Geo brackets?

[Billkowski]

Don't get'em, they cause hair loss and they have trackers embedded in them...wake up world!

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[BillR1]

Don't get'em, they cause hair loss and they have trackers embedded in them...wake up world!

Too late for the hair loss..

 

[mx5red]

I rock crawl, and I have them. Think they made the steering/ride a lot better.

 

[NewGladdyOWNR]

I had the Teraflex geo brackets on my 2.5” Clayton lift. I took them off at the beginning of summer to track down a noise I had in the front suspension (it ended up being a bad tie rod and drag link). I never put them back on, because of other issues (front UCA bracket was bent from over torquing, long story). Needless to say, I miss them A LOT. They helped coast over bumps like a Cadillac. Next year, I’ll go with the Metalcloak pro’lignment kit as the bracket design is different than Teraflex and would work better in my situation.

 

[JTGuy]

Brackets will give you a better ride but they will also give you ED so don''t get them unless you really need them. Some people love that smooth, soft, plush ride till they hit a rock.

 

[Uparms]

I saw a 10% ride improvement on a Mopar 2 inch with 35s. No nirvana. If I was not making the ride work for both of us, I would do without them.

 

[Billkowski]

Someone needs to start a YouTube channel that does nothing but test out all of these assertions: Mythbusters - Jeep Edition
They would have a continuous supply of material.

 

[GI Grandpa]

I'll be installing an AEV spacer lift soon, so I'm researching the various options. My question is in regards to the various geo brackets.
If they're so important to a good ride, why don't any of the manufacturers of 2-2.5" lifts (including Mopar!) include them in their kits?
Thanks in advance!

My AEV Mojave spacer lift came with the shock relocation brackets. My ride is as good or better than stock with 35's and lots of aftermarket add ons

 

[Fabtech Motorsports]

Geo brackets simply work. They get the suspension geometry dialed in and are inexpensive. Improve ride feel too. They MIGHT get hit on the trail, but it isn't that common.

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

This is kind of a zombie topic that gets rehashed every few months in perpetuity but I like zombies, so here I am. You know, you’ve got these guys at companies like AEV who spend $80k on an ME degree, use $15k worth of design and FEA software, go through a prototyping and testing process that probably costs another $100-200k, then their tooling, since they use high strength stamped steel is another 7 figures. But all of that means nothing because all of us on the internet have feelings about this. I’m not sure why this specific product gets doubted amongst the steady flow of snake oil imitating from the off-road industry. I was at Overland Expo East a few weeks ago and if I saw another RTT or novel (and expensive) solution to another non-issue, I was going to have a psychotic break. I retreated to Charlottesville for some much needed beer.

This topic always seems to start from the same position of not wanting to spend the money on the brackets and then conducting search for technical reasons to justify that financial decision. If you don’t want to use brackets, then don’t, but they only cost $329. Try owning a sailboat. They’re definitely worth the money. My truck drives significantly better than stock running an AEV lift.

The industry consensus seems to be that at 2.5 inches you either need brackets or longer LCAs based on the JL/JT front end geometry. AEV markets brackets for 2” and up. For mild lifts, (3.5” and under) my personal preference is brackets, not that options exist beyond that to my knowledge anyway. I’ve had too many aftermarket adjustable LCAs fail and heim joints are awful. I loathe adjustable LCAs. Thankfully most lift manufacturers got the memo on heims and switched to an OEM style bushing. Over 4” and brackets start needing to grow again and would get goofy. Of course, you don’t need a 4” lift to run 37s. So a 2.5” lift and brackets is all most of us need unless you want to run 40s.

The reason they exist and the reason they work, is that at 2” of lift and up the stock control arms are too short. The result is that at rest the LCA presents a reaction force vector against oncoming impacts that points down and forward. That’s bad. It’s certainly bad for road feel and transmitting impacts into the vehicle, it’s frame, all of the joints, body mounts, my ass, etc. It’s also terrible for braking performance. You can go without running them. The tire will absorb a lot of those impact forces and force the axle into its upward arc but it’s not optimal. You can use ducktape for your rear window too. Neither is optimal. As for clearance, drop brackets are hardly the lowest thing on the vehicle. I don’t fully get that objection to their use, but they can get whacked on the trail. Mine have seen significant impacts. The edges get mauled up a little on rocks. You can grind and paint them if that matters. I haven’t. You can weld LCA skids on them or you can replace them if they get too bad which is unlikely. I wouldn’t worry about getting hung up on drop brackets unless you’re already running a full belly skid and axle sliders. I’ve gotten hung up on lots of other stuff under the truck and not the brackets so far. Of course you can also just run longer control arms like the ones Mopar sells.

 

[BillR1]

This is kind of a zombie topic that gets rehashed every few months in perpetuity but I like zombies, so here I am. You know, you’ve got these guys at companies like AEV who spend $80k on an ME degree, use $15k worth of design and FEA software, go through a prototyping and testing process that probably costs another $100-200k, then their tooling, since they use high strength stamped steel is another 7 figures. But all of that means nothing because all of us on the internet have feelings about this. I’m not sure why this specific product gets doubted amongst the steady flow of snake oil imitating from the off-road industry. I was at Overland Expo East a few weeks ago and if I saw another RTT or novel (and expensive) solution to another non-issue, I was going to have a psychotic break. I retreated to Charlottesville for some much needed beer.

This topic always seems to start from the same position of not wanting to spend the money on the brackets and then conducting search for technical reasons to justify that financial decision. If you don’t want to use brackets, then don’t, but they only cost $329. Try owning a sailboat. They’re definitely worth the money. My truck drives significantly better than stock running an AEV lift.

The industry consensus seems to be that at 2.5 inches you either need brackets or longer LCAs based on the JL/JT front end geometry. AEV markets brackets for 2” and up. For mild lifts, (3.5” and under) my personal preference is brackets, not that options exist beyond that to my knowledge anyway. I’ve had too many aftermarket adjustable LCAs fail and heim joints are awful. I loathe adjustable LCAs. Thankfully most lift manufacturers got the memo on heims and switched to an OEM style bushing. Over 4” and brackets start needing to grow again and would get goofy. Of course, you don’t need a 4” lift to run 37s. So a 2.5” lift and brackets is all most of us need unless you want to run 40s.

The reason they exist and the reason they work, is that at 2” of lift and up the stock control arms are too short. The result is that at rest the LCA presents a reaction force vector against oncoming impacts that points down and forward. That’s bad. It’s certainly bad for road feel and transmitting impacts into the vehicle, it’s frame, all of the joints, body mounts, my ass, etc. It’s also terrible for braking performance. You can go without running them. The tire will absorb a lot of those impact forces and force the axle into its upward arc but it’s not optimal. You can use ducktape for your rear window too. Neither is optimal. As for clearance, drop brackets are hardly the lowest thing on the vehicle. I don’t fully get that objection to their use, but they can get whacked on the trail. Mine have seen significant impacts. The edges get mauled up a little on rocks. You can grind and paint them if that matters. I haven’t. You can weld LCA skids on them or you can replace them if they get too bad which is unlikely. I wouldn’t worry about getting hung up on drop brackets unless you’re already running a full belly skid and axle sliders. I’ve gotten hung up on lost of other stuff under the truck and not the brackets so far. Of course you can also just run longer control arms like the ones Mopar sells.

The longer LCAs from Mopar sound like a better solution for a lift that will end up around 1.5" over stock. (extra armor, steel bumpers and winch)

 

[Wolf Island Diver]

The longer LCAs from Mopar sound like a better solution for a lift that will end up around 1.5" over stock. (extra armor, steel bumpers and winch)

The nice thing about Mopar control arms over other brands is that they’re non-adjustable and use stock-style bushings. The negative vs the brackets is that you can adjust the caster with the brackets to dial them in for slightly different lifts. You can’t do that with the Mopar arms because they’re non-adjustable.

Don’t quote me on this, but I’m not sure you need geometry correction at only 1.5”. I’ve never researched requirements for a lift that mild. You may be able to get away with just the spacer. That’s more like a leveling lift. AEV’s site says their brackets are for 2-4.5 inches of lift. That actually slightly up corrects my previous assertion of brackets for up to 3.5” of lift.

 

[JTGuy]

The lift on my Rubicon is 2 inches so that is about 3 inches over the Sport. The front LCA attachment point on the frame is about 4 inches higher than the attachment point on the front axle. Brackets would lower the frame attachment point about 2.5 inches making that LCA almost level. My jury is still out on them. Softer Synergy springs are another option for a better ride for me.

 

[Billkowski]

I don't think many doubt that flat control arms ride better, it's more about at what point would it matter to you, 2 - 4 - 6 inches? They look bad from the side, additional low hanging item, and 400 bucks. I am personally good with the longer mopar arms with a 2 inch lift... I can not perceive any difference in ride from stock...maybe they make it better than stock?

 

[Gizmo]

But again, why don't any of the lift manufacturers think the brackets are a necessity for a 2" lift?

Basically the same reason Rough Country stays in business "Price" . Look how much that would drive up the cost . Many entry level kits sell because of price to the inexperienced buyer. Look how many of us bout a lift kit when we first got involved in a 4x4. We are noot talikng about a cheap set of sway bar end links , most geo brackets would increase the cost of a lift kit substantially . Hell Moper don't even include a track bar. I added them to my daughter's 2.5" lifted JL just because of how it effected my JT. We live at the shore and wind has an effect when driving about 70 mph. She noticed how much more stable the Jeep was going to work each day. Before the Geo Brackets she had extend MOPAR lowers . I cut my Core lowers to stock length and have since added them to her JL and adjusted for 6* caster . That also helped with less steering correction being they have JJ's on each end . All these little changes add up to a really good driving Jeep especially at highway speed regardless of most wind conditions .

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