Rock Krawler 3" X Factor JT System

[RH 67]

No front control arms????
Hmmmm
Could I put the Front control arms on before I get the springs and links??
Would the caster be off terribly or still be in spec?
It kinda bugs me having new parts lay around while I have time to do something with them other than look at ‘em.
Plus I would be able to make the clearance cuts for the front lower arms.
In the meantime I’m just sitting around and reading this forum.

The front axle is going to be pushed forward so the front springs will not be centered from top to bottom. Also it does not take much caster + or - to influence the handling of these trucks for the good or bad. I would wait i know how you feel i was in the same position.

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[Duke56]

Ugh. Waiting.... sigh....... well....... I was bored today so I jacked the Jeep up until left rear wheel was off the ground, put a jack stand under the frame, got out a bright a$$ light and drilled and tapped the 2 rear bosses to 1/2-13. I might do the front 2 later. If I only had a rear cradle to bolt on.........
And rear control arms.......
And springs.......
And.....................

Ooops!
I just saw that there is a "Pro-X No Limits" thread where all this should be going.

 

[Duke56]

It’s quiet in here lately. Shouldn’t be too much longer before I get the rest of the kit in from Northridge 4X4.
I’ve been surfing the web looking for live reports/feedback/video on the Pro-X No limits kit. Not a lot of new stuff out there.
I need to get a wrench in my hands and get them off this keyboard.

 

[Bowerss2]

Are many people running 35s with a RK 3"? For a load of reasons I really don't want to go with 37s, but I don't want it to be funny looking. I had their JKU 3.5 adventure series on my Rubicon with 35s and I REALLY loved that combo. It was honestly the best lift kit I have ever owned, so if/when I lift the Gladiator I want to stay with RK, but I also want to stay with 35s

 

[MarineHawk]

Are many people running 35s with a RK 3"?

Yes.

 

[Duke56]

That’s my plan too, 35’s but first leaving on stock MT 33’s so might look goofy until I re-shoe in the summer for trails.

 

[Bowerss2]

Yes.

That looks really good

 

[Duke56]

I know this is for the Pro-X No Limits kit but thought I would share this here to spark some ideas for setting the lengths of your control arms and getting them the same length left and right to minimize alignment and adjustment after install. I did something similar for the remainder of the arms by pairing them up left/right and running the appropriate bolts, rod, whatever just fits through the ID’s of the bushings in the arms. That’s a 5/8 diameter bar running thru the frame joints in the pic below. I had a 5/8 diameter socket extension that happened to work and a 5/8 bolt as well.
RK specs 24 5/16 from the center of the joint housing in this example. There isn’t a whole lot of thread left for screwing the joint into the arm at that dimension so to Loctite the jam nut RH 67 here in the forum said he had to loosen the joint by 4 turns with the jam nut backed off, apply Loctite and then run the joint back in 4 turns and torque the jam nut to spec.
And yes, the arms are upside down and swapped side for side BUT it was done for ease of adjustment. The end effect is that they are the same length.
(Hey RK...... maybe make the upper arms 1/2 shorter on the threaded end so we can back off on the jam nut to apply Loctite? At the 24 5/16 length, there’s no threads left showing past the jam nut.)

 

[MaximusJTRubi]

just wait till 2 of the top bracket holes don’t line up and you have to open them up or slot them.

I know this is for the Pro-X No Limits kit but thought I would share this here to spark some ideas for setting the lengths of your control arms and getting them the same length left and right to minimize alignment and adjustment after install. I did something similar for the remainder of the arms by pairing them up left/right and running the appropriate bolts, rod, whatever just fits through the ID’s of the bushings in the arms. That’s a 5/8 diameter bar running thru the frame joints in the pic below. I had a 5/8 diameter socket extension that happened to work and a 5/8 bolt as well.
RK specs 24 5/16 from the center of the joint housing in this example. There isn’t a whole lot of thread left for screwing the joint into the arm at that dimension so to Loctite the jam nut RH 67 here in the forum said he had to loosen the joint by 4 turns with the jam nut backed off, apply Loctite and then run the joint back in 4 turns and torque the jam nut to spec.
And yes, the arms are upside down and swapped side for side BUT it was done for ease of adjustment. The end effect is that they are the same length.
(Hey RK...... maybe make the upper arms 1/2 shorter on the threaded end so we can back off on the jam nut to apply Loctite? At the 24 5/16 length, there’s no threads left showing past the jam nut.)

 

[RH 67]

just wait till 2 of the top bracket holes don’t line up and you have to open them up or slot them.

My cradle holes lined up with the axle. My one issue while mounting the cradle was the driver side front hole in the axle was not as deep as the other three holes so i had to buy a bolt 1/4" shorter in order to get it to tighten against the lock washer and cradle. This was not the fault of RK but the casting of my axle.

 

[Duke56]

Brian, which 2 holes did you have trouble with?
I will be mounting the bracket over the weekend and will let you know how it goes.

 

[MaximusJTRubi]

Brian, which 2 holes did you have trouble with?
I will be mounting the bracket over the weekend and will let you know how it goes.

2 of them. Either the two front or the two back. Just depends on which bolts you start first.

 

[motorod]

Mine were off about 1/4 inch as well. The other challenge I had was the emergency brake bracket was an 1/8 inch too wide for the holes to line up in the front. Nothing a dremel couldn’t solve in about 5mins for either issue.

 

[Duke56]

I just got done mounting the truss onto my axel and ran into the same thing. I had to open the holes a bit to get all 4 bolts in. It looks like the holes are punched into the bracket by the looks of the slight distortion in the 2 forward holes. My E-Brake bracket had issues as well because it was jamming into the wall of the truss. It’s on now and torqued down and ready for the arms.

Oh by the way. Here’s a pic of how I typically lined up the rest of the control arms to be the same length:
Those are the rear upper control arms and I used 5/8 X 8” bolts to go through the joints.
And to verify their length I measured across at each end of the bolts.
With even longer bolts it becomes easier to see if the arms are not the same length because the bolts won’t be parallel with each other.

 

[Duke56]

Would there be any harm to installing the rear control arms and truss bracket without the springs and sway bar links for the 3” Pro-X No Limits lift kit?
It appears as though it would move the rear axle rearward about 1 inch and decrease the pinion angle very slightly.
RH 67 mentioned the pinion angle being off and also the spring centers will be off but will 1 inch make that much difference to harm anything.
Keep in mind this is only temporary for about a week or so driving 300 on road miles a week.
It would allow me to get rid of the rear track bar as well and would only be until the rest of the kit arrived.
I am trying to complete as much of the install as possible as I have parts available

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