Long Arms

[89cherokeepioneer]

Has anyone made long arms? i would like to have them but i dont want to really buy them. id rather buy material and make it. not driving on the road, and im not worried about it breaking. my dad is a awesome welder and fabricator.

If no one has made them can some one post pics of their long arms and give dimensoins?

[muddeprived]

Frankz and 4.3L are two members I know who fabbed up their own long arms. I bought mine from Rough Country and slapped it on.


What kind of long arm setup are you interested in? 4-link? radius arms? 3-link?

[PandorasBox]

you can check mine out. The front arms are 2'' solid stock w/ 2'' johnny joints. the rear is 2'' square tube. that should give you a few ideas i guess

[4.3L XJ]

The first things you have to decide is how long your arms are going to be and if they mount where the cross member is then what the design of the cross member is going to be and whether or not it will be removable without dismantling the suspension. Then you go from there and decide what you are going to do for bushings and or joints. If you have all that figured out, making it is no big deal.

[littleblackxj]

How about as far as the geometry goes? I was thinking about doing the same thing, but the only thing I am still confused about is the length of the arms? How would you go about figuring that out? or does it not really matter all too much?

[4.3L XJ]

This may sound a little hap hazard, But I built my brackets, then figured out where the axle should be at full stuff and then measured. The arms are the last thing you make, not the first.

[jakeWI]

89eliminator built his own as well.

[littleblackxj]

Originally Posted by 4.3L XJ

This may sound a little hap hazard, But I built my brackets, then figured out where the axle should be at full stuff and then measured. The arms are the last thing you make, not the first.

Ok so then the length doesn't actually matter, like their isn't a magical number that it needs to be at. So I can just make brackets, and then once that is all set, i set the control arm lengths?

[4.3L XJ]

Yup. That is the way to do it. Also you need to decide before hand what design you will go with. Y link or three link etc.

When I made mine, I didn't intend to get that involved. I bought a set of springs that I thought would give me a particular lift. It turned out they were taller and there was no way the short arms would work. One thing led to another and I ended up with a long arm and high steer to make it all come out right.

[89cherokeepioneer]

K thanks for the ideas guys. any tips on what type of tubing to use upfront? Im only resorting to building these because Im fixin to sell a lawn mower to get the rest of the cash to buy a rc 4.5 lift, then i'll pray nothin brakes cause i will have no money at ALL.

[4.3L XJ]

Pick what ever size is convenient to work with. 1.5 - 2" is good.

[JRW7072009]

Originally Posted by 4.3L XJ

Pick what ever size is convenient to work with. 1.5 - 2" is good.

Agreed it really depends on the joints you go with, check out Ballistic Fab they have a awesome selection of tubing and joints. It can help give you a idea of what you may need.

tubing
Aluminum Links / DOM

joints
Ballistic Joints

adaptors
http://www.ballisticfabrication.com/Tube-Adapters_c_7.html

Figure out what type and size of joints you want to use and get the tube adaptors to fit then buy the tubing according to the size of tube adaptors from a local metal supplier. I am not saying you need to use Ballistic product, just an example for you.