OK guys - need some feedback.

What, in your learned opinions, is the BEST suspension system for a TJ? This is not a trailer queen, as it sees some road miles.

I have a crew here looking to do a full kit for the TJ. AT the moment I am thinking of a triangulated 3 link in the rear (upper triangulated), long arms all round, 5 link front. Rubber bushing on the frame ends to absorb vibes, and trick greasable joints on the axel ends. Probably around 5"+ of lift for now.

Background: I run a '97 TJ, 1.25" body lift, 4" coils, 0.75" spacers, Tera Long arms lower, stock upper control arms, 35" Simex Extreme Trekkers on steel beadlocks, short shaft kit, D44/D30 with hub kit, ARB's, etc.

We run a combo of Mud/dirt/rocks here in Australia... want to avoid rod ends (heim joints) as they just wear too quick when you dunk them in the mud and water every weekend, and transmit vibes like crazy thru the frame.

Looking for pics/suggestions/links/whatever!

There is a post on the board right now of a TJ with a coilover conversion that looks awfully good. Check it out.

Yea - I saw that one and have the site marked... looks scweet.

As always, everyone has their own opinion on what is best... particularly interested to hear from anyone as to what they like about their setup, and what they would change if they had the chance.

If I had a TJ I would go with the Rubicon Express extreme duty.
It out performs any bolt on TJ lift I have seen. I heard it drives
real good too. You should check it out.

FYI, from a financial standpoint, doing a custom long arm job is no deal. Just to make the long arms themselves (no brackets, springs, shocks, skid plate, etc.), I've already totaled up nearly $900usd in pieces. That doesn't count my buddy's shop time which usually runs about a 12 pack/half day.

RE's long arm kit obviously works well both on road and off. And at $1500usd for the upgrade kit, it's not a bad deal.

... just something to consider

cmk

I should have mentioned that these folks are looking to develop a kit... I am not looking to buy a kit. I have a fair amount of input as to how the kit should come together and what it should do.

So, in summary I am not spending a cent :)

I guess you are saying that the RE kit would be a good model right? I am not 100% sure about the radius arm design though... puts too much twisting force on the brackets etc. And, I would really like to triangulate the rear and get rid of the track bar.

The RE kit claims a 'virtual tri-link front' which is actually radius arms and a track bar. Don't get me wrong - I think it is a nice beefy kit, but if there are weak points I would like to address them.

Keep the suggestions coming...

Are you thinking of going the Full Monty?
I mean what's your goal? More Flex or more strength?
IMHO if you are going to rework the suspension (brackets etc) - ditch the axles and start with full width 60's.
3 link in the rear is fine, but why 5 point in the front? Instead go 3 link in front & for spring duties it would be hard to better the Hydrolic coil overs like Pete's Yellow FJ
http://www.onall4.com.au/images/uncutthumb22.jpg

Hey Wooders...

once this kit is right it will go on the market. Sooooo, it will not be a full custom 1 off set up. Has to be able to go on TJ's world wide.

Full width 60's are way in my credit card's future.

Pete's FJ is sweet, but the hydrolic coil overs are not so easy to put in a commercial kit. I think his actually worked better with the twin hydrolics in the rear and the leaf's up front, but I guess the quirks will get sorted with time.

I am pretty happy with my flex at the moment, and would not want to compromise it witrh the new kit... would like to improve it if possible. At the moment I use the full capacity (up and down) of the OME long travels that I have on.

The Long Tera arms I am currently using are nice, but I would like some more beef. Also tri-link rear will reduce the rear steer effects. I would also like to put long arms in the top of the front 5 link... etc, etc.

Maybe copy some of the Rock Krawler kit http://www.rockkrawler.com/tjsystem.html
http://www.rockkrawler.com/images/tjsdsys.JPG
it has some things like a wishbone rear upper arm and only one front upper arm.

I don't mean to be a dick, well, OK, maybe a just a little, but copying a competitor (or a future competitor) seems so, well, so American ;)

I'm quite happy with my R/E longarm, but keep in mind they built several long arm prototypes after building short arm suspensions for a few years, and they have evolved it since it was introduced.

They drive these, wheel these and watch guys wheel these.

If your gonna compete in this arena it seems you would need something to set yourself apart from the R/E's the Teras, the skyjackers etc.

Originally posted by Dan-H
If your gonna compete in this arena it seems you would need something to set yourself apart from the R/E's the Teras, the skyjackers etc.

You're absolutely right. I can think of at least 3 guys in the area that are all wanting to market their own long arm kit. You have to do something different. Keep in mind that while Tera and Skyjacker both have funky setups (tera with their long lower and short upper, WTF is that and Skyjacker with all the "drop" and "raise" brackets), they have BIG marketing programs behind their stuff, especially Skyjacker.

IMO, RE is the benchmark for a long arm setup. Now, if you were to copy RE verbatim AND add a friendly, useful customer service, you would be golden!

cm "yes, that was a stab" k

Ok here's a q for the suspension experts - why is the top usually triangulated on a 3 point, rather than the lower arms?
Given that the lower arms probably experience a bigger arch of travel. Triangulation of the lower arms would mean less arch of arm movement for the same (or more) wheel travel.

Hey FireTruck...as someone who just sold an RE long-arm kit to go with a custom set-up, I'll throw my 2 cents in...:D

In my opinion, the RE long arm kit is the best of all the bolt-on kits...it's stout, handles the trails great, and has excellent road manners...but...there's 2 huge drawbacks to the RE kit, as well as any other aftermarket bolt-on kit:

1 - they are designed to use most (if not all) of your factory bracketry, and the factory bracketry sucks...the axle CA and shock mounts particularly

2 - when you get done you still have crap hanging down below the axle tube just asking to get hung up on the rocks...

these were the 2 main reasons that prompted us to go with a custom design...there wasn't any way we were going to use factory axle bracketry, and even if we did fab our own brackets, the LCAs and shock mounts would still be dangling below the tubes...and there really isn't much room to move stuff around on a TJ axle

so if a kit were to truely be superior to all the others, and not just another 'me too' long arm kit, you'd need to address these 2 issues...and the only problem with that is with the added complexity of installation you have just put your kit out of the ability range of alot of do-it-yourselfers...but I guess you could go the route that Warn did when they brought out the BD YJ coil kit, you can only sell it through certified installers...

like I said...just my 2 cents worth :D

Hey Wooders...

I would not pretend to be an expert, but here are my 2cents...

The lower control arms take alot of load - that's why they are usually beefier than the uppers. If you triangulate the lowers there will be alot of force on a 'single' point... more than you would get from the uppers being triangulated. The lower arms experience alot more 'anti-squat' force trying to collapse them when you drop the hammer.

Also, the triangulated lowers would tend to get in the way of alot of stuff. They would be below the driveshaft I guess, so there would be some bracketry hanging down there someplace. If the lower arms are 'standard', they are out of the way a bit more.

Can't see that it would make much diference in terms of the rear steer effect.

I'm sure someone else will reply with something that makes more sense (??)