can I use the stock upper control arm with about 5 or 5.5 inch of lift or is that to much stress on them.

 

i have the rustys 4.5" lift which measures closer to 5 with stock uppers if your gonna use them replace the bushings with poly bushings and not the oe replacements

 

You might want to think about replacing them at that much lift. If they didn't come with your lift kit check out iron man 4x4. They have uppers you can buy, they're pretty beefy and not expensive.

 

k

 

They should be OK, you will be at the limit for them. I would be more concern with the lower arms and rear shaft, what are you doing about those? Are you thinking adding 2" spacer and a shackle? Your spec sheet shows you have RC SII 3.5". You might consider going to Control Arm Drop brackets with the 5-5.5" lift.

 

Or a long arm conversion...

 

That is on my old jeep I have not updated that in a while. I have brand new 3 inch leaf springs and 2 inch block in the rear. I'm Running coils and spacers in the front. I'm also going to buy new lower control arms as well. I think I will be fine for now without a CAD

 

So your planning on going to 5 or 5.5 inches of lift with a short arm setup? I was at 4.5 inches with my xj using short arms and without an SYE. It worked fine for around town but the ride quaility was awful, it was really stiff and harsh. If your rig is just a wheeler I think you could get away with it but if it's a DD it might not be to comfortable.

 

i dont know how they are supposed to ride. i bought mine already lifted, with
the short arm kit. i thought mine rode pretty well being that it is lifted with 6 inch over all. now i will say that the short arms pull the axle closer to the fire wall and i have warped a coil on the driver side. so i had to remove the 2" blocks in the front to straighten out the spring. thats because i didn't check to make sure the previous owner had all the bolts tight enough. after wheeling it real hard the spring shifted and the axle would move. so i would suggest a long arm or at least an adjustable lower short arm. mine is a fixed arm and thats the only thing i found that could have been better.

 

shop around, I know rustys offroad has the uppers/lowers at 130 for a set (fixed non adjustable) which would be better than stock. tell them the lift you have (type/brand/amount of etc) and just get some new!

 

Well I might invest in a CAD I'm not really sure as of right now. I'm not really worried of how long it takes me to put all the things on just gettin everything situated is my only concern.