I never fully understood this...

Whenever I read someone's post or sig when they have a 2.5" to 3" coil lift (not BB), like the Tereflex or OME or Full Traction, they don't have both their upper and lower control arms replaced. Sometimes I'll read that they only changed their uppers front and rear; sometimes they only changed their lowers front and rear.

Question:

- What should you change? Just the lower? Just the upper? Or, both?

- How come many JKer's it seems are only swapping out the lower instead of the upper, or only the upper instead of the lower?

Thanks!

 

Nice write up. I understand it all now too, for the most part. Hopefully in the future someone will stumble upon this when they go to search. Again, great job with the answer. I'm truly impressed.

 

Can you add front lowers to a 2dr to improve caster, with a stock drive shaft?

 

So my set up is 3 inch susp lift with one inch spacer in front. I have an unlimited. Should I just be concerned with front uppers? My next upgrade was gonna be lower arms, but after your write up, I now think I will need uppers. I dont not wheel my JK, just drive on beach.

Thanks for all your help.

 

One thing to keep in mind in respect to the control arms and the choice to use the stock ones or replace them with aftermarket.

I did find that, even though I've got a fairly mild lift, OME HD kit + spacers (3/4" front, 10mm rear) on a heavy 2 door, the addition of the rear upper & lower arms (Full Traction) significantly tightened up the rear end of the Jeep, losing most of that "rear steer" feeling. I would attribute this solely to the control arms, although a JE Reel 1350 rear driveshaft was installed at the same time.

The addition of the front lowers added to the already installed front uppers, despite the additional caster increase of a couple of degrees, wasn't near as dramatic.

 

Real nice write up! Explains stuff better than even I can sometimes.

 

so in a 4 door with a full traction 3'' premium lift wich ones do i have from full raction????
im buying tom woods drive shafts, so should i change more things???

 

Great explanation.

 

Thanks man. Any manufacturer in particular, or all the big names pretty much the same?

 

are the full traction ones in the ultimate 3' kit are adjustables????
if they are adjustables , how exactly do you adjust them, like just so theyill fit or a special measurre???



[QUOTE=planman;1250055]Looks like the "premium" comes with fixed lower control arms.

So, you will want adjustable uppers if you add driveshafts for pinion angle adjustment.