I was just wondering who out there has fabbed up a long arm suspension on an xj and what exactly did you do to get it to work right. Just researching some options right now

Here read this (http://www.off-road.com/jeep/cherokee/2001/10_oct/longarm/longarm2.html) <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

here you go.

http://www.jeepinjunkie.com/long_control_arms.htm

Did it on mine doing a very similiar setup to Adam's but I didn;t cut my arms and re-weld them. I thought this would weaken the integrity of the arms (beefy Cromoloy). Articulation is awesome and the ride on the highway is very nice. One caveat is that the axle has a tendency to try to wander back and forth since the there is no UCAs tied into the unibody. All of this wandering force is tranferred to the track bar mount and causes the unibody rail (that the track bar mount is attached to) to flex and give minor death wobble tendancies. Borton fixed this with his brace that crosses over from the trackbar mount to the other unibody rail. Makes sense to me and I will be fabbing this this week.

Course I didn;t mention the cool factor. Any body willing to hack off their factory CA mounts has a definate screw loose. Welcome to the Loose Screw Club.

Originally posted by SeanP:
<STRONG>Welcome to the Loose Screw Club.</STRONG>
oh oh oh...can i be in the club?!?!
Sean, where can i see some pics of your rig, id like to check it out.
~JOhn

Oh yeah that brings me to my next question. Say perhaps i managed to seriously F up fabbing this up and wanted to put the stock lca mounts on is there someway to replace them?

Originally posted by locked96xj:
<STRONG>Oh yeah that brings me to my next question. Say perhaps i managed to seriously F up fabbing this up and wanted to put the stock lca mounts on is there someway to replace them?</STRONG>

Yep, since you are replacing them you might as well go with beefier. The MJ mounts are sturdy and if I recall, aren't too expensive either. The part numbers are 55005148 and 55005149 for the mounts. I wouldn't worry about it too much though, you should be able to pull off the longarm setup with everyone's help.

Taking the plasma cutter to my stock mounts was BEYOND scary.

I love the longarms, though - they are the Bomb. With just the fronts on, I flex like MAD MAD MAD. And for some reason, I ALSO get less body roll... <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

I fabbed a kit for the f+r, and I made arms for F+R, although I've been too busy to get the rears on (I know, I'm Blowing it).

I'm trying to get some photos of my arms... drop me an email if you want a copy when I finally get off my ass (read: get some goddamn time!) to borrow a digicam and snap some off.

Bob

JohnBuuuuuuuuu (is that too many u's?)
My wife's birthday is coming up and she is getting a digital camera from me. Then I will be able to post pics to my Yahoo site.

She is also getting a 9" rear with detroit, a front arb, 4.56s. She did say "Just get me something for the house", and since the jeep is in the garage this is technically things for the house. Right? Honey? What are you doing with that knife? Honey?

<IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0"> SeanP

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/022/Rk/jA/et/tr55967.jpg
This is a freind of mine who is running the 8" Rockkrawler LA kit. This flexed so good, it was unbeleivable.
Mike

Ahhh yes Rock Krawler. I'm heading over to their factory/warehouse/whatever the hell it is on friday to do some gawking and try and coax a few tricks out of them. Anyone want pics?

I will be fabbing one up through for my XJ as well. I am planning to box my frame for strength, not just for new points to mount my lower control arm mount but also for a set of custom beefy rock rails. Has anyone else done this, or does anyone think its necessary? I do like the idea of using the MJ mounts and I will get a set of them for this mod as well.

You will see in another thread about some buddies of mine that have made long control arms for their TJs. TJ custom long arms (http://albums.photopoint.com/j/AlbumIndex?u=241709&a=11583196&f=0)

The way their fronts are set up is the way that I will be setting my front suspension up as well.

mac 'custom flex rules' gyvr

Originally posted by SeanP:
<STRONG>JohnBuuuuuuuuu (is that too many u's?)
My wife's birthday is coming up and she is getting a digital camera from me. Then I will be able to post pics to my Yahoo sit

<IMG SRC="smilies/wink.gif" border="0"> SeanP</STRONG>

Sean, you run a d60 front correct?
tell me about it please.
~John

John, I'm flattered, but still running a D30 with the 297 joints and bigger knuckles. I won't even consider a 44 (no benefits except ability to run lower gears). There is a 60 in my future, not not next year, naybe year after.

SeanP

oh my mistake Sean, i thought i heard someone say you had 60 f/r.
im still running my d30 front (very temporarily) and i managed to frag the r
+p and arb in my d44, so i decided to order an hp60 for the rear. sohld be here soon, and i cant wait....but after that, im trying to get a 60 up front, so im looking for ideas with that.
~John

Originally posted by Trango:
<STRONG>Taking the plasma cutter to my stock mounts was BEYOND scary.

I love the longarms, though - they are the Bomb. With just the fronts on, I flex like MAD MAD MAD. And for some reason, I ALSO get less body roll... <IMG SRC="smilies/smile.gif" border="0">

I fabbed a kit for the f+r, and I made arms for F+R, although I've been too busy to get the rears on (I know, I'm Blowing it).

I'm trying to get some photos of my arms... drop me an email if you want a copy when I finally get off my ass (read: get some goddamn time!) to borrow a digicam and snap some off.

Bob</STRONG>

Bob I would like to see a pic of your subframe or mounting points of your arms. Where do plan on mounting the rear uppers? Like everyone else, I am fabbing a long arm this winter and will start with the subframe. Thanks
Nathan

John, you are thinking of Jeep Freak Sean from the NAXJA board. He has 1 ton axles under his rig now. I am not sure what he did, but it looks sweet. He beats the snot out of his XJ, check of some of the Fall Fling pics on the Non-Tech board.

Sorry to hear about the 44. Have you looked into a ford 9"? I just picked one up yesterday and damn is it nice. It was currie built, set up for XJ, nice trussing on the housing, 31 spline (you can go up to 40 spline in these), and a detroit. I tore it down last night and it is perfect inside. No so much as a metal shaving in the fluid (theres 4 small magnets in the housing to catch stuff). $875 total.

As far as the front, I think that 60 is the only way to go. I wouldn't buy one from Currie or Dynatrac, just get a reverse rotation housing, cut down the axle tubes and get flat knuckles for a high steer or crossover. You will have to custom order some axles either way, along with R&P and ARB

Good luck

SeanP

Nathan-

I am doing y-arms. I have some rear uppers fabbed that take heims. I'm going to use the stock mounts, and single shear the heim at the outboard side with a spacer. Hopefully the torsion will not wreck the stock UCA joint...

I'm 20 minutes away from taking some pics of my setup. I borrowed the digicam from work...send me an email at racecadet@yahoo.com with your preferred addy for receiving 1-2Mb of pics and I'll send them off.

Bob

Will do Bob
Thanks <IMG SRC="smilies/beer.gif" border="0">
Nathan

http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/afecko_99/lst?.dir=/Jeep+Tech&.view=t

Checking in, see pictures above.....I see long arm mania has finally caught on, as I predicted it would. For once, being the guinie pig worked out great! <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

Andy

For everyone planning to run 60's do you think that they will be too heavy for the unibody? I was thinking about doing 44's but I guess with a atlas 2 lockers and only 35"s a 44, esp front, wont do it. Lools like shaved 60's might be the way to go. <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

Eddie:

I have added 2x3x .025" angle on my unibody where the CA/crossmember mounts, this should be strong enough for a 60. Also, doing Borton's bar from the trackbar mount to the other unibody rail should hold up. Weak point will be where the steeringbox atttaches, but you can get a brace from Rusty for $60, or build your own.

Originally posted by SeanP:
<STRONG>I have added 2x3x .025" angle on my unibody where the CA/crossmember mounts, this should be strong enough for a 60. </STRONG>
How hard would it be to replace the fake frame rail with square tubing? I'm thinking just between the wheel's. I think it would be a big PITA to weld it in. is your angle bolted on or welded?

seanP,
actually...for the rear, i scored a reverse cut d60 (35spine, 4.88, detroit, disks, 1350 yoke and 64in wide) for my birthday present...so im happpy with the rear...
for the front, ill prolly just get a f350hp60 and set it up for the xj, and run the eight lug up front, and get new shafts, and redrill the rear rotors for eight lug stuff. the kingpin setup seams to be pretty easy to set up high clearance steering on...
once i finish axles, ill finally be able to wheel again....WEEEEEEEE!

right on, John. 60s, 60s, 60s seems to be the rule round here, at least.

Eddie: are you thinking of cutting out the unibody rails and welding box in place? I wouldn't want to steer anyone away from an interesting project, but I think that it would be easier to weld some angle on like I did. I only did about two feet on each side, but in retrospect I could have done more. My pass side is pretty bashed up from dropping on rocks, so welding the full length would be challenging. I never listen to my wife when she says "Go slow here" <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

Originally posted by SeanP:
<STRONG>Eddie: are you thinking of cutting out the unibody rails and welding box in place? I wouldn't want to steer anyone away from an interesting project, but I think that it would be easier to weld some angle on like I did. I only did about two feet on each side, but in retrospect I could have done more. My pass side is pretty bashed up from dropping on rocks, so welding the full length would be challenging. I never listen to my wife when she says "Go slow here" <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0"></STRONG>

Well I was reading the "Ultimate XJ bulid up" in the september issue of JP. They talk about cutting into the frame rails and inserting square tube of the same size. I dont know how exactly the best way to do this would be. I was thinking about taking some C-channel? and cladding the whole thing. Cutting into the rail would be too easy to fawk up IMOHO.
This (http://www.pirate4x4.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=4&t=006455) is what I'm thinking about doing so the "frame will need to be <STRONG>nice and stiff</STRONG> <IMG SRC="smilies/biggrin.gif" border="0">

[ 10-23-2001: Message edited by: Eddie Mcstiff ]

John, ive been thinking about the f350 60 also. Do you know what the width is?

thanks, Bratcher

f-350 hp 60 is 67 inches and change.

Andy

bratcher...
its 67in like xjs said...i plan on taking 1in off each side, and running it at 65in, and before each wheeling trip, maybe add a set of wheel spacers, for fullsize stability, that is, if where im wheelin isnt real tight.
~John