Do you reccommend any particular long arm kit?

 

wayoflife, forgive my ignorance but doesn't a long arm kit reduce ground clearance as well? I understand the point of getting more articulation and getting the geometry closer to perfect through the entire length of travel. However if you took a 3.5" short arm kit (not AEV with the drop brackets) and a 3.5" long arm kit, won't the long arm kit have less ground clearance with the long arms mounted to the bottom of the frame and mounted further back?

 

i've been reading your posts and you've always come across as a reasonable guy. also, i saw that you made sure to qualify your responses and clarified early on in this thread that aev markets their lifts as overland driving and not rock crawling and that is 100% dead on. as i have stated several times now, this is a good kit and for your needs and for the needs of others in a similar situation, i have no doubts that you'd be happy with it. i was just stated that in my opinion, i didn't think it was worth the money but again, that's just my opinoin and based on what i need my jeeps to do.

for whatever it's worth, both my jeeps are dedicated daily drivers and, in my humble opinion, i think that my big white jeep rides and handles way better than a jk with an aev kit installed - granted, it cost a butt load more to do too

 

i am currently running an off road evolution long arm kit and i'm really happy with it as all the mounting brackets sit above the frame rails and, to the best of my knowledge, it is the only kit out there that offers this kind of maximum clearance. having said that, i have run a full-traction long arm kit as well and it provided an outstanding ride and performed exceptionally well on the trail too. i have a lot of friends running the teraflex kit and, from what i have seen, they do a great job too. i would have no problems recommending any of these kits.

yes, they will effectively be low points on your jeep but, the benefits they offer far out-weigh this one negative point against them. also, depending on the mounts, the long arm design and size of the tires you're running, the amount of exposure they have can be significantly reduced. some arms are bent to reduce exposure and some kits come with brackets that are mounted high up to help get things up and out of the way. of course, long arm kits typically come with heavy duty arms designed to take a lot more punishment than stock arms too.

 

Thank you Sir! BTW, I drool over your Jeeps and will one day convert to a long arm, 37's, coil overs, a Hemi etc... !!!!!'

 

here are some shots of my long arms to give you an idea of the kind of clearance i have with them...

 

Respectfully, I qualified my limited experience with lifts in the first post I made in this thread (#13).

Thanks for the thoughts on the long-arm lifts. Like BuckLisa, when this JK isn't my DD, I'm looking forward to having one put on.

Going back to the OP's situation, he's looking for a lift for a JK that's going to be "99% street driven", and the AEV price point is a potential objection, so I'm assuming long-arms aren't in the scope for recommendations. Do you have any thoughts on the lift in his "backup plan", or is there another short-arm one you'd recommend for a mostly on-street JK?

 

you'll forgive me but, i saw someone attempting to make a case based on your absolute experiences and there was no mention of it being limited. still, i don't ever recall calling you out and yet, you for some reason seemed to have gotten all offended.

funny, i don't know why you'd say that especially being that long arms show the most benefits ON PAVEMENT.

ummm, my bringing up long arms into this discussion was made as a response to people like you and not him. you are after all the one who couldn't stop talking about suspension geometry and how much it improves your ride. if i was intending to make the point for the OP's benefit, i would have done so right from the get go. my answer to his question was that in my opinion, this kit was over priced and not worth the money - please note that i never once said that it wasn't a good kit or that it didn't work well.

sure, the Northridge OME with trackbars, Xenon or river raider flats, Pintlers w/37 and Stubby bumper is a great setup and one that i am running now on my orange JK. the only thing i would add to it would be a set of adjustable upper or lower front control arms to help add a bit more caster. this setup is affordable, sits a bit lower than the aev kit (about 3"-3.5" as opposed to 4.5") and by virtue of it, offers an outstanding stance and one with a low COG. in my opinion, this setup provides a great ride and handles quite well both on and off pavement and it looks great...

 

Never relocated the evap cannister?

 

I was looking at the Northridge OME kit with trackbars. I will be running 35s.

If I were to add in front control arms, between lowers and uppers, is one better? On the OME kit order screen, there is an option for Currie or Teraflex arms. Is one brand better?