Has anyone heat and bent EB arms?
I run 38's and have turning radius problems. I know JD sells new arms, but was wondering if this could work first?

Bad Idea, Most radius arms bend themselfs after a while.
Change your back spacing on your wheels, get spacers, but don't bend your radius arms

I've heard of people taking them to truck shops and having them bent. I don't know if I'd do it or not. I'd go to http://www.rockbuggysupply.com and buy some spacers!

-Jack

It's common practice for an alignment shop to bend them occasionally for a degree or two of castor. Bending them in the direction your talking about and enough to correct tire rubbing should'nt be done. Spacers, new wheels, the Duff or another aftermarket arm is the only safe way to go.

I could see bending the arms, then plating/reinforcing the bent region; in fact someone has posted on here of doing that before.
I was considering it but have since gone to less backspaced wheels.
Since completing my highsteering, i have a stock turning radius again, and can turn my rig around in about 1.5 carlanes, without rubbing on the arms.

If you plate it correctly you will have the same clearence issues that you started with. I am not a big fan of spacers either. Best and safest route would be to buy the custom arms. Just my .02

One good thing about having the rubbing "problem" is it saves U-Joints. You may find that if you bend the arms you'll start busting U-Joints if your stops aren't out far enough!

I'm working on tubular wristed arms right now and had this conversation with many people and most people agreed that you're better off adjusting your stops than bending the arms. The ones I'm making will be straight.

-Jack

I built my own about two yrs ago and they work great. They are 14" longer and built out of 188 wall dom and kicked in 27* at the tire turn location and I get full turn out of 37" with some extra room. But I would never think of bending stock ones!

Do the James Duff arms flex as well as a Wristed arm?

Originally posted by mudlite
Do the James Duff arms flex as well as a Wristed arm?

Almost. On the ramp head to head with Jim Cole of Duff's I can barely beat him. However, all my stuff is very custom. His is Duff bolt on with 60's. Over 50" at the top and we ran out of ramp. If I was doing it over it would be cheaper and easier to just get the factory bolt on stuff. Cheaper than a bender and the tubing and the works already done.

How custom is yours? Will a Bolt on James Duff arm have more flex than a simple STOCK wristed arm?

:confused:

Coils front and rear, wishbone 3 link rear and custom shock mounting all around.

As with any modifications you find your next weak link or trouble spot. You can't just 'bolt' one thing on and expect it's maximum potential. You have spring mounting, height and rate to consider. You have shock mounting and height to consider. Axle and diff clearance, tire clearance etc. Wristed arm's are great. However, a wristed arm along will not solve many problems. There are many things you have to 'tune' so it will reach it's potential. That's why for the majority of people the various 'systems' put out by the parts houses are a better choice.

Let me ask this with an explanation.

I am currently running stock arms with a wristed passenger side.
My turning radius SUCKS and I want to increase this. My two choices are James Duff arms or Spacers. I have heard bad things about spacers, so I want to Try the James Duff bent arms.

Do they articulate as well as a wristed arm?
I am presently hitting 1190 on a 30 degree ramp.

It could do better or it could do worse. To many variables to say. When you start getting into the custom mod's you just have to experiment, there is no correct one size fits all 'formula'. I do know that the complete Duff factory bolt on 'system' performed so close to my PITA to figure out time consuming and expensive to build custom suspension that if I was doing it over I would go with the bolt on stuff. It was fun to build though:D