I'm going building new arms for my TJ. I have looked at the Long Arm kit from RE. I'm not sure I like the whole setup with their design. With the arms being as long as they are. And the Tera kit isn't even an option. So I am going to build my own lowers. I have been thinking of making an arm that's 24" long. Mine right now are 15 1\2 in the rear and 15 3\4 in the front so I think the extra length would really help in reducing the angle. My idea is to grind the welds off the stock brackets and then chisel them off. Then weld them farther back. The main problem that can see so far is that the front mounts wind up being right underneath the body mounts. Also I haven't studied the effects of using short uppers with longer lowers. From what I have read Skyjacker has increased the length of the lowers by 80%. But still kept short uppers but changed the geometery of the suspension by using that cradle thing on the front diff. Doesn't anyone have any thoughts before I start cutting?

First off, don't re-use the stock brackets, fab your own out of 3/8 plate steel. If you aren't able to do that, buy new brackets from Mopar. Next, make the arms as long as possible while keeping them parallel to your drive shafts.

And if you are going through the work of replacing the lowers, do the uppers too, it's not tough, and the performance gains are nice.

And if you wheel your TJ at all (which is expected here) I recommend using 1 1/2" SOLID cold-roll steel. Weld your stock contol arm ends on (or use heim joints for the frame end). You'll never have to worry about replacing an arm after rock surfing for the day.

It seems rather diffucult to play around with the uppers. As far as thier mounts are concerned with the angles. I just wasn't sure if I wanted to tackle all that much all at once. I thought I would start with the lowers and work from there.

I can undersand trying to make the arms as long as possible. But to mount that long of an arm underneath the frame seems to be a waste of time. The other thing that I could consider is fabbing up a mount that I would weld farther down the insideof the frame rail and notch the bellypan a bit to avoid contact. But then I am getting into messing with where the front driveshaft somes down and the exhasut on the other side. There is just so much stuff that you can fit in one area.

Gotta keep brainstormin...

Honestly, it sounds like an odd philosiphy, but if it's in your way torch it out, then build it the way DC should have.

Don't notch too much out of the belly pan.

But do at least reinforce your upper frame brackets, they are prone to breakage with long arm suspensions.

What would you suggest to do?
I haven't really sat down and thought about what to change with the upper arms. They weren't what I was concentrating on right now.

Now about about the mounts for the lower control arms. Do you think that the inside of the frame rail would be a good choice? I have a custom bellyup skid thats 3\8 steel, I think. I was thinking that if I "U" it out for the arms that I could reinforce the area afterwards with another piece of steel.

The arms that I was going to do are 1 3\8 dom from Spidertrax. I plan on using 3\4 Heims with a 28,081 load rating. I am gonna use these on both sides of the arms. I am getting the whole setup from Spidertrax. Just have to send them the lengths that I want and they are welding in the inserts.

Think this will be strong enough?

Thanks

Sounds like a stout setup. I like using the chrome-moly heims (I think that's what you would be getting. You might be able to save yourself some bracket building time by getting some steel channel (U shaped steel) from your local metal supply shop. To get enough for brackets is only going to cost a few bucks.

For the upper brackets, just weld some plate steel on the outside of the brackets, just for extra stength. The front uppers will probably be okay, but axle wrap (yes TJ's do suffer from it) wreak havok on the rear upper control arm frame brackets. That's where all the torque is directed. With heim ends, if you wanted the rear uppers could be moved the same distance down the frame as the lowers.

Brake and fuel lines can always be moved to get the clearance.

And when measuring up for your arms remember that you have a fair amount of thread on those heims. Better to have thread showing then have the arms too long.

I hadn't even thought of using U channel. I suppose using a 2 or 3" channel would work. Than just boxing in the one side for lateral stiffness. i'm guessing that would take the stress. Depending on the quality of the welds. I suppose the same material could be used all the way around for the arms. I think I will just do the lowers.

Or if i get ambitious cutting my RE upppers and the lenghening them and sleeveing them for the extra strength. Thats always another idea.

I am building my own arms from the rear axle. I am going just short of the skid plate. The mounts are fairly simple. 1/4 flatbar 4" wide and a 4" lenght of 1/4 C channel. The lower mounts sit in the C channel. The upper is in-board on top of the C channel.
The muffler will need to move forward about 4" or the upper arm will make contact under full compression.

The arm lenght is nearly 36" The front can be easily 36" I am using 1 3/4 DOM lower and 1 1/2 DOM upper.

I will have some shots if it stops raining

I was gonna use 1 3/4 solid stock, but not cold rolled. How much of a difference is there? Also, wouldn't you want the heim joint at the axle end where it gets more articulation?

Just to give you a quick idea...

1 1/2 cold rolled 7.65 lb/ft appx. $7 a foot (6 if you buy 12ft)
1 1/2 hot rolled 7.65 lb/ft appx. $5 a foot (3 if you buy 20ft)

Lets just say you get what you pay for. Odds are you'll never bend either, and you can always carry a spare. At normal market prices your heims will cost you more than the arms.

Oh and typically you want to do as little welding to the axle as possible, which is why I'd use the stock control arm ends on the axle side. You'll get the extra flex regardless of which end the heim is on. It'll still allow the arm to rotate. And remember to tighten your jam nuts!