Tried and true - currie control arms. Johnny Joints at both ends. Beefy arms.

 

Great info, that's pretty much what I was looking to hear on the positive side. Does your wheeling require a lot of flexing? I'm trying REAL hard to "like" the yellow finish.

Ah, I see that now. I also ran across some chatter about them replacing the JJ end with the ddb bushing as well eventually. Mmm...

Thanks for the input, have you had yours for a long time and wheel a lot?

 

And they get downright pissy if you say anything negative or recommend another brand over theirs that may be a better fit because of their designs. Its there business so they can run it how they want.

OP are you talking about the rubber bushings at the frame side or the crawler joints? You have lots of options on joints and if you are wearing out the rubber bushings I would look into installing arms with a spherical joint on both ends. Sounds like you are binding the upper joint and causing the wear. Johnny joints are proven and you could buy the builders kit and cut the RK tube off the arm and weld on the Johnny joint tube. This would likely be the cheapest route to go and you would keep the RK arms, otherwise I would think you are going to have to replace the arms all together. If you are looking for quiet and comfort then the metalclaok or synergy would be worth looking at. If you don't think that is the ticket for you there are several other arms/joints to run. Heims are solid way to go but will transfer vibrations, can get noisy and the quality vary from manufacturer to manufacturer so do research before jumping to them. Ballistic also has a builder kit joint to replace the rubber end 3.0" Ultra Duty BALLISTIC Joint This is the biggest and they have other sizes. This appears to the be the joint that RK designed their latest joint after allowing for adjustment as the internals wear.

The good news is you have tons of options when it comes to joints weather you want to miodify your current arms, buy new ones, or build your own.

Good luck and post up what you end up doing.

 

Id say JJ's ... Tried and true.
synergy still uses the JJ on one end, the other is the New DD Bushing.
Theres EVO but i believe they only make front lowers and rear uppers.
Clayton i had interest in. BEEFY Square tubing and JJ's (im not sure if on both ends)

 

I've tried many arms and MC were my favorite. Used their joints on my custom build as well. There are other quality brands out there as well that are a good choice. Most important comment I can make about MetalCloak is that their customer service is unreal. You bend an arm, they send one out that day, etc. Just a flat out great group of people over there and they still have a small shop feel.

Here are two reasons I like the MC arms. 1) They provide a nice ride and have plenty of flex. 2) I really dig the yellow zinc chromate coating. You will appreciate the coating in a winter climate. The coating will prevent rust even after you scrape them across rocks. Chemically, it essentially feeds itself to corrosion to stop it. You may see a little rust, but not much.

I had my new arms dipped in chromium. Better stuff, but can't be used in some states, so MC can't use it.

On the flip side, the joints are happier if you provide some care. You'll probably want to lube the bushings once a year. That will be a day long event. I've wondered about installing zerk fittings in though...

 

First off, to the Op. We apologize. We are not even sure what is going on with your situation. We sent you a PM to try to get on the same page and figure out what is going on...



Actually, we welcome competition. It brings out the best in everyone and often we recommend other companies products for others. It all depends on what best fits their needs.

The only thing we do not like is when something is stated and it is full of mistruths. We would rather people have the correct information. This is a small industry so we all know a lot about each others products. Sometimes too much as a matter of fact.

RK

 

duplicate

 

Yes, that is the end I'm having issues with. The first rear set lasted 17k miles, the front shortly after that and now the trackbar and heim at 20k, along with the rears again. In RK's own words when I queried if maybe our climate is too harsh on their bushings: "we have more mag-chlo than anyone so that wouldn't be it. That heim should last you 80k miles". And you're also correct that because of that, I am looking for a spherical solution. I had not thought about cutting the ends off and I wasn't aware of the Ballistic joints, or the JJ builder kit so thank you for all your input! The RK crawler joints - new and older style - have held up well so far....mmm....maybe throw those on the bushing end as well?

Thank you. That's my understanding online that MC has great customer service. I'm not a difficult customer and I don't ask for a lot - generally paying the piper even when I don't think I should need to - but the service will keep me hanging on longer than the prematurely wearing parts. That said - I don't want to take the time to babysit joints every year or so and that's kind of my rub. I know shit needs maintenance and I'm fine with that, I grease every oil change and spray shit down etc., but I want a longer solution between those disassemble mx events. I've been turning wrenches for 34 years and lying on my back in the garage is not near as attractive as it used to be. I'm not the expert on these joints (which is why I'm here) but my inclination is to agree with Dirtman on the ride vs. durability issues that I may have with the MC or DDB joints which is what essentially started this post. But I like the actual insight that you provided for me which is directly what I was looking for on the MC stuff, thank you. Sounds like ride comfort vs. durability.... MC or JJ/Ballistic...

I won't get into details here, but I sent you a pm explaining that I wanted to take some issues up with you privately instead of on the board. THIS^^ is exactly what I intended to avoid. You replied wanting my name so you could look into it, I sent that, 3 days later, nothing. I then followed up with another PM saying, essentially, due to the silence, I now had the impression you're blowing me off and an apology or offer to get me parts quicker than 3 weeks after dropping the ball would have saved my business. That was on 7/30 and still nothing from you until now.

So I've let it marinate for 3 weeks before I've now solicited better solutions and much like I used to plug the hell out of RK, including installing 3 kits and selling many more, I'm just sharing my experiences just as before. It ain't bragging if it's true, but I really was a model frikin customer for you guys but maybe because of that, now I'm just pissed that I have to spend more time and $ to redo all this shit and make changes more out of spite than necessity.

I will copy/paste our entire correspondence and send to you again, thanks for the reply.

 

Sir

We are not faulting you at all as we just stated in a PM to you. There is no excuse for it.

RK

 

I run the Metalcloaks and really beat on my Jeep, broke their 6-pak shocks in only three trips out but the
control arms are tough.