So, I wanna go longarms and I'm wondering what the best and cheapest way to go about it is. I know you can pick two of the 3: fastest, best, cheapest... I'll take the second two. Things that I know I want for sure:
-Radius arms
-Fixed poly bushings axle side of lower arms
-adjustable JJ, ballistic, or heim on subframe side (I'll pick the exact joint later on... not worrying about that right now)
-new transfer case cross member that incorporates my upper link mounts and some protection for the bottom of the t-case
-re-use my factory axle mounts
Things that I am wondering about...
-Anyone have a set of radius arms laying around from a TJ / XJ / ZJ or something?
-If I go to buy (or copy another design and make my own) a new cross member with link mounts already in it... who makes the best one?
-Right now I have a 1" t-case drop. Eventually I'll do a SYE, but for now, shouldn't be a problem if I keep that 1" spacer in for the new cross member, then remove it when I do the sye...correct?
-When I make the new lower arm... can I leave the truck sitting on its tires at ride height, and remove the lower arms. Then, with my new cross member in place, just make the arms long enough to connect the two ends? I plan to just have the frame side of the arm be adjustable
-For the upper links, how do I know how long they should be? Does it matter that much how far back its mounted on the link? Or is it fine if I look at some other kits and mount it in generally the same spot?
Like I said, I'm just starting to plan this out and see if I'm really going to do it or not... I'm not buying anything right now. Eventually I would like be running 35's with a 44 in the front and locked 8.8 in the back. I would like to keep the jeep driveable, for the most part, while Its getting to that point. So i'd like to do stuff slowly in steps. I figure starting with those long arms would a be a good next step and wouldn't interfere with the rest of what I want to do (plate frame, rect. steel rocker/sliders, axles, locker in the back, discs in the back, skid plates, bumpers).
Thoughts?