I have been looking and no-one is using solid stock or thicker DOM. Maybe instead of using long arms or drop brackets, why not bend something? Now dont jump down my throat cuz I'm only thinking. I added an attachment from windows paint.

 

the track bar design wont work because of the angles.... you will bind heavily at the axle. the reason you dont want to bend them (some have slight bends) is because that then puts a more extreme angle of the arm going into the brackets the unibody making it right ALOT rougher..... the reason people do long arms is to get their arms parallel. in your case you INCREASED the angle of the arms.

not to be mean but neither design work well.

look at what people have built they have built them that way be cause they work the best that way.

 

RCs 4.5 lower arms have a bend in them. you don't get the flex out of a arm like that. Also the longer the arm the larger the radius the joint can travel at the opposite end allowing more travel and a smoother ride.

For the track bar way to much math to get a good one for me I'll just let some one with ProE/solid works do that.

As for tubing 120 wall DOM is plenty strong. you also need to look at weight when picking what your building with thats why your seeing more buggies with lighter parts because you can go faster or use less fuel if your rig weighs less

 

Ok thanks guys. After drawing it I didnt think it would work but I still had to give everyone something to read. Jake

 

Something else; when I build long arms do I need to redo the UCA's immediately or can I wait til later. I only have 2 or 3 days to build my whole JY lift. I really want to do the long arms while I'm there b/c I travel for my job. I'd hate to make a 1000 mile drive on a half way done lift.

 

I'm all for custom fab as I used to work in a 4x4 custom fab shop but if you don't really know what your doing or have someone there that does, DONT do it. I will be using .250 wall DOM in my links on my XJ as it will be PLENTY strong for the weight of the Jeep.

As for building lowers and not uppers I wouldn't it needs to be designed to all work together or you could get bad handling. In building custom suspensions and mods on vehicles if something isn't dont right someone could seriously get hurt or killed.If your doing it build it right the first time and have the peace of mind it's done right and safe

 

The uppers would have to be done if you do long arms for the lowers. If you look at any long arm design, the upper arms mount to the lower arms. only doing the lowers would result in the same flex as if you didnt do long arms at all because the uppers can only flex so much. Plus, the uppers are stuck at a steep angle

 

Thanks for the input. I have been studying and thinking about this alot lately. I have many pictures of designs on others rigs. My grandpa has been a pipeline welder and fabricator for 53 yrs and I am a pipefitter/fabricater so I have some metal experiance helping me. I just look for you guys to get the stupid questions I have out of my head. haha My wifes cousin also just redid the whole front end in his chevy1500. Solid axle and leaf springs so he had to make alot of his stuff. Just to recap: Dont bend anything, .250 DOM, make LCAs/UCAs as parallel to the ground as possible, and get the trac bar as parallel to the drag link as possible. Or is it the axle? uh oh Thanks guys, Jake.