hey guys, I'm thinking about upgrading my control arms in the next year or so.

I've been running on 4 RK lower arms in the past 3 years. Had to change the monster bushings on the rear arms, cleaned and thightened the joint bushing halves last year, and now I got to replace the krawler joint bushings. Kind of tired of the maintenance on these joints, so I am looking for maintenance free joints.

On a side note, I had to replace both joints on the RK front trackbar also.

I have 3 full kits in mind.

Teraflex Alpine, retails at around 1400$ CA
Synergy adjustable with DDB joints, retails a little over 1700$ CA
Metal cloak, retails around 1500$

Not really concerned about the price, I just want something that will last and won't squeaks.

They're all three good companies with good reputation. Just wondering what would be best. Metal cloak are kinda hard to find in canada. Synergy claims they will clear bigger rubbers, which is a plus to me, always rub at full turn, either on the frame or on the LCA's.

For those who think I will lose flex...really? not enough to make me reconcider.

 

You can can get Tier 3 Core 4x4 w/ JJ's for under a grand for all 8.

 

If you don't want maintenance then I would go with either the metal cloak or synergy's arms with the new bushings.

 

nice product, but JJ's are no maintenance free. The only option I see with these is tier 3 arms, and replace the JJ's inner with metalcloak duroflex joints.

Also, this product is not sold in canada, so I would pay a lot of shipping and custom fees.

 

I've been really happy with my decision to go Metal Cloak.
30k miles (50k kilos) with no maintenance, maybe 10 wheeling trips (rocks, no mud, no salted roads).
Quiet, ride awesome. I did all 8 arms before I swapped coils/shocks, and the ride was noticeably improved with just arms over the stock units.
Synergy did not have their "rubber" arms out at the time so the decision was easy. I would not be afraid to run Synergy rubber arms (have plenty of their stuff, and it's all quality) but have no experience with them, so... based on that I can only comment on the MC.

 

I have about 4.5 years on the MC arms now.
I did grease them back in 2014 after winter. Haven't touched them since.

 

I wanted to get the metal cloak arms beforehand but went with RK based off price. If I could go back in time, I would've spent the extra $.

 

I had this very same dilemma when I upgraded. It's a hard pill to swallow paying full price for some things, but I was sold on the MC bushing and that was something I decided to turn my head and just pay for. The one thing I'd say is that everyone keeps noting MC arms are maintenance free. IIRC from the instructions, MC suggest removing and regreasing the bushings once a year. That's a full re-install...lol. To some that might be a bigger issue than to others. To me......I'd still take the MC arms, but I also take a few verbal jabs from buddies about my "maintenance free" arms.

 

I would consider taking a look at the JKS J-Axis line.

Rubber bushings on both ends (which equates to less vibration and zero maintenance) AND the bushing heads can actually rotate a full 360 degrees ==> better articulation while causing much less stress on those flimsy control arm brackets on the stock axles which have been known to snap on the trail.

They are beefy and cost a little more coin than the synergy, metalcloak, and teraflex's but have been worth it. I actually got em' on sale @ Northridge.

Buy once, cry once.

 

I suggest Metalcloak as well. I've had them on for 2 years now with no maintenance and took a look at them. They still looked and fit like new. Switching from a Rancho to a MC lift was the best thing I've done to my jeep.