do I have to draw it out for you? when you hit a bump the axle moves upward. here I have illustrated an imaginary radius that the arms can rotate in. in the short arm application, the arms almost have to move backward when they articulate up and down. now look at the radius the long arms would make. there is much more room for the axle to move up and down without being forced into the jeep.

now with the drop brackets, yes the arms are lowered and flattened out similar to stock. but they're still rotating off of that tiny radius. and now you've got a giant hunk of metal hanging under your jeep. problem in my book

you know, for someone running deavers and bilsteins, you'd figure long arms would've been on your list



true. ride quality isn't the only reason to go with a long arm system though. but in a thread that's questioning why the jeep drives like a dump truck, arms are the first thing to address. you can change the coils, shocks, and shackle angle. still wont even come close to the difference that long arms make

 

Hahaha. Thanks for the detailed explanation and pictures. . A couple things, I disagree with the amount of ride quality radial arms would add to a lifted jeep with stiff coils and low grade shocks. The difference would be more noticeable with better shocks with drop brackets vs just "long arms" (specify which ones tho). . I was ribbing you since you laughed at the drop brackets. Like you, I laugh when I see a guy with "long arms" and some crappy shocks. And for the record, I've never hit that huge hunk a metal from the brackets. However, If I ever want/or need to upgrade my arms, ill get radials because of the reasons listed in your or so detailed explanation. 👍

 

Its on my list but Im regearing my front axle next then tires. Hope to have long arms early next year. I am just trying to wrap my head around LCOG and making everything live without cutting the crap out of my rig.

 

and here is where I disagree with you. but I guess neither of us will know for sure until you try long arms and I try the drop brackets. I will agree that crap shocks with long arms is silly though. all I know is that I could take washboard bumpy roads at 30mph with my long arms. same roads that were knocking my teeth out with short arms at 15mph. and my on road stability went way up. no more sketchy freeway rides

 

don't even bother with low cog if you're running stock axles. the basic idea is to just not lift your jeep into the sky. understand that 3.5"-5.5" of lift will get you full travel out of 12" shocks. it's just preference as to whether you like more up travel or more down travel. the rest probably wont make a difference in stock applications

 

Really it comes down to what you want to spend your money on. The best bet for the short arm route would probably be the lightest coils and leaf packs you could find (around stock rating, maybe compensate a bit for the weight of bumpers, roof racks, gear, etc), I've heard OME makes some of the best riding coils, leafs and shocks, plus drop brackets, and a bit of a longer shackle with the taller leafs. I'm not really sure of it would necessary/desirable to run adjustable control arms with the drop brackets, but that would help to correct any caster problems. Long arms are most desirable IMO, and for the money it would be to get full adjustable control arms and drop brackets, it would probably be worth spending the little extra to get a long arm set. Just my $0.02

 

28 PSI.
The LCAs are fixed-length tubes that were included with the Skyjacker kit. They're a bit longer than stock. The bushings on those are polyurethane. The UCAs are stock. Bushings are rubber, and old, but don't look awful.
I've got some JKS adjustable UCAs & LCAs waiting to go on, when I install my RRO control arm drop brackets.

It's been a couple years. It hasn't softened up.

No one, including myself, expects their jeep to ride like a car.
What I expect is for the thing to ride without every seam and buckle on the highway feeling like someone slamming the frame with a 60 lbs sledge hammer. I was hoping I made this clear in my first post. I am not looking for luxury.

Riding like a dump truck would be an improvement. Hell, I think I've ridden in wooden-wheeled horse-drawn wagons that weren't this bad (just slower and more odorous).

CAD are under $200. You can run stock arms with them. A full set of adjustable control arms can be had for $400. A radius arm conversion is over $1000.
Still, I would have saved up the extra and gone with a long arm setup had I known the 3" lift would ride like a nightmare.

IDK... It must be some dirty little secret that most jeepers are too ashamed to talk about. I spent countless hours over countless days reading about lifts, but apparently no one thought to point out, "That 3" lift kit is gonna make you hate life every time you take it out on the road."

 

no it's not.. just get some 1" spacers for the front and get these
http://www.seriousoffroadproducts.co...4-7.5-S-A-Lift

yeah it's a big investment for the average jeeper. yeah it sucks up front but it's worth every penny once it's installed and riding like a caddy
I finally got fed up with ride quality of my adjustable short arms and replacing bushings. long arms were the last upgrade I did to my jeep and the short arms served me well. but I so much happier once I got long arms

 

OP hasn't even posted pics of his set up... Come on, let's see the front end.

 

From your link:
"Tired of having your fillings knocked loose when you wheel your XJ?
Kidneys taking a beating on rough roads?"

So can we all agree then that anyone wanting to lift more than 1" should be told not to lift less than 4" because something must be done about the control arms? It just seems irresponsible to let newbies buy 3" kits without being told what's in store for them.

What's there to see? I already stated what's on there.
Skyjacker 3" coil springs. OME nitrocharger sports. Stock UCAs. Fixed tube LCAs. Oh, and an IRO track bar, if that matters. Aside from paint color, these things are all gonna look pretty much the same.

 

well the stock Cherokee rides pretty rough in the first place. so I figure that no one expects it to be better when you lift it which is why not many folks complain about it. it's all a matter of what you're willing to put up with. you happen to be one of those who cannot stand the ride quality. I put up with it for awhile myself and wasn't really bothered by it at first

 

Well first of all, sky****ter coils suck.

But my bad then... Fight off proven information and just complain about everything. What do we know anyway?

At 3" of lift your control arm angle shouldn't be at any extreme number to cause a rough ride. If you don't grasp the concept of how long arm set ups work, nothing else we can do chief.

Lol, going with RRO drop brackets out of the 3 on the market.

 

I guess what I should have said was I want to keep low as I can, fit 33" rubber but wheel decent as I do not get to go as often as I would like right now. I swaped my D35(Bent axle tube, pinion seal ****ing the bed was the final straw) out a few weeks back got an 8.8 with 4.10 gears for free I was fretting over shock mounts and my present shocks I cut my old shock mounts off the D35 and shortened them up. Also built some bump stop brackets to go under the stock bump stops. I was thinking you had to have a 4" lift min. to go with long arms ?

 

Are you being sarcastic?

No way I am going over 4in. And long arms will not help my 3" lift ride better. Not from an engineering standpoint, and not in the real world. Just check out Atmos's sig.......LOL

Admittedly I have not had long arms. But I have wheeled in long arm rigs. None I have witnessed rides close to stock as far as comfort. Maybe Atmos has the corner on long arm ride quality, I dont know?

Point being springs are still the major culprit here of ride quality.

I agree with Atmos that if you lift your rig too much over 3in then short arms can make your ride worse simply because of the geometry. Long arms then I can see being a worth while option.

 

theres a point where being too low can be a problem unless you're relocating shock mounts, flat belly pan, and other high clearance stuff including high fender cuts. full traction makes an awesome 3.5" kit at a reasonable price http://www.full-traction.com/product...ension-system/