Long Arm Brand Selection

[Dynamic Overland]

Howdy everyone,
I’m looking to upgrade to long arms and am looking for a brand selection.

My jeep is a 22 Ecodiesel, Rubicon
Rock krawler no limits 4.5” (mid arm)
Running the HD teraflex springs in the rear for my heavy bed rack

not that it matters but things to add
37” nitto trail grapplers
KMC bead locks
Front and rear drive shafts
Stock axles
Tierod/draglink/track bars have been upgraded to rock krawler/steer smarts

I use this vehicle for camping, crawling some of the “badge of honor trails”, and driving 1 week a month to work.

I’m primarily looking to change it to long arm for the ride characteristics on and off road, I wanted to go long arm in the beginning however was not in the budget at the time,
I’d consider rock krawler again, I have been happy with it, it’s great, strong, functional, some things I don’t like about the long arm RK kit is the rear is a 3 link with track bar, in addition I really dislike greasing these consistently, I feel they are (clunky) in the front, I only have 16k miles on them and really don’t want to rebuild every 20k for a quiet ride,

Heavily considering the teraflex IR long arms, they seem nice, people that have them seem to really like them,
If anyone has any input on these it would be greatly appreciated.

also open to other options with reason provided?
I am not one to shut down suggestions, however, I’m…….. REALLY not a fan of any metal cloak items. I’m open to the discussion if someone has some factual info to provide on them that shows they could be a superior product to other options? Whatever those options may be lol

Looking for
- easier serviceability
- quiet
- strong joints (easy replacement)
-longevity
- long arm
- I know there are some give and takes with better ride quality over misalignment, but I’d like some misalignment characteristics.
- not gold (lol)

Thank you for all of your input!

Sponsored

 

[Escape.idiocracy]

Wfo is on my radar.
https://www.wfoconcepts.com/c-1393417-browse-by-make-jeep-jt-2019-present.html

and evo….
https://evomfg.com/products/jeep-wrangler-jl-and-gladiator-jt-front-long-arm-kit

Hoping these are discussed. Evo’s long arm is a lot like their high clearance kit offered on the JkU which was phenomenal…. But WFO’s replacement cross arm adds significant needed beef.

 

[bleda2002]

I was gonna say MC but you mentioned you don't like them. Any reason why? The duro joints have been absolutely fantastic and maintenance free for 40k miles including plenty of sand and mud. If I wasn't going duro joints, I'd look at the rock krawler joints that are almost the same as the MC joints.

 

[Nate88cool]

Living in the rust belt I like the Teraflex IR. They may not have quite the articulation of the Evo, RockCrawler, or MetalCloak etc, but the rubber bushings provided a maintenance free long lasting bushing that will last and resist corrosion and smooth ride. Now if I lived out west where they don't use salt on the roads I'd choose another brand for the most articulation with a johnny or heim style joint.

 

[SoK66]

Study up on the pros & cons of long arm conversions. While there are some benefits in terms of ride quality and stability, you enter that black hole of expense vs benefit when you take the plunge. I’ve run a long arm on my JK for the last 11 years. Without going into it all, as cool as it is, were I to face the decision again I’d just opt for quality (not AEV) front drop brackets and call it good. With the drop brackets you get about 75% of the benefits without the complication and cost. JMHO, of course.

Were I to do another long arm the only companies kits id consider would be EVO, Clayton or maybe Metal Cloak. The first two because they are using Currie’s Johnny Joints. A lot of these other outfits’ proprietary joints are suspect IMHO, and I’ve suffered the joint fix curse with Teraflex for the last 11 years.

 

[Dynamic Overland]

Wfo is on my radar.
https://www.wfoconcepts.com/c-1393417-browse-by-make-jeep-jt-2019-present.html

and evo….
https://evomfg.com/products/jeep-wrangler-jl-and-gladiator-jt-front-long-arm-kit

Hoping these are discussed. Evo’s long arm is a lot like their high clearance kit offered on the JkU which was phenomenal…. But WFO’s replacement cross arm adds significant needed beef.

Interesting! i always thought WFO was huge on the Cherokee, i dint realize they had a long arm kit for the gladiator, i wonder how that cross member would work, i know i had to remove my front cros member with my 4.5" lift i will need to speak with them and see where exactly this one is located or if it interferes with the Artec skids!


Evo was another one of my considerations, i know people complain about the frequency of rebuilding those, unless they are mistaken? 30k-40k miles would be nice LOL hoping im not asking for to much here, LOL


are you also looking to make a selection?

 

[Wheelin98TJ]

Study up on the pros & cons of long arm conversions. While there are some benefits in terms of ride quality and stability, you enter that black hole of expense vs benefit when you take the plunge. I’ve run a long arm on my JK for the last 11 years. Without going into it all, as cool as it is, were I to face the decision again I’d just opt for quality (not AEV) front drop brackets and call it good. With the drop brackets you get about 75% of the benefits without the complication and cost. JMHO, of course.

Were I to do another long arm the only companies kits id consider would be EVO, Clayton or maybe Metal Cloak. The first two because they are using Currie’s Johnny Joints. A lot of these other outfits’ proprietary joints are suspect IMHO, and I’ve suffered the joint fix curse with Teraflex for the last 11 years.

The other downside with long arms is they hang lower and rob clearance.

Who remembers the Jerry B meme? ?

 

[Dynamic Overland]

I was gonna say MC but you mentioned you don't like them. Any reason why? The duro joints have been absolutely fantastic and maintenance free for 40k miles including plenty of sand and mud. If I wasn't going duro joints, I'd look at the rock krawler joints that are almost the same as the MC joints.

I just feel their product doesn't contain much thought, astatically, as to design i just don't know how seriously i can take a company seriously with their square shock invention contraption, i just believe there is a right way to do something and there is a way to fill grey areas, which i feel they do with some of their products which turns me off to their design engineering.

and to my surprise people LOVE MC, so i must be crazy lol, i hope im not knocking them to hard lol.

do they manufacture their own joints or are they essentially a Johnny joint?

 

[Escape.idiocracy]

Interesting! i always thought WFO was huge on the Cherokee, i dint realize they had a long arm kit for the gladiator, i wonder how that cross member would work, i know i had to remove my front cros member with my 4.5" lift i will need to speak with them and see where exactly this one is located or if it interferes with the Artec skids!


Evo was another one of my considerations, i know people complain about the frequency of rebuilding those, unless they are mistaken? 30k-40k miles would be nice LOL hoping im not asking for to much here, LOL


are you also looking to make a selection?

Yes.

right now WFO is coming out on top, even if it means I have to modify the Fitment for artech skids. ??? still have some time, so waiting for others to chime in and see different perspectives.

In terms of joint wear…. I do tend to look at this as a consumable…. They aren’t cheap consumables, but it is what it is…. Life/wear is so subjective. How they are used and what you put them through is different. I had synergy heims that were highly regarded a few years ago…. They used to make it 20k miles for me ??‍ it is what it is.

 

[Dynamic Overland]

Living in the rust belt I like the Teraflex IR. They may not have quite the articulation of the Evo, RockCrawler, or MetalCloak etc, but the rubber bushings provided a maintenance free long lasting bushing that will last and resist corrosion and smooth ride. Now if I lived out west where they don't use salt on the roads I'd choose another brand for the most articulation with a johnny or heim style joint.

The RK kit has really been great, like i said the only complaint i have is the continuous greasing, and i feel since they are often "misaligned" when you grease them they probably aren't properly greased the majority of the time, but im here on the west coast i just don't like how loud there are, when i mean loud i mean, first drive in the morning i will turn my steering wheel and here a bunch of clunks for the first few turns and the noise dissipates after that, they have a weird 3-4 link for the diesel and I'm not sure how good it is on road!

 

[Escape.idiocracy]

The other downside with long arms is they hang lower and rob clearance.

Who remembers the Jerry B meme? ?

This isn’t necessarily true. The evo kit relocates the mounts along the sides of the frame rail and has a bend in the arm… literally gaining frame clearance.

 

[rharr]

take a look at ironrockoffraod, i ran their long arms on my XJ and they were a nice setup.

They have a few options https://www.ironrockoffroad.com/category/jt-2019-current-gladiator.html

 

[Dynamic Overland]

Study up on the pros & cons of long arm conversions. While there are some benefits in terms of ride quality and stability, you enter that black hole of expense vs benefit when you take the plunge. I’ve run a long arm on my JK for the last 11 years. Without going into it all, as cool as it is, were I to face the decision again I’d just opt for quality (not AEV) front drop brackets and call it good. With the drop brackets you get about 75% of the benefits without the complication and cost. JMHO, of course.

Were I to do another long arm the only companies kits id consider would be EVO, Clayton or maybe Metal Cloak. The first two because they are using Currie’s Johnny Joints. A lot of these other outfits’ proprietary joints are suspect IMHO, and I’ve suffered the joint fix curse with Teraflex for the last 11 years.

This is some good info, curious what the teraflex joint curse is lol?

 

[Nate88cool]

The RK kit has really been great, like i said the only complaint i have is the continuous greasing, and i feel since they are often "misaligned" when you grease them they probably aren't properly greased the majority of the time, but im here on the west coast i just don't like how loud there are, when i mean loud i mean, first drive in the morning i will turn my steering wheel and here a bunch of clunks for the first few turns and the noise dissipates after that, they have a weird 3-4 link for the diesel and I'm not sure how good it is on road!

Yea I don't think anyone makes the best of all worlds do all design. But anything with a rubber bushing should be quiet and smooth which is nice and little to no maintenance. Just the trade off is a little more binding at large angles of articulation.

 

[Dynamic Overland]

take a look at ironrockoffraod, i ran their long arms on my XJ and they were a nice setup.

They have a few options https://www.ironrockoffroad.com/category/jt-2019-current-gladiator.html

this looks like a pretty nice kit! how was the maintenance on this? any input on the articulation characteristics?

Sponsored