XJ longarm kit / suspension upgrade

[nostaw]

I'm looking into the possibility of rebuilding my XJ's suspension over the winter. Right now I have 4.5" RE springs + 0.75" poly spacer in front and 3" BDS leafs + 1.5" RE shackles in back. It is ~4.5" total, with some settling.

Overall I'm really happy w/ the performance of my XJ, but I'd like a little more belly clearance. There isn't a way to do a belly-up for an XJ, so I'm stuck w/ suspension mods, or getting bigger tires. I've already trimmed the fenders ~1.5", and I'd prefer not to do it again -- I'm at the point where I'd have to start cutting out pinch seams (and I put a lot of effort into setting up the TJ fender flares I have now).

My goal is to get ~1" more total lift under the belly and maintain decent suspension geometry (e.g. go to a LA kit). My adjustable RE short arms are extended about as far as they can be and I don't think they'll take another +1". I'm not keen on using drop brackets because they will get hung up...

I've looked at:
TNT Customs LA -- has nice skid plates as part of the kit, high clearance arms, is all bolt-in
Clayton LA -- Would require welding to install and modding my existing belly skid (doesn't include a skid)
RE LA -- Bolt in, nothing special about it, not sure about a skid plate

All are radius arm designs, which is fine w/ me, but the bolt-in stuff I'm not so sure about. My current thinking is to go with BDS 4.5" ZJ coils (less droop / higher spring rate) in front (w/ 0.75" spacer) and a BDS 5.5" leaf back out back (w/ stock shackles). My existing track bar, brake lines, drive shafts, steering linkages, & discos should be OK "as is" (w/ proper adjustment).

In the future I'll probably change up to a 35" tire, but that is out on the horizon... Maybe next year (2011) -- who knows...

This is all contingent on me getting a new job, but planning is cheap...

Anyway -- what do you guys think?

JW

[ZAEDOCK]

You had one of the more flexy suspensions out in Moab. I know you don't want to trim more, but if it were my XJ, I would leave the suspension alone, trim the fenders, and throw on 35's or 36's.

[norstar]

I have the RE5.5 setup. The drop brackets got me hung up on rocks a few times.
As for upgrading to long arm, I prefer the TnT kit over the other two options. You should consider installing their frame stiffener at the same time.

[johnsxj]

TNT would be the better option on the long arm setups. As I recall, theirs have a bend in them to increase ground clearance on the arms behind the tires. All the other kits use a straight lower arm that will get dragged on more obstacles than a set of drop brackets would.
I was real happy with the RE drop brackets I had. I hindsight, I should've kept them instead of going to the TeraFlex lower long arms.

[nostaw]

TNT would be the better option on the long arm setups. As I recall, theirs have a bend in them to increase ground clearance on the arms behind the tires. All the other kits use a straight lower arm that will get dragged on more obstacles than a set of drop brackets would.
I was real happy with the RE drop brackets I had. I hindsight, I should've kept them instead of going to the TeraFlex lower long arms.

The high clearance LA design is why I liked TNT too... The main reason I'm hesitant to go with something else is because I don't want the arms hanging up. Iron Rock Offroad and Rough Country make some high clearance LA kits too, but I don't like the other elements of their designs...

To Joe's point... It is probably the same $ or cheaper to trim and go w/ a larger tire....



Another thought that occurred to me... Rusty's Offroad (Yes, I know -- it is Rusty's... ) make a high clearance crossmember. I have been wondering how feasible it would be to either buy or build a high(er) clearance / flatter cross member and raise up my belly skid... I don't know if I can get it flat, but maybe closer to flat...

JW

[johnsxj]

On an XJ there's only so high you can go without cutting out the floor boards.
Rusty's higher clearance cross member doesn't raise the trans/t-case. Rather it's built out of heavier steel than stock so they can make it thinner to gain a little clearance.

[nostaw]

On an XJ there's only so high you can go without cutting out the floor boards.
Rusty's higher clearance cross member doesn't raise the trans/t-case. Rather it's built out of heavier steel than stock so they can make it thinner to gain a little clearance.

That is what I had in mind -- making a high clearance cross member which doesn't hang below the unibody ~1.5"... I don't want to raise the tranny.

My idea is to take a piece of 5" - 6" wide x ~1/4" thick C-channel, point the C "up" (towards tranny) and grind down any bits of the channel sides necessary for clearance of the unibody / t-case / exhaust / tranny mount, drill holes to attach the tranny mount and unibody mount points. Then use a (separate) flat 3/16" plate and some L-steel to make a skid and hang it so the skid can bolt into the unibody and the crossmember. If possible I'd like to re-use the 3/8" nutsert mounting points I've already installed for my existing skid.

JW

[Hoodoo Man]

Hey Jon,
I recently saw this in a Four Wheeler; Rough Country long arm kit for an XJ... 4.5" and 6.5" kits...
http://www.fourwheeler.com/techarticles ... index.html

Bigger tires would likely get you there cheaper if you just want another inch, whats a little rub compared to dropping 2k in parts...

~Jeff

[nostaw]

Hey Jon,
I recently saw this in a Four Wheeler; Rough Country long arm kit for an XJ... 4.5" and 6.5" kits...
http://www.fourwheeler.com/techarticles ... index.html

Bigger tires would likely get you there cheaper if you just want another inch, whats a little rub compared to dropping 2k in parts...

I had looked at that article... I actually looked at a Rough Country kit and an Iron Rock Offroad kit, but both have design elements I really don't like. Briefly: RC's is a bolt in and their skid plating isn't as comprehensive as TNT's is. IRO's kit uses a 3-link to support the axle, which just seems like a bad idea (only 1 of the 2 radius LCAs connects to the upper CA bracket -- they let the passenger UCA bracket float from what I can see).

The bigger tires are possible, but not my preferred route because I'll have to re-do my fenders, which I already spent a lot of time on.... OTOH that would be cheaper and probably get me as much or more if I did tires + high clearance belly pan.

There is still the thorny issue of which tire though... I'd really love a set of IROKs, but the "best" fit would probably be a 37x12.50R16 IROK ND, which is pretty damn big... The smallest regular IROK is a 36x13.50, and a wide tire is a PITA to fit in an XJ wheel well... No one makes a 36x10.50 that I've found (so far)...<sigh>

JW

[ZAEDOCK]

TSL makes a Q78-16 Swamper - roughly a 36x10.5

[nostaw]

TSL makes a Q78-16 Swamper - roughly a 36x10.5

I had missed that one while scanning... Thanks for pointing it out.

My thinking had sort of been to do suspension this year and maybe tires next year... My LTBs still have plenty of life left in them (I realize I can sell 'em).

JW

[extremeex1]

So i have a brand new set of TNT xj long arms in the box. he sent me the wrong ones and never wanted them back. if you decide you want them let me know and we can figure out what they are worth. They are definetly stout arms built really well like all of his stuff.

[nostaw]

So i have a brand new set of TNT xj long arms in the box. he sent me the wrong ones and never wanted them back. if you decide you want them let me know and we can figure out what they are worth. They are definetly stout arms built really well like all of his stuff.

Interesting... I'll let you know TJ.

I looked into incorporating the TNT arms + Clayton's cross member but determined it wouldn't work because the TNT arms are too short and they would probably hit the unibody...

JW

[nostaw]

Have any of you guys ever looked at the JKS ACOS system? Any opinions on it?

JW