TBJK

I Think he said it was in Post,Tx.Looks like a fun place to wheel

JulietKilo

Yes that would be Post, TX. Great group of guys go there about once a month or so. Check in with 4x4 and More through the TON (texas off road network) you can google them and they have a site and calendar.

JulietKilo

I tested my Jeep on an RTI ramp and came up with these results on a stock control arm setup.

ramp angle: 23 degrees
travel in inches vertically: 32 inches
rti score @ 23 degrees: 706.02
rti score @ 20 degrees: 806.57
aired down: no







My goal was to show that stock control arms are pretty impressive and you can flex them, run them with 4 inches of lift and save money to boot until you decide down the road that you want them. The unlimited wheel base has made alot more possible out of the box then previous jeeps. Simply awesome.

JulietKilo

Well after several months of proving the lift with the stock control arms and no cams I decided its time to see what adding front lower control arms will do for the steering.

The steering is not unbarable and it is my daily driver. You just have to use more effort to keep it going down the road straight. It tends to wander or feel "flighty" on stock control arms. Myself and MKJEEP has run stock control arms now for several months but both of us feel that lower front control arms are the only thing neccessary to dial in the perfect caster.

I have proven that you can run this amount of lift without control arms so I am now ready to get the control arms on the front of the Jeep to lengthen the lower forward control arms allowing me to tune the caster of the axle to 6-7 degrees.

The cost of this is only 250 dollars shipped. So I went with Northridge4x4 and their Teraflex front lower control arms. They are adjustable and have a flex joint on one side and a standard poly bushing on the other.

This should be the last step in completing the suspension portion of my Frankenlift.

jjhinman

Nice! I guess I should have read more of this post before starting my own. I'm trying basically the same thing and this answers quite a few questions.

JulietKilo

Good luck with your lift. You have any questions... Let me know.

jjhinman

One of my main concerns was the cam bolt setup. Besides not trusting how they will hold, I didn't want to have to notch out the mounts and run the risk of having to "rebuild" them at a later date. I see a lot of people have to remove their lifts before trade-in and I may want to be able to put my suspension back together some day.

JulietKilo

Some companies swear by the cam bolts but not me. I just want the ability to adjust the front end without it backing out. Front lower adj control arms are the way to go.

JulietKilo

Teraflex Control arms have arrived. Northridge had them drop shipped and they made it here in 4 business days. WOW! Thank you teraflex and dave at northridge for the continued great parts and service. 250 bucks will get you the front lower adjustables. This is all you need for caster as your uppers remain the same length. The rears are not even needed due to the long drive shaft and some have said the rears arent even that adjustable because of rubbing issues with other parts of the Jeep. The front uppers are not needed due to the CV joints great flexability. (still would like to have some 1350's though) The front lower is all you need to get your caster back to better than stock. Run these control arms at 23" eye to eye to get the correct amount of caster. That will put you at 6-7 degrees.

Here is why I bought them.

Huge flex joint at the axle end of the control arm. Very beefy, serviceable, greasable.


The frame mount side uses a rubber bushing giving the Jeep a softer quiet OEM ride. Some manufacurers brag on their polyurethane bushings but dont be fooled. Poly is cheap, cracks, contributes to a rough ride, and doesnt allow for any give (flex). Polyurethane is not an upgrade but a downgrade. Teraflex caught onto this and gave their new control arms the bushings we all have been asking for.


Contrast my Jeep Key to the control arm and you can see that this thing is huge. I still cant believe the quality of this product.


Install will presume when I get a minute. Here is the notes taken from Teraflex.biz

TeraFlex JK FlexArms can be added to any existing suspension lift. FlexArms allow custom pinion and caster angles to be set for proper alignment, they also are used to re-center the axle in the wheel well for proper suspension movement.

Sold in pairs
factory length= 22-1/2”
min. length= 22-3/4”
max length= 25”
Uses 9/16” [14mm] bolt,
1 1/4-12 UNF thread,
1 1/2” wrench on tube,
1 7/8” wrench on Jam nut.

blacknblue2002

quick question about this since I'm planning on the exact same thing...

-Does this change the distance for the front driveshaft in a way that would further my need to replace the stocker...or is this actually going to help w/ lining up the front driveshaft

-My understanding is that just buying the lower arms will push the axle forward but also rotate where the connection point for the driveshaft downwards....again, I'm just curious as to how this is going to affect driveshaft wobble?

Please let me know your thoughts after your install