say you are in the woods and you make a small kink in the 1/8" tube and then you are now back on the highway and for some reason you hit a pothole, that kink is now the weak point and will force the long arm to bend. The reason i am so against it is because i have seen a control bend and a roll over happened (it was on a tj). Just trying to look out for a fellow jeeper.

 

1.5x.250 DOM is about as small of a tube I would use. I just wouldn't feel safe with anything less

 

Yes it could potentially be a serious safety issue.

.120 wall dom is less than 50% the thickness of the minimum recommended tubing for Long Arms. The bare minimum for long arms(which basically hold the entire front suspension in place) would be 1.5" .250 wall DOM, but 1.75" would be a much better choice.

.120 is great for triangulated roll cages, but not for suspension links.

Give me a decent sized hammer, a bench vice, half and hour and I could bend a 3ft stick of .120 wall to a 90 degree angle.

 

ok forget the 1.75" .120" wall DOM it's back in the rack..... i have two different sticks of metal at my disposal free.. i was able to get enough .250 wall 1.75" or i got a pile 2" square 3/16" wall that i am toying with and i like the look..i know that either is strong enough

 

you could use the 1.75"x0.250" for your bottom rails and if you dont have enough to do the uppers too (depends on your set up) then use the square. btw Roughstuff is having a 20% sale and today is the last day(if i remember correctly) so that way you can get your tube inserts for your joints and your joints as well for cheap

 

btw what is your long arm set up going to be?

radius? 3 link? true 4 link? true 3 link(wishbone with a panhard)?

 

How much lift is gonna be under this ride? To me thats way too much drop on the transfer case. Too, is this gonna be a radius arm setup or actual 3/4-link?

 

i bet that is there so that he can retain his TCase drop instead of getting an SYE


good point. skipped that while looking at his thickness of his tube.

you want as flat an under belly as you can, specially since you are going the customer route. it looks good just doesnt seem practical, altho i do have to say that you do have a good idea with the side supports and you got the right concept

 

If and when i do a true 3-link under mine, everything is gonna be tucked as much as possible, to me that is key, even if you gotta chop up the floorboard for the UCA. After wheelin my '85 Nissan which has a divorced transfer case that hangs down a good 5"s, so ive learned, anything hanging down is good for nothing but getting hung on.

What you do have is a beefy looking start, not knocking it. Its like anything, we all have diffrent views and i tend to build/look toward what will work best.

 

well the plan is for 6-7 in total lift yes it is alot hanging down and it is there to maintain the t-case drop for now...it's gonna be factory style 4-link all poly bushed except for the one hiem one each upper for adjustment..once again not going for maximum flex i just want more, and a better ride i have less then $2000 in this jeep total and am going for bang for the buck right now i am 4.5" lift on stock control arms and it isn't very nice to drive thats what this is about right now...

 

96_xj thanks for the tip off..just ordered everything for my uppers

 

Anytime you wheel and then drive on road you take that risk ,But I do agree that if you're going to spend the time/money building something you do it right one time instead 2x .

 

I highly doubt a long arm made from .250 or .375 wall tube would be dangerous on the road if bent/dented.

It takes a pretty significant amount of force to deform 1/4" mild steel. At the very worst a bent long arm made from .250 wall tube would cause the Jeep to not track properly.

 

You're missing my point ,which is anytime you 4wheel a vehicle in harsh offroad situations it leaves possiblity for failure when you drive it on road afterwords ...And tweaking of a control arm is an easy spot during inspection b4 hitting the road and having on highway failure . Do you still run stock d30 unitized hubs ?...I've had these let go on highway after a day on the trail and only 33's on my old 95 ZJ

That being said all your d30's scare me on the highway after a day on the trail .

 

I didn't miss the point, I understand that. tweaking a control arm wouldn't necessarily cause a highway failure.

Having a Unitbearing come apart on the highway after wheeling means it was probably already on its way out.

I understand the logic, however thats more worrying than I think is needed. As long as you build your Jeep with a decent factor of excess, maintain it well and know when something isn't as it should be you're going to be driving a safer vehicle than 90% of people on the road.