hodge-xj

well i have been lurking searching and reading as much as i physically can absorb lately knowing that my tax money is coming in and i would be upgrading with it, but now i am hung up once again! i have been looking heavily into the rough country control arm drop, with some new adjustable flex arms, as well as researching comparable longarms (rustys, rough country ect) in the price range of 6-8 MAX i didnt wanna spend that much but you get wat you pay for. tho even with new arms uppers and lowers w/ the drop brackets ill be under a long arm cost (which is always good) all the hype and info surrounding the long arms is overwhelming to say the least, and has me befuddled to be honest, and makes the CAD seem like a bandaid. Or is it, thats my question!!!


now to the point i have about 5"-5.5" of lift on a short arm now, the rear is a combo of aal, block, shackel and shot bushings, its horrible but i was not the one who installed the lift, up front i have just coils, i have upgraded the shocks knowing i am going to about 6"-6.5" of lift total i am getting 4.5 leaf packs and doin a spacer up front

i really dont know what to make of one compared to the other, as this is my DD and i do around 300-500 miles a week. i am doing this because i am at the point where the short arms are intolerable, i am just looking for some nice consice info from anyone who drove on the road with either setup, honestly shoppin around and talking to people starts web arguments, not what i am trying to do. i need effing clarification on this before i buy anything and thats mainly my goal. alas everyone makes their product sound like they reinvented the wheel again!!!
sorry for the long post but i am flustered and beyond confused and i have to say this is one of the firsts for me, i hope i gave enough info to get some type of answer, i can provide more if needed lol
thanks for the help
garrett

RENIXBEAST

Go long arm. You will wish you did if you don't. Rough country sells a long arm upgrade for $600.

hodge-xj

i was looking into them but from what i understand after searching another forum rough country has been having problems getting the kits together because they are in such high demand, some people are saying its been up to 2 months so i was kinda skeptical about that, my buddy has the kit on his and its legit, just kinda wary about spending money on something that i wont see for months

projectmayhem

long arm by far, check out rubicon express or rustys offroad

hodge-xj

other then a minimal loss in ground clearance, i am not totally sold on the long arms, honestly my buddy with the RC long arms has prob a little less belly clearance then me because of the lower link mounts, i have seen a few pics of the drop bracket flex and the guys with them were really happy with adj short arms, i mean it would be cheaper first of all so i could upgrade more things and i cant afford a 1K or so long arm upgrade like clayton or the tnt so i wanna know if i should wait, or just go with the DB, not trying to ruffle feathers but i want more then an educated guess from people, i mean my money is basically spent no matter what route i go, just what i decide on determines how much i can upgrade

projectmayhem

long arms custom suspension is my thing no matter what its for, trust me

caged

i went from 5.5 RE lift with drop brackets to long arms.
to be honest, there was minimal difference in feel, but i am glad as i now have a very good set of custom long arms under there.

the flex is surprisingly similar, the road feel was very good with the drop brackets. i just now have bragging rights for all my friends. lol.


do whatever you can afford. if you can afford long arms, definitely go for it.
but you won't be disappointed with drop brackets either.


now, if you were talking converting the rear, i'd say go long arm.

hodge-xj

honestly i have been saving for a while, a long while, knowing i would be doing this so i can pretty much afford whatever, in terms of a long arm upgrade, but i just was really unsure about if it really came down to "bragging rights" instead of performance, i mean right now i got new steering, h4's, steering and trac bar bracing, all in the mail already, i wanted to at least accomplish my susp overhaul with it, so i am gonna be getting 4.5 rear springs, shackle relocation boxes (ill be lowering my adjustable shackles), spacers, brake lines, sye..............you get the point but i am hung up so much on the front end idk wtf i wanna do!!!!
god 3 link, 4 link, y link, drop brackets, in the end it comes down to this being my only vehicle so i will not trade on road performance for an extra inch of flex, i know i am ranting and such but i have been juggling this in my head for a while, i was looking into the rough country kit, both drop brackets and long arms actually, but before i decide i just wanted to hear some actual facts from some guys,

caged

i'd go for the long arms then.

check out my buddy's site. he makes a set kinda like claytons. he made mine.

http://staangsfab.com/products-1/jeep-cherokee-xj/

xjfanatic

I personally started with a 5.5" short arm kit and I know how you felt about the on road performance because mine is a daily driver as well. A few years ago I converted to the teraflex long arm kit which retained the factory mounted uppers and just replace the lowers with long arms which ran me about $500. The on road differed was astounding. I highly recommend it for a DD however with the short long combo offroad conditions place a problem for the caster because when you flex the difference in lengths causes the caster to continually change which is terrible for drivetrain components. I eventually ordered a bracket from rustys and made one of the teraflex lowers into a radius arm and basically made a 3 link out of the kit. The onroad performance was the same and the offroad performance drastically improved. I can now drive my jeep with 6.5" lift and 35's on the highway at 70mph and let go of the steering wheel with no worries what so ever. That is my personal experience with long arms. As for CAD set up I have heard that the on road improvement is completely worth it, however the bracket that is installed places a large amount of stress on the unibody and is far less capable of holding up to medium to intense offroad conditions. Personally I would go with the long arm kit, but as most anyone would say its your jeep and your choice. Either will improve your on road performance.

hope this helps

98 JeepJeep

for 950 i would skip that and get the RC upgrade....Hell my Whole kit 6.5" RC LA cost 1099

hodge-xj

thanks for the input guys, for now i think i am going to save some cash, get the CAD and some adj arms, all this knowing il be upgrading to long arms at some point, but i decided i wanna do uni body stiffeners, amongst many many other upgrades so i think ill hold off for a while, i am trying to do all too much at once, since the previous owner cut alot of corners that i am still trying to remedy,and since its my dd and sees mostly 75 -90on road with some trips to off road parks tossed in, i think for now they will suit me fine, i honestly have to get sliders, a front bumper, and swap the rear to the 8.25 before ill really wheel this thing hard esp since i have a d35 and 33s, and that all is gonna be more $$ hahaha the never ending cycle continues

hodge-xj

well i figure ill drop a little update until i start a thread on my build up, i got the drop brackets and the full adj arm set from RC, i am very pleased with this setup, its great considering its not fully setup at this point, my brakelines still need to be changed(new ss lines in my shed) and i am still working on getting the rear set up, overall for my intended purposes it suits me just great, and overall the flex and ride is amazing! this past weekend we were at a local jeep show, and on the rti, my buddy with a 4.5 lift with the CAD actually out flexed quite a few LA setups, idk the exact details on what he is running (its ramac on here) but dang did these things really surprise the heck out of me, thanks for everyones input i really weighed all my decisions and these just fit my needs better, ill update like i said in the future, but i cant get full flex shots till i update my truck a little more, as of now i am eating fender bad, and lifting my rear tires about 3+ inches and still have droop left up front, def a great upgrade for those on the fence between the two