next step is new shocks and 1ton steering. I can tell already the steering is going to hold me up so that'll probably be replaced here soon. Im going to have to do something with the sway-bar as well, its rubbing a little on the front of the springs...but should all be taken care of as time allows.