DLap13

Alright guys here's the plan. I will be headed home from work in a few days and I want to try and make my own 4 link or long arm kit for my 96 Cherokee. Don't really feel like paying 1500+ for a kit. I need any opinions or tips ya'll might have. I have heard that a 4 link on the front will eliminate the trac bar. But I'm not sure on it. I had a lot of death wobble problems before so I want to make sure that it isn't going to happen again. Also I have noticed that the set up has a smaller trailing arm coming off of the longer arm. Any dimensions or measurements would be awesome. I do have all of the proper fabrication equipment to do all the work. Exhaust bender, welder, torch ect. Any help would be very useful and all of the work done will be on the build thread. I will have the link for it later. Thanks everybody.

ericfx1984

you can only get rid of the track bar with a trianlgulated 4 link, which most agree is somewhat tricky on the XJ

Gatchmo5710

I would probably start by researching more. If you don't know wether or not you need a trac bar you probably shouldn't be building it yet.

djlarroc

x2. a friend tried this and worked for days, and he still had to run a tb. and he built his rear tri 4 link years ago, so had experience.

ktmracer419

1: a 4 link won't eliminate the trackbar... unless you triangulate it, which opens up its own can of worms in itself

2: Death wobble will still be just as bad as before unless your control arm bushings were shot causing it, or caster was off, also causing it.

3: what do you mean by smaller trailing arm? there is no trailing arm in the front of an xj. Are you thinking of a radius arm? in that case, a radius arm is NOT the same as a 4 link.

4: An exhaust bender and torch are 2 tools that have no business fabricating a linked suspension setup.


Sounds to me like you need to do a little homework first before diving in.

Atmos

also, after you do the math, building your own link/long arm kit pretty much costs the same price as an aftermarket kit
you're most likely better off buying a long arm kit to save yourself the trouble

greenxj21

Serious offroad hs a nice long arm out there for $700 and you can get it in any color you want.

99 Purple XJ

Besides trying to build a double triangulated for the front of you xj to even be able to have steering youll need ram assist mechanical steering work

89eliminator

yeah it sounds like you should do a lot more research before you get too far in over your head. i built my 4-link and it wasnt easy.

N20jeep

a front parallel 4 link is a great way to go over the standard radius arm longarm setups.

go ahead and forget about getting rid of the track bar. first the links will need to be triangulated to locate the axle, which is already a difficult task without a ton of lift. also, once triangulated your solid steering linkage will no longer work without serious binding issues during travel. this means full hydro steering, which also means no more street driving.


as long as you have no worn parts, and your castor is correct then you shouldnt have death wobble.



if you're not to experienced with this sort of fab work then it may be better to just buy a pre made longarm system. you wont be saving much money by building your own if you use quality parts. DOM, quality joint, steel for all the brackets and crossmember, all the cutting and welding supplies will start to add up fast.

EVILXJ

i plan on building a 4 link for mine, i just dont like the idea of 2 mounts holding my axle to the jeep, forget the idea of scrapping the track bar

DLap13

As for the death wobble I don't have it any more. I just wanted to make sure that this won't open new reasons for it to come back. I have been researching this for days and these were the answers that I couldn't find on Google. A friend of mine has a long arm kit on a dodge truck (same front suspension set up) So I have that for idea's but his doesn't have a radius arm. I don't want to just buy a kit and throw it on there. Most of everything I have done to my Jeep has been home made and I'd rather build something than buy it any day. This isn't a DD so I'm not worried about the time it will take or how much fab is involved. I have all the tools and my father is very good at fabrication.

DLap13

I won't get experience unless I try it. Lol. This is an old 500 dollar Jeep that I don't drive everyday. So I'm not too worried about how hard it is or how long it will take to get it right.

fullwidth

Like said you are going to have a hard time tring to fit a triangulated 4 link under a Xj with enough trangulation to not run a track bar.There isn't reall enough room to run a long arm 4 link under an Xj with proper angles and keeping it from hanging way low and killing ground clearance.

as far as exhaust bender...well that is NOT a bender for tube for links.

DLap13

I got ya. I've seen companies use round tubing for the arms and to cure the ground clearance problem some of them have a bend in the lower arm. If I could get dimensions I could probably make it. (the point of the bender) As for the triangulated 4 link I think I'm going to stay away from that and just try a long or short arm. As for the trac bar it was just something I heard and just wanted to see whether it was true or not. A little more info on the Jeep I am getting coils and springs/blocks to get it up to 6 1/2 inches of lift along with the attempt at making the 4 link.