Does anyone have wristed arms on their daily driver? I'm just concerned about the safety factor here. I'm doing a full width straight axle conversion on a 95 Ranger, and have seen ya'll talk about these a little bit, but are they safe for the street, ie, hitting potholes at 70mph, ya know. Thanks, Coda

I do not have one on my daily driver but I drove my bronco to work yesterday and it has a wristed arm and was not a problem at all. If it is pinned then it behaves just like a stock arm. It will not be a problem. I will be driving mine probably 100 miles over the weekend on the hwy.

I don't have them on my truck, but from all the information that has been givin to me, and all the info I have looked up, they seem like there will be no problem at all. Here is the thread that I found. Wristed Radius Arms (http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=134&highlight=wristed+radius+arms)
Try the link that Smurfsdad gives.

my bronco isn't my DD, but I drive it more than my F250 DD here at school, and even with the arm unpinned it drives fine on the street. My street manners are impared more by the tire size and detroits on the ultrashort wheelbase than anything else...

My bronco was a daily driver with a unpined and unpinable wristed arm for 2 years, now it pretty much only sees the trail, but there were at least 15,000 highway miles on the wristed arm. I think it handled nicer on the street with the wristed arm on there than not. Yes it had more body roll but you get used to that, without the wristed arm it had lots of understeer, with the wristed arm it still pushes a little bit but not as bad, and the locker seemed to be less noticable with the arm on there. I still like hauling ass up Ice house rd in it.

For all you guys that helped me with my wristed arm question's last month....here's one more.

On Tuesday I finally got off my a$$ and started my arm. Everything is done except for the front part that attaches to the axle. What did you use to fill that gap? When the arm pivots, the pieces that extend from the rear part of the arm can rub, or bind on the front since it is still an I beam. Did you guys fill this section so that it would be flat? Or did you use some sort of a bushing, or just stack washers or what???

If you understand what I was just rambling about, then please help, I would like to finish this tonight if possible.. Thanks in advance...

Brian--

I think I understand your question. You mean what to do with the part of the arm that has the bearing/the bolt goes through? I simply left it alone and it hasn't had any problems binding. I did use some bushings to keep it from rubbing too much, but it still does. I'm not too worried about it. I have a ton of travel and I did it myself. No complaints.

Also, I drive my Bronco all over CA. 80 mph on the highway and on the trails for the Rubicon. I have a writed arm that I haven't bothered pinning yet. No problems.

-Jack

Well in that case, I guess I'll just throw it on, and if I have a problem, I can always pull it back off, and deal with it then... Thanks,

Brian--

I am just curious, being new to the Ford game, would a wristed arm on a D35 be a bad idea? I am trying to avoid going solid axle in the front as long as possible because there aren't many in the yards around here. Would the increase in flex be detrimental to the axle? Thanks!
Jesse

No can do the wristed arm on TTB. If you want flex....

1. long radius arms with Hiems on the end
2. Cut and turned TTB instead of drop brackets

That should be good for about 17" up front. But expensive...

Cheers
Dale

I personally wouldn't go with the long radius arms or the heim joints on the ends. The heim joints give great movement, but make a harsher ride. The long radius arms just lower your break over point and tend to get caught up. I know a guy that put the longer arms on his EB and although he had good flex, he was constantly having problems with clearance.

the long arms with heims were suggested for someone with a TTB front, because you can't wrist them, the only way to get more travel is to use longer parts, radus arms help, longer beams help more...

I have a question about what you are calling tons of flex? I have a 73 with 5.5" WH rockcrawler front springs and 11 leaf national rear with alot of lube between leafs and I also have a custom set of front arms ( longer and tucked in for more tire turn room and aslo johney joints with shaft pivots ready to go in, in place of my stock arms but here is the thing.

Right now I out flex my 9012s on comprestion and drop, and the 14" Bilsteins will be very close as well if not to short! So I guess the question is why go with wristed arms, what will it give me that I am not now getting? Don't get me wrong I want more flex than the next guy is getting but I have not yet seen how.

.

,

As you can see it flexes nice but I know their is much more to be had I just am not sure where to try for more . Any thoughts or pics please post. If you can not post pics send them to me and I will try for you.

If you're maxing out 9012's then you are getting as much movement as I am. The advantages are clearance. If you already have the setup and you are happy with it, great. But you can wrist your arm, get a ton of flex and do it cheaper with better clearance than a longer arm. IMO.

-Jack

I have already built the arms but have not yet installed them and am not sure what shock to run to get it. I will run out to the garage and snap a pic of the arms!

Looks like it flexes pretty well, although I'm sure that's not flexed out all the way. The wristed arm will allow the tire to stuff better. When my front is stuffed, my front bumper is only about 12 - 15" off the ground...

Sorry it took so long here are the arms.

and

.

'

Sweet. Did you fab those yourself? If you substitute a ram for the top bar on one of those arms, you will see a ton of additional articulation. Especially in the stuff department. Check out http://www.lonestar-ebc.com/ then tech then mods then lee's suspension. There is a picture there of what he did. As an alternative, you could build out a flange and put a joint in there (see the wristed radius arm above lee's suspension).

Thanks, Yes I did build them my self, I will check out those links. What I am still having trouble understanding is if I max out the shocks how will I get more travel out of wristing?

You won't get any more travel (unless you go to a longer shock). But you will have a lower center of gravity during full articulation as your tire will stuff higher into your wheel wells.

Ok I checked out lee's and just talking about the front arms, I see a decent amount of drop (limited by shock lengh(12"-14"?) but what I am sure I am not seeing is a some way for the arms to twist as one side drops and on comes up theis is a good deal of twisting that needs to happen. How is he getting that? Also any pics of your rig flexed?

I know I need longer shocks for more travel, But that is all that is stoping it now is the shocks not arms! So When I go to longer shocks I just don't know if wristing will give me any advantage. What I would like to see are pics of a rig with lots of travel THEN the same rig with wristed arms and more travel.

lee is maxing his 16" travel sway aways both direstions, and with their mounting locations he is getting around 30" of travel in the front end alone. I'm not quite sure what you mean by "twisting" motion, the arms have johnny joints at the frame end, and heims to attatch to the axle. The hydraulic ram as the top link on the passenger side arm can have a solenoid valve opened to allow articulation, as only the driver side arm then controls axle wrap, and the ram can extend and collapse as needed, or when the valve is closed it drives like a stock truck.

What I ment by twisting was the arm at the frame end needs to twist fith flex and you answered it with the johnny joint. Do you have any pics in action. What do you mean by 30" (16" shocks). Do you mean at the tire it self, from full stuff to full drop?

yes, I mean he has 30" of wheel travel from full stuff to full droop, and is using I believe a 16" sway-a-way (could be only a 14")

check out the following...

http://www.vintagebronco.com/coby/images/twisterstuff/twister.html

http://www.vintagebronco.com/coby/images/twister/

http://www.vintagebronco.com/colobronco/tech/wrist/wrist.htm

Hope this helps!

Originally posted by CrazyHorse
yes, I mean he has 30" of wheel travel from full stuff to full droop, and is using I believe a 16" sway-a-way (could be only a 14")

I think that's kind of a confusing statement. He has 16" of wheel travel because he has 16" travel shocks.

Originally posted by broncorob


I think that's kind of a confusing statement. He has 16" of wheel travel because he has 16" travel shocks.

No, he has 16" of SHOCK travel, but the shocks are inboard of the centerline of the tires, maybe a better way to phrase it would be 30" of articulated travel in the front end, if one side is stuffed, and the other side drooped to their extreems, there is about a 30" difference in the vertical location of the tires.