Got Something New For The Heep

Joel

Joel

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Winston-Salem, NC
So today I took the Heep down to Carolina Rock Shop and Andy added something new for me.

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A big thanks to Andy for putting in a long day in the miserable heat and humidity to get this done and for a very fair price. Even though Andy and Carolina Rock Shop are already highly thought of most everywhere, spending the day down there definitely proved it to me. The Currie J arms rode great all they way back to Winston from Charlotte. There is a definite ride improvement from the stock control arms I had been running. Now to get the Heep out on the trails and see how well they do.
 
Are those things new? I have never heard of anything like that. I thought your lowers went limp or something. :) I hope they work out well for you, give us a report.

Andy, if you read this... Are my uppers in yet? :) I'll give ya' a call early next week. We will go ahead and drive down for them and some bilsteins. -Josh
 
do u have any close ups of how the fronts were done. i bet it was a PITA to get them in correctly. im glad i stoped by to get a close up look on how the j-arms were installed. great job andy! u guys should have put it on the RTI ramp. i wonder how much improvement u have gained? i hope to see them in action soon. good luck with them
 
Wolfpack OffRoad said:
Are those things new? I have never heard of anything like that. I thought your lowers went limp or something. :) I hope they work out well for you, give us a report.

Andy, if you read this... Are my uppers in yet? :) I'll give ya' a call early next week. We will go ahead and drive down for them and some bilsteins. -Josh
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Yup, they are here Josh. Let me know what length the bilstiens you need are so I can make sure I have them in stock. It takes me 2-3 days to get them.

Andy
 
got4-lo said:
do u have any close ups of how the fronts were done. i bet it was a PITA to get them in correctly. im glad i stoped by to get a close up look on how the j-arms were installed. great job andy! u guys should have put it on the RTI ramp. i wonder how much improvement u have gained? i hope to see them in action soon. good luck with them
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It was kind of a PITA but I do have some ideas for the next time(Joel is looking at a HP30 in the future) so that we can make some changes and get them up there a little higher. The idea is to fool your suspension into acting like a full Long Arm without changing the LCA mounts. It does exactly that.

Only thing I did not like was the stamped steel brackets that Currie "sells" (long story but after 3 phone calls and 3 different answers they finally came up with them) so we designed another 1/4" laser cut set to replace the 1/8" stamped ones.

Glad you are happy Joel, talk to you soon.
Andy
 
Really timely post for me as I got J arms dropped off at my house by the UPS man last week, and parts to triangulate the rear uppers. Having the same problem with control arm brackets for the rear. Any pics from the back of what you did would be food for thought and apreciated. Will be using JKS brackets for the front HP30.
John
 
Very cool. I've always been curious about J arms but no one can really give a straight answer as to why they are more effective. Everyone that has them loves them though.
 
Chile99 said:
Really timely post for me as I got J arms dropped off at my house by the UPS man last week, and parts to triangulate the rear uppers. Having the same problem with control arm brackets for the rear. Any pics from the back of what you did would be food for thought and apreciated. Will be using JKS brackets for the front HP30.
John
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Andy had some brackets made that I believe were 1/4" thick and were basically copies of the thin brackets that Currie sent. I believe he had 25 sets made so he should have 23 more for sale if you need them. Here are some pics:





Click on the pics and it will take you to the full size images in the gallery.
 
Beastforty said:
Very cool. I've always been curious about J arms but no one can really give a straight answer as to why they are more effective. Everyone that has them loves them though.
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Leading up to this I had originally been thinking about a Clayton LA kit until I saw someone else's J arm install on JU about 9 months ago or so. When I did some research I saw that multiple people were claiming a similar ride to long arms, a more natural arc when the axles articulate and less bind, the arms would be less likely to get hung up on a rock, and that the lower control arm mounts are now higher up and have less of a chance of taking a hit. Since I have never had a LA kit I don't know if the ride is comparable or not but it is definitely much smoother than it had been and the Jeep seems to absorb bumps rather than transmit them throughout the rest of the vehicle. As for the arms being hung up I don't know anyone firsthand that has had that problem but it is an added benefit. The LCA mounts are definitely not going to take a direct hit now. The stock ones took quite a beating on my last trip to Crackers Neck not to mention that I have seen firsthand Jeep LCA mounts either crack, taco, or get ripped off a 1/2 dozen times in my short wheeling career. The J arms will probably take some hits where they bend under the axle but to be honest with you I don't think that is anything to be afraid of. Those arms are thick and beefy.
 
ridefast said:
does the bend in the J not stick down further before?
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It does a little bit but not a whole lot more. I should have taken some measurements before since I knew this was going to be asked by someone. One of the main benefits of doing this is relocating the axle lower control arm mounts which I have hit in the past. I would much rather have the arms take a direct hit than the LCA mounts.

Also, when Andy welded the brackets on he moved them a bit closer to the tires so hopefully that will lessen the chance of them getting hit as well.
 
Thanks for the pics. The brackets are exactly what I had in mind I will give them a call tomorrow. Andy did one great job of installing them and the setting of the J arms wider is the way to go, you want them as wide as you can get them. Yes the arms hang down about an inch lower but with the placment by the tire, they are really in a safer location and the brackets are totally protected. This type setup works well for some of the jeeps that run Johnson Valley often. Currie campaigned their highly successful competition rig with this suspension.
Again thanks
John
 
Chile99,
If you need any brackets just give me a shout. I do have plenty of extras.
Andy
 
Got a chance to test out the new control arms out at Uwharrie today. I am very pleased with them. The Jeep flexed very nicely and the ride was incredible but like the idiot I am I was having too much fun to take pics. Hopefully Jason will post his pictures and I can link em to this post later. The arms never took a hit once today so I am very happy about that.

I do have one thing that I will need to fix though. I kept bottoming out the rear shocks all day long. So I will have to either put longer bumpstops in or notch the frame and outboard the shocks using Ford shock towers. Considering there was probably a good 3 or 4" of space in the rear wheel wells I do believe I will be outboarding the shocks some time in the immediate future.

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Are you maxing the shock on droop? If not, just running a slightly shorter shock would work easily.
 
ridefast said:
does the bend in the J not stick down further before?
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I know Joel answered this to some degree...but I swung by CRS after they had finished the rears and Andy was just starting to chop up the front...


it's not much lower at all...since the bracket is almost horizontal on the front of the front axle and the rear of the rear axle, the lowest point is the bend in the J-arm, which is at about the same spot as the normal LCA bracket is...

I had seen that discussion a lot by a guy on JeepForum (Fred A.K.A. Stealth TJ) and seeing it in person just confirmed his posts...

Greg
 
Rich said:
Are you maxing the shock on droop? If not, just running a slightly shorter shock would work easily.
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I thought about that but I eventually want to outboard the rear shocks. This is just an excuse to push that up higher on the list of things to do. :)
 
Is there room to outboard the shocks in a full body TJ with stock width axles?
 
Yes, outboarding shocks is a good addition to the J arms. Not everyone is willing to cut into their frame to set the ford towers or it would be a lot more common.
Andy I ordered two sets of the mounts this morning, thanks.
John
 
Rich said:
Is there room to outboard the shocks in a full body TJ with stock width axles?
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You notch the frame and weld in ford shock towers.
 
Rich said:
Is there room to outboard the shocks in a full body TJ with stock width axles?
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it'll be a tight squeeze on his with the new j-arm brackets, but it's probably doable...

I did the Nth Degree shock shifters, which I wouldn't call a true "outboard", but it does move the lower end out...worked fine on a stock D44 with a full body TJ...

Stu Olson did it here:

http://www.stu-offroad.com/suspension/rearshock/rearshock-1.htm

Greg
 
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