FWIW, I sit at ~4.5" and only have longer lower CA, stock uppers. It does hit harder on the front with potholes but I live with it while saving up money and building welding skills to make LA's. If you dont have money for LA's now, try to find a cheap set of longer CA off of craigslist or local 4x4 site to last you till you want to upgrade. Or spring for drop brackets. Ride quality is just one perk to LA

 

Man, It seems to be safe and not buy something that may not make me happy, I'll wait and do long arms. I haven't heard anyone complain about them as far as ride quality goes. Thanks guys.

 

IRON ROCK FTW

 

Me personally the stock arms work great. Im not a rock crawler so that little clearance isn't an issue. It just rides better and allows the axle to move the way it should at stock height. I do climb over some stumps and logs with a stock height XJ plus im only going 4 inches up.

 

OlDixieJeep-That flex is insane!!!

How does it ride on the street?

I'm sure you care more for the offroad ride, but mine is a DD and rides like ****. I want it to ride near stock, and don't know how much I can expect of that AND have it lifted. Basically, I'm looking to not bang my head on the roof everytime I hit a big bump inthe road. That hurts. So you can see why I haven't taken it offroad yet.

I have two problems it seems, to straighten out.

1-rear leafs way too stiff

2-limited articulation/or caster or whatever it's called (for the street) at the 4.25" lift on the front.

 

Outlawstar-how is the ride on the street? What do you have in the back for leaf set-up?

I'll drop back down to 4" lift if it will help the driveability. It blows big time now.

 

caster has to do with alignment and handling. articulation is a offroad thing. Short arms are at a harsher angle, sending more of the shock from bumps and such up directly into the unibody. long arms are closer to horizontal so the shock goes up the spring and shock absorber... much, much better ride on the street. The rear leafs won't feel so stiff once the shackle angle is at 45 degrees either.

 

dont get lost or too over-whelmed... do some more research "on your own" to understand how suspension systems work (not just xj specific either)... once u get the basics, go from there, one step at a time... that philosophy is essential if u want to be doing the work to ur rig urself & getting the performance/ride quality/capability u'r after

i hope u understand, im not trying to be condescending... we've all been there, new/young & unaware (****, at 25, i'm pretty sure i still am, but i have picked up some things along the way)

so, things u "need" for a reliable daily driver with near-factory characteristics... dont just jump on the long arm band-wagon (no offense to all u with LA's, i'm not denying the ride/flex/OFF-ROAD capability is amazing)... go with drop brackets...

Serious Offroad supplies these, made by Rubicon Express (u'd also need the Support Braces, at the bottom of that page)
Rough Counrty's CA Drop Brackets
Rocky Road's CA Drop Brackets... also READ THE INFO, its not just a marketing gimmick, they're FACTS

like stated, control arms should be as close to parallel with the body/road as possible... that's the main reason y long arms give such a better ride... the mounting to the body is pushed back, making the arm longer & the angles less obtuse

as for rear suspension ride quality, like previously stated, 45* shackle angle is optimal (thats the rear-most part of the leaf springs, where they connect to the body/leaf spring mount... if straight up & down, the rides' gonna feel "stiff" because the leaf isnt cycling smoothly... u hit a bump & it's directly transmitting into the body instead of smoothly rotating the shackle/leaf spring joint)... look into relaocation brackets

Rough Country's bolt on brackets
HD Offroad Engineering's bolt on brackets

do research first tho... getting the drop brackets can provide just as good articulation as Long Arms... for that tho, u will need longer brake lines, longer shocks, track bar relocation/conversion (relocated axle mount, drop frame mount, heim end(s), or double shear frame mount)... but then all that causes other things to be modified...

so like i said, get familiarized... let it be fun, not overwhelming & confusing

 

Adjustable arms are also smaller around and often bent or offset to allow more flex. Hence why if you were to look at the stock arms in corralation to the top of the upper mount on the axle there would be a lot less room to flex downward than a set of arms from any company. The stock arms LIMIT flex by HITTING the mount on the axle. You could suff an 8" coil in there and accomplish nothing because you would just hit the top of the mount and stop. There is no lift coil that requires longer front brake lines because the stock arms will NOT flex beyond that point. If you want I could provide pics so the blatantly obvious makes more sense to you.

 

Most of the adjustable arms I've seen are straight though, not bent. My RC lift came with longer lower control arms with a bend to them... they're not adjustable.

P.S. 8" coils don't flex anymore than stock coils... they just put the axles further down their current travel path...

 

That is actually not my rig in the pics. its the one on their website.

I currently have an Iron Rock long arm lift fund right now. its been taken over for my 4.7 stroker seeing as i need to pay for it in a week.

i give it a few months and ill be flexing with their kit. It is the best kit out there for an XJ mine is also a DD. ive heard they ride very very smooth on and off road.

P.S. its $1,500 for the 8in kit. so start saving last year lol

 

Im stock height but am adding a 4 inch lift. Im gonna be using CA drop brackets and shackle relocation brackets because my rig is a DD and I don't like tubular control arms. Sorry if ya misunderstood about me being lifted already.

 

Not lifted but goes like a tank

 

Powered by IH. Lol

 

You are missing the entire point. Adjustable or not the reason the arms are not 3" tall is because the larger the control arm the less room it has to travel. The stock arms only have so much down travel due to hitting the control arm/shock mount on the axle end. All aftermarket arms I have ever seen are smaller. They WILL flex better due to design why do you think your rough country arms are bent and tubular? Why do you think there is an offset on the end of everyone else's arms were the axle side mount meets the tube? In all honesty being adjustable has nothing to do with it and I only recommended them because if you change your lift height it is kind of nice to be able to readjust the control arm to the correct length.


8" coils was an example pointing out the stock arms will bottom out on there mounts and not even lift to a full 8".

What does being a DD have to do with long arms, tubular control arms or anything? Whats wrong with tubular arms? stock arms are weak as **** if strength has anything to do with reasoning tubular arms are a lot thicker DOM than the folded sheet steel of stockers...