I suggested it... Need it? Different story lol. I don't need what I have.

haha me either. well if I was gonna gear an axle and drive it fast I'd WANT a stock width 9"
is it a hard axle to find?

Ive heard good things about the eaton elocker and arb air locker

edit: Oh, hey, what I was actually stopping by to ask is, those of you who recommend Deavers, why those, as opposed to, whatever, Rubicon Express or Rusty's or whatever? What makes them better for high-speed running than other springs? Because they're progressive?

My understanding - which could fill a shot glass with room for a shot left behind - is that long arms are more about maintaining good on-road manners than benefiting off-road. Does that fit with what you know? If not, what are the benefits of long arms?

Could be, could be. What are your dirt roads like? What happens if you drive quickly down them? I drive 60 down unmaintained logging roads and two-tracks, too [with an 80s BMW 3-series, before I got smart and bought an XJ!], so I guess I could just be, you know, nutty.


What would I get it out of? And nope, nobody's suggested motor mounts yet. My new Cherokee [which I'll be picking up in a week or two, god willing and the creek don't rise] has just been completely disassembled and reassembled, so - sort of doing it while it's all apart - now's a great time to do things like motor mounts, before Michigan turns the whole shooting match into a giant ball of rust.

The Arb is my diff of choice right now, mostly because I'll have to have - okay, "would like to have" - an air compressor, anyway, but damn is that going to get expensive in a hurry. Both it and the Eaton are just open diffs [rather than LSDs] until you lock them, but I'm not entirely sure how helpful an LSD is going to be on my Cherokee, anyway.

The drop brackets will give you good angles for better on and off road manners like long arms. If you could drive down those roads with anything other than a high clearance truck and stay in one piece, you don't need deavers and crazy shocks.

People suggest deavers because they have more thin leaves for a more progressive spring rate to keep the wheels in contact with with the ground rather than hitting a bump and the rear jumping in the air, also my friends have drop brackets and they will probably end up going to long arms even though they have done just fine with drop brackets they want more

i went from drop brackets to longarms for a couple of reasons.

1. the longarm kit rides better
2. the longarm kit has a better mounting design for offroad use. nothing hanging excessively low to get hung up on.
3. better performance offroad.

also youre average set of dropbrackets runs 180
decent set of adjustable flexible lowers is 230
average set of adjustable uppers is 200

total is 610

my rc longarm kit was 550 shipped and it has the HD crossmember the t-case skid, and a drop pitman arm included.

noe people are going to flame about the RC longarm kit flame on....

but he's talking about driving fast on dirt roads. pre runner style
wouldnt short arms with drop brackets be much more predictable at high speeds?

Would converting to rear coils make a better ride then leafs?

Than a junk long arm kit? Idk. I just know short arms with dbs work well, and so does a good la kit.





Yea, if you build it right. But that's way more money than a nice set of leaf springs.

Thanks for reminding me: let me disabuse a notion here that's my fault for not being clear on. I'm not really talking about driving on dirt roads. I drive on dirt roads at high speeds with unmodified passenger cars, without any problems. [Well, bouncing about on washboard or whatever, you know.] My real concern is forest roads, logging trails, open fields: rough terrain, in other words. My YJ was set up to crawl rocks, which we don't have [and I don't crawl]; I'm hoping to make sure my new XJ works like my old XJ, and can plow through hummocks and potholes and washboard and downed braches without the hurling about of folk.

But yeah, as I understand it, what I want to build is a prerunner: a not-quite-race-ready daily driver that I can use to drive quickly off road.

That's what I was thinking, and I think it's exactly what I'm looking for. But that basically means I'll need to essentially design my own lift kit and buy it a la carte, yeah? Because most lifts come with springs, I mean. That's not a problem, but y'all are going to have to keep giving me advice.

Well, let's hear it, people! Is anyone going to flame the RC longarm kit? What're the pros and cons? [Well, the pro is that it's inexpensive: what's the con?]

At that point, I'll just get in my daughter's TJ.

I am a forester for the state of Michigan. I live in the northern lower and drive 55-65 mph on our logging and dirt roads every day. Our paved roads on the other hand, you will achieve certain death on those at such speeds. Our dirt roads are often better than the paved because they can be maintained by the logger or another private individual instead of requiring funding from the county.

Where in Michigan you from?

I just envision lifting a tire on high speed turns with long arms. unless you're gonna run a sway bar but then what was the point of long arms in the first place
maybe dual purpose rig

What do you mean lifting a tire? The jeepspeed guys all run antirocks AFAIK.

i know that RC is not the best kit by far, but just how is it junk 93xjli? just cause its not a highend true 4 link?

and defnitely run swaybars for high speed driving.