Not to mention that the CA drops put a tremendous amount of leverage on the factory control arm brackets. I've seen them crack pretty good. The holes wallow out if you don't keep an eye on them bolts.

 

maybe cheap rough country brackets, but not the case with my rubicon express drop brackets. those were beef. they not only attached to both upper and lower brackets, but also ran along the frame rail to the crossmember bolts.

i never got hung up once with mine, and i wheeled the crap out of it. up here in northern ontario, all we have is downed trees and rock. lots of rock. it's all canadian shield up here.

 

Having actually held both the RC and RE CAD brackets, they are almost identical, with the exception being the Rubi Express support braces being considerably better designed.

I've got the RC drops with an upgraded brace, and I agree they're not the anchors everyone seems to think, I've never hung them up wheeling mostly in the Rockies. They don't come close to the breakover angle line. As far as ride quality, I'd put my CAD dropped short arms with quality adjustable arms (Rokmen lowers, Metalcloak uppers) up against all the long arm lifts I've gotten the chance to ride in.

Obviously long arms going to be better, but CAD brackets do have their merits.

 

i went from RE drop brackets on fixed short arms to basically clayton long arms.
i will say, i could not tell the difference when driving or wheeling. they rode pretty much identical. not saying there isn't any merits of long arms, but for the budget minded people out there, drop brackets will be beneficial.

at least my long arms have a low profile crossmember with recessed arm mounts where as some i've seen have the arm mount hanging down lower than a hooker with a broken leg. and what gets me is it's probably guys running those kits that are dissing cad brackets.

so what i'm saying is if you are on short arms and want proper geometry, and can't go long arms yet, get CAD brackets. they work.