[UP_ROKTOY]

I have a friend who wants to go long arm on his JK.

He currently has JK with 35's 4.88 gears and ARB's front and rear. Winched, bumpers etc. VERY nice jeep.

I have owned a RE and a Full Traction kit on my TJ's in the past and both kits were great, no complaints.

Is there a design aspect or performance aspect that makes one more preferable then the other for the JK in the long arm kits?


He wants to go long arm, I will be helping him install.

i do not care which one is easier to install, I want to know which one works better on the street and the trails.

I assume both are VERY similar.

Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

thanks

CHad

 

[cab76]

Apparantly RE developed their long arm kit with Mopar (these will be relabeled at some point and sold as Mopar lifts), so I would assume the RE is especially well designed. That said, I've heard mostly good about both.

 

[PIG]

I have a friend who wants to go long arm on his JK.

He currently has JK with 35's 4.88 gears and ARB's front and rear. Winched, bumpers etc. VERY nice jeep.

I have owned a RE and a Full Traction kit on my TJ's in the past and both kits were great, no complaints.

Is there a design aspect or performance aspect that makes one more preferable then the other for the JK in the long arm kits?


He wants to go long arm, I will be helping him install.

i do not care which one is easier to install, I want to know which one works better on the street and the trails.

I assume both are VERY similar.

Any suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated.

thanks

CHad

Why does he want a long arm with only 35's...?

 

[C-rog]

Why does he want a long arm with only 35's...?

Because the bigger lift is the first step 35's go up for sale after the lift, and why wouldn't you want a long arm?

 

[PIG]

Because the bigger lift is the first step 35's go up for sale after the lift, and why wouldn't you want a long arm?

What size tire does he want to run?

 

[C-rog]

Chad's talking about me, and I want 37's but I'm afraid I'll run into too many busted u-joints or ring and pinions with 37's. I think either the RE or the Full Traction will work awesome with 35's Chad was just making a post to see if one was commonly picked over the other.

 

[stewp97]

Have you looked at Rancho? I am very happy with their kit and I don't have to worry about a rear track arm.

peter

 

[PhilD]

Chad's talking about me, and I want 37's but I'm afraid I'll run into too many busted u-joints or ring and pinions with 37's.

I understand the concern about 37's breaking stuff, although I'm a little unclear how a long arm lift is going to help with this?

FWIW A heavy right foot is going to break more stuff than just running 37's. Going easy on the gas pedal will save on the repairs. There are plenty of people running 37's on Rubi's with no problems. The front 30 isn't going to like 37's, but again a light right foot will make a big difference.

 

[jeffj78]

I big difference between the two is the RE is a Radius arm setup in the front and the FT is a true 4-link. A 4-link will maintain angles better than a radius arm through out the suspension travel.

 

[UP_ROKTOY]

Chris, I did some research and talked with Justin also. Him and I came to the conclusion that with the arms on a JK being longer then the arms on a TJ that the long arm with 4.5” lift is going to be a bad idea. Couple reasons.

1st, the arms are already longer then they are on yout trypical TJ by a few inches so the need to upgrade to longer arms is not as necessary until you get stupid huge.

2nd, on a 4 door jk with 4-5” of lift the arms are really going to be prone to hanging you up on stuff, kinda like the day we high centered your jeep on that measly little hill.

3rd, cost, the long arms just don’t seem to be worth the extra cost when compared to a standard box kit for the JK. Justin felt pretty strongly about the 4.5” teraflex and thinks for 37’s it would be a perfect match, and would be good to at least 39’s.

4th, once you install the long arm kit there is no going back. Meaning you will be cutting off some factory brackets, so if you decide in a few years to return it to stock to trade in or sell then you are pretty well screwed or in for a lot of work, or selling it mod’d.

It’s your jeep, and it’s your money, but I don’t think at this point or any point under 39” tires are you going to need to get a long arm kit for your jeep.


As for the comments about broken parts yes a heavy right foot will break them. Chris has broken front u joints with the 35’s, it may happen again, it may not, but as was mentioned the lift kit will have nothing to do with that.

Chris, I will give you a call in a bit.

 

[C-rog]

37's have nothing to do with long arms I was just replying to the guy above me that said why get a long arm with 35's?

 

[C-rog]

word

 

[PhilD]

37's have nothing to do with long arms I was just replying to the guy above me that said why get a long arm with 35's?

Got ya, understand now.

I'm personally not convinced there is any benefit in going to long arm on the JK at 5" or less. At 6" maybe, but then you have a whole bunch of other issues to deal with anyway once you get to 6".

 

[PIG]

I'm personally not convinced there is any benefit in going to long arm on the JK at 5" or less. At 6" maybe, but then you have a whole bunch of other issues to deal with anyway once you get to 6".

X2
There is no real reason to go to a long arm if you are using 37's and smaller.

In fact look at the lost ground clearance some of the long arm kits have due length and positioning of the arms.

 

[paragon]

X2
There is no real reason to go to a long arm if you are using 37's and smaller.

In fact look at the lost ground clearance some of the long arm kits have due length and positioning of the arms.

Right, unless you are sticking some meaty tires in there, the loss of clearance due to the arms could make it less effective than other lifts

 

[Red Rock 4x4]

Got ya, understand now.

I'm personally not convinced there is any benefit in going to long arm on the JK at 5" or less. At 6" maybe, but then you have a whole bunch of other issues to deal with anyway once you get to 6".

My JK w/ RE 4.5" LA and 37's drives better than the RE 3.5" installs we've done on 35's. There is a noticeable difference in my opinion on road between the two kits, even with the same shocks.

 

[ASTAR]

I have the RE LA kit on my 2 door with 37's and I LOVE IT!!!

 

[C-rog]

I didn't really see a reason to get the long arm either so I bought the Teraflex 4in with all the control arms and Skyjacker .75in front spacers and had enough left over to get a Rock hard A to B pillar bolt on cage and an JE Reel rear drive shaft. Plus saved $500.00