Looking at upgrading to long arms on my 2012 2DR to compliment my EVO coilovers and smooth out the on road ride a bit. I'm curious to hear input from those that have gone from a short arm to a long arm lift on a 2dr. Did you notice any improvement in handling, road comfort, high speed stability?

 

I have a 2007 2dr Rubicon and went from the stock suspension to a 3.5" Sky**cker lift keeping the factory control arms. Worst idea I've had for the Jeep. I rode around like that for a few years and last year I put in a EVO long-arm bolt-on kit with 4" (4.5" on a 2dr) plush ride springs and Bilstein 5100 shocks. It is night and day, she rides so much smoother. We have a lot of pot holes here and when I can't avoid them the shock of hitting them is reduced a lot. The springs and shocks will help with comfort and handling, the control arms don't do a whole lot for that.

On a 2dr JK the control arms are "mid-arm" length, not short but not long. Upgrading isn't a necessity, especially if you are on a budget or don't want to do the work yourself. I'm overall *very* happy with the EVO kit and I learned a crap-ton putting it on myself. The folks here and at EVO were extremely helpful as I was bouncing control arms off my head. (True story, I don't advise it, hurts like a mother.)

Again, I think the vast majority of my handling improvement is from replacing the crappy springs and hydro shocks I got with Sky**cker and going with plush ride and the Bilsteins. The long arms have definitely helped with the jarring on the Alaskan roads.

If you search for "totl" I posted a picture of my Jeep with the TOTL hood and you can see the long-arm setup and the ride height. Let me know if you have any other questions, specifically about the EVO kit. I put it on by myself with six jack stands and a floor jack. I have felt the pain.

 

I have an '11 two-door with EVO bolt-on coil overs and am considering long arms too.
I just completed a run through the Rubicon. The thing I noticed the most was the rear bumper hitting when dropping down the rocks, ledges, etc. With factory arms and 4" of lift the rear wheels are a bit forward from center of the rear hub. I'd like to push them back a bit. Similarly the front is a bit far back. The longer wheelbase should do some good. If I have to buy more arms I should just buy some long arms.
As I understand it, the loner arms will improve the handling somewhat when off road because it will change the arch of the axle as it flexes.
It will also improve on-road performance by chaining the angle the force is transmitted when bumps are hit.
What else will be gained by going to a long arm?

 

Do your research on long arms as most kits out there have bad geometry or mount the control arms under the frame which reduces ground clearance. I would recommend you find the joints you want to run and have a reputaible shop build you a custom long arm set up.

 

What are your thoughts on the RK 3 link set up?

 

Since when did EVO start making coilovers?

 

IMO it is a decent set up for larger lifts but not so much for lcog builds as the upper link is rather high and creates up travel clearance issues. For most people it is a good choice if they want to run a 3-link

 

Ah I didn't think about that, curious if the artec truss and link mount sit lower than the RK truss.

 

i bet they are pretty similar... i have the artec full truss on mine and used smaller mounts on top but even on 40s i had to cut out my storage tub. My set up is a little different though.

If i had the rk one id gusset it more as you dont want that to break..the artec truss would weld on to the axle alot better imo.

 

The inhearient drawback of the 3 link is not the high mount on the axle, that is just a byproduct of the fact that you must run the frame side upper mount so high to miss the drifeshaft that forces the axle side to be extra high so you can manage the geometry of the suspension.