I am having the same decision problem except I have the 3.5 in skyjacker that came with new lower control arms which I belive are longer not sure though help with that too would be great. Still not happy with control of the fron so I thought of going with adjustable uppers. Will this help with ride and control since I already have the lowers that are not adjustable.

 

wildkcars, what is your caster deg? I'd say if you want another deg or two, get the uppers since you have new lowers and it may help the steering??? But it will shorten your wheelbase! Check your toe too, that can cause some wonder...

Upper arms do not extend the wheel base...Lowers do. I believe longer is better....

 

I have the 4" skyjacker lift that come with lower control arms. These arms are not adjustable, and are not long enough. I put a set of JKS lower control arms on, and adjusted to 6 degrees. Now it drives just as good as stock. As for the OP, I went with lower arms. You have more adjustability in them.

 

I have skyjacker 4 inch coils and added the parts to get it right. Their control amrs (fixed) are crap. Get the Teraflex control arms lower fronts for 250 shipped from northridge. It allows you to have a perfect 6 deg caster.

 

I will do my best for you on this, but it is not that easy to explain:

When you lift the jeep, the front and rear difs move toward the center of the vehicle, thereby shortening the wheelbase. This can make it more twitchy when driving and less stable.

As we know, the front will lose caster so you will need to rotate the differential in order to correct it.

If you install shorter uppers it will correct the caster, but you are shorting your wheelbase even more, not good.

You are also starting to run the risk of impacting the back of the fenders when turning and wheeling because you have now moved your differential back even further.

Another potential problem is binding the front shaft. Although unlikely, in the correct scenario it could happen.

I hope this answers the question...

 

So... With the OME HD kit I am getting it is reccomended that I replace the lower fronts and the upper rear control arms with adjustables right? I wish I knew exactly how much lift I will get from this kit. It will have the extra weight of steel bumpers a smittybilt winch snd 35" spare. I think there may be another 100lbs or so extra from misc stuffs. my Jeep is a 2 door.

My plan is: OME springs, Shocks, isolater in front. Adj. track arms front and rear, reusing my bumpstops from my 2"superlift, adj. lower control arms in front, upper adj. control arms in rear, I am going to grab some sway bar disco's while I am there too.

With the disco's, what height should I get? I liked the teraflex discos I had on my TJ, and am thinking of going with them again. Should I go with the 0-3"? Are the rear adj. control arms needed? I didn't see anyone running adj. arms at all on the OME install thread, but I am willing to spend an extra couple hundred to have my stuff ride and drive right. Is there anything else I need that I missed? Even with only 2" superlift it has flighty steering and bumpsteer, I want this system to correct all these issues.


One more question for the experts. I like to keep a low center of gravity, but larger tires for obvious reasons. Here is the question: If I run the OME HD kit, a 1" body lift, and some fender flares that have been cut high like xenons will that clear 37s? or will that be a rub-a-thon? Thanks for all the help! I don't want to waste anymore cash on parts I dont want/need (superlift bb, all terain tires, etc) but I am willing to spend the money I need to in order to get things right. thanks everyone!

 

bigblue... if you have an unlimited you wont even need the rear control arms period. The only time is when you change driveshafts and those are not needed right away. The only control arms needed for any lift up to 4 inches is front lower adjustables.

 

perfect solution uppers and lowers front and rear

 

yes, if you have aftermarket driveshafts. stock DS only requires front lowers for caster adjustment. in fact you can use stock control arms all the way around if you dont mind the flighty steering. Did it for 6 months.

 

Bigblue has a 2-dr, so he'll probably wanna change driveshafts. He'll need the frt lowers and rear uppers to get his driveshafts dialed in so they don't vibrate.