I was talking to a Zone sails guy and he metoned somthing I have never herd of on hear before. "Unibody separation" Told me to be carful when picking a long arm kit because they put a lot of stress on the body. Now I have been all over this board for 3 mounths now and not see didly on "Unibody separation" have any of you heard about it?

 

I'm no expert but have been here for at least a year and haven't heard that either. News to me.

 

More flex and harder wheeling means more stress on the unibody. It doesn't usually "seperate", it cracks in high stress areas. Normally around the steering box first. By the door jam vent, crossmember mounting spots and control arm mounts are all also common.

 

wheeling will eventually cause unibody failure anyway. the type of suspension has little to do with it. a longarm with a heavy duty crossmember would actually help stiffen the structure if anything. hes a salesman. trying to sell his product. last i checked zone only has shortarm lifts. he doesnt want you to buy a competitors product so he likely just said that to scare you from longarms

 

Thats what I was thinking just wanted to make shure. So do Rock sliders and frame stiffening improve the longevity of your rig?

 

you also need to make sure your trackbar, shocks and brake lines are limiting your flex right now. cause if they are, then a long arm kit wont help improve it, like you are wanting.

 

Frame stiffening yes rock sliders are for protection of the rig along with skid plates. But they do improve the life of the unibody.

 

Have you taken a look at the T&T customs LA kit? All the problems mentioned here that set up seems to address very effectively. Stiffens the chassy and the rear link points are tucked in to the inside of the frame rails so they wont get bashed up. I have a rough country LA which is pretty good but i plan on going to the T&T set up down the line. In my opinion those guys have the best available.

 

I have extra long brake lines so I don't think that is a problem but ill confirm.

As far as the track bar and shocks, They came with the lift kit so I assumed they are matched for the 4.5" lift I have, but, I don't really like to assume anything so how can I check to make sure the shocks and trackbar aren't limiting my flex, or better yet, after adding the long arm kit, at what level of flex will they start to interfere?

I appreciate they info. As a side note, I have owned and modded a lot of vehicles in my day, and the XJ is really the most enjoyable to tinker with, in part due to the great knowledge on this forum.

 

I agree, thats a nice looking kit. Thanks for the info. Ill keep them on the list when I start shopping.

 

Iron rock offroad is good. If you are okay with the single upper arm. Otherwise I would digest going with seriousoffroad(frank Z). His cones with a tcase skid as well. Or you can look at rough country. Just bad joints with that kit. But rock solid.

 

Take a look at Clayton's true 3 link long arm upgrade.

 

what are you running or what do you recommend then?verry interested in this i thought iro was good stuff?

 

Claytons long arms look great. I like the crossmember.

 

if u have the money look at the BDS LA upgrade. i want it bad but its so much. im probably going with serious offroad (frank Z) kit. looks really good and rock solid