Alright here's the question...

Why the hell would I want to use DOM Tubing over Pipe? Pipe is heavier but its half the price of DOM and its stronger!

Any reason why I shouldn't use pipe for my long arms?

-Justin

Justin its Nate
I would strongly recommend that you use the proper wall thickness DOM. What kind of pipe are you talking about? Remember, if something that you build breaks while you're driving, it could be very bad. Good luck on the long arm.
Nathan

What I learned during my long arm-

The main thing that DOM assures is consistency. The tolerances that DOM ensures are within a few thousandths of an inch.]

The tubing that I used was cold rolled 4130, with a max out of tolerance of .012 or something. I was able to find this for about 40% of the cost of comparable DOM - I used 1¾" x .375 tubing - I don't think I'll ever break this stuff. <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

DOM is overkill, as long as you choose a big enough wall thickness. I chose beef over tolerance, and cost over precision.

Bob

Hey Nate,

Thanks for the reply. I know that if I loose an arm while driving I could put myself in a very dangerous position.

The price for DOM vs The Pipe (I forget which grade) is only .75 a foot, so the price isn't so much an issue as strength. My friend works as a metal engineer here in town and he did a little research and found that the same wall thickness of dom vs pipe, the pipe was much stronger.

The consistancy(sp?) wasn't as good, but it was close enough that it shouldn't matter.

This project is going to be a long one <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0"> but I'll be able to do it for $100 vs buying a 500-1200 kit from one of the major companies. All of which have good ideas for their kits yet there are things I don't like about each kit, which I think might compromise the saftey of the system.

Besides, Jeeps are built not bought <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

-Justin

Are you gonna document all the work.

It'd be nice to see a write-up of your project if you could.

Good luck!

98DVL:

Yup, I'll document as best as I can. And I'll try to take lots of photos too.

Now if I can just figure out the best way for mounting these things I'd be set.

-Justin

FWIW, my rear 4 link is made out of 2" schedule 80 pipe (1/4" thick) and I beat it harder than most of you newbies could ever dream of <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0"> and I have never had any problems.

Schedule 80 pipe? That really suprises me but I believe you Lance. I am sure you have tested it out <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">
Justin are you making a subframe or just mounting point off of the frame? Are you going to use Heims or Johnny joints? For the front are you going to keep the short uppers or make a radius are setup?
Let me know how it goes.
Nathan

Hey Nate,

At this point I think I'm going to make a subframe similar to Tera's. But that may change because it would be a lot easier to weld on some brackets to the frame.

I'm going to do the lowers for right now, Josh over at JU had some drive line binds with his tera kit, but he also has 8" of Lift.

If I do have to do uppers, I'm simply going to take the factory design and move it back about 8" or so.

I'm going to use Johnny joints on the ends that connect to the frame brackets and heims for the ends that connect to the axle bracket.

Its funny the Schedule 80 pipe came up, because I just got back from my friends house and he suggested the same. We are going to go thru the a book he has that lists every type & grade of metal and see if we can find anything else.

I imagine at 4.5" of lift I won't have any binding issues with just long LCA's but we will see <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

Hey! I still need to get that sledge back from ya!

-Justin

How soon are you going to be doing this?

As soon as I can figure out the mounting points!

-Justin

Justin
I have the sledge sitting on my toolbox. Jaromy is coming over tomorrow to do his flush mount tail lights so I will give the sledge to him. I am having all of the brackets welded on my 8.8 tomorrow.
Todd I called Jess at Highangle and I got the adapter for half of what M.O.R.E. wanted. Thanks
Nathan

[ 10-12-2001: Message edited by: JeepZJ ]

Originally posted by JeepZJ:
<STRONG>Justin
I have the sledge sitting on my toolbox. Jaromy is coming over tomorrow to do his flush mount tail lights so I will give the sledge to him. I am having all of the brackets welded on my 8.8 tomorrow.
Todd I called Jess at Highangle and I got the adapter for half of what M.O.R.E. wanted. Thanks
Nathan

[ 10-12-2001: Message edited by: JeepZJ ]</STRONG>

Sounds like a busy weekend!

Have fun with those tail lights, I'm anxious to see how they turn out!

-Justin

Originally posted by JeepZJ:
<STRONG>Todd I called Jess at Highangle and I got the adapter for half of what M.O.R.E. wanted. Thanks
Nathan

</STRONG>


Cool, no problem.

What lights did Jaromy end up with?

I don't know where he got them but they are 4" round led's. Same lights that are on the back of UPS trucks <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">
Nathan

Originally posted by JeepZJ:
<STRONG>Same lights that are on the back of UPS trucks <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">
Nathan</STRONG>

hint?? haha <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

Originally posted by Lance:
<STRONG>FWIW, my rear 4 link is made out of 2" schedule 80 pipe (1/4" thick) and I beat it harder than most of you newbies could ever dream of <IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0"> and I have never had any problems.</STRONG>yeah but you had some crazy guys cut it in half first though... <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">


Seriously, if it were me, I would use tubing instead of pipe. Consistancy and strength.....but then again, web daddy GETS IT! (plus a friend of mine who made some custom arms had one break on the highway...not fun!)

Originally posted by TJoop:
<STRONG>
Cool, no problem.

What lights did Jaromy end up with?</STRONG>


Todd, he got them at http://www.partssystems.com They are here in town and the entire setup only cost about $40.

-Justin

Justin and Nate-

When Mike Myers built his long arm on his ZJ, I think he used SC 80 pipe...and I'm sure you could shoot him a email Mmyers8806@aol.com and ask him about what he used. I know he welded brackets right to the frame, and used Johny Joints...For the uppers he used a Y design to the lowers.

Nate...let me know when that 8.8 goes in!

Kelly

ok answer a leaf spring guys question here
What is the purpose of the long arm does it increase flex a good bit or just road manners or both
if it increases flex how much more are ypou talking
sorry for a newbieish question but i am a cj guy

Off road, long arms allow more flex. On road, they provide more horizontal arm angles, which results in a better road ride, for two reasons:
Short arms (which get VERY vertical with more lift) tend to take alot of bumps through the arms, which does not allow the suspension to soak up the bumps (as it should). Also, with a more vertical arm, the wheel must actually travel FORWARD in its arc to move up in the suspension cycle. This makes handling all kinds of fawked up.

Long arms eliminate these shortcomings on road. There is also some cross over off-road as well related to those two problems I've just outlined. Have you ever seen a highly liften Coil Sprung vehicle 'try to drive over' a front tire? With short control arm angles, and deep potholes, you can often stick a wheel in one that has little incentive (push from a control arm) to push it out...

Check out my red ZJ w/ long arms in these pics (http://community.webshots.com/album/22376673rDzCBQVQGe)

Bob

Thanks it make sense now