I have a 2014 JKUR on order and its scheduled for delivery in early August. I've been looking at lift kits ranging from 3-4" and am leaning toward a Teraflex kit. Is there much of a difference between a standard lift kit with adjustable control arms and a long arm kit. The thought of having a shop cut off the stock brackets for the long arm brackets makes me nervous.

Are the benefits of a long arm kit worth the extra work? What would the difference be between he two?

 

The only real benefit to a long-arm kit is better road handling. I'm putting one on in a week or so, hopefully. There's a lot more road than trails in Alaska because 90% of the trails end in swamp. I don't do a lot of rock crawling because this is my daily driver and rolling off the side of Monument is not my idea of a good time.

It really depends on you, how much buttpain are you willing to deal with?

 

The on and off road ride will be much better. The taller lift you go the steeper your arms with me with a short arm and when you hit bumps when arms are more vertical it'll transfer more into frame and body instead of suspension doing its job. Plus with long arm you'll get less caster change during arc which will help save u joints do to pinion angle changing less

 

It depends on whether you want to save money. Or if you want to off road it. A short arm kit is fine for mild to moderate trails. The harder stuff will be much more manageable with a long arm kit. The TF kit is nice, but takes a while to install. That means a big labor charge if you're paying someone to do it. The lift took 5 of us more than 8 hours just for the front half.

 

Most long arms are more exposed and therefore more vulnerable (Unless you pick less exposed long arms such as the Rock Krawler).

With long arms, the wheel travels along a flatter and more vertical arc, and the arms stay more horizontal, from zero to maximum flex, therefore, they're supposed to deliver the force more to the coil/shock and less to the frame.

I like relatively soft ride and hoped that long arms would deliver that.
Before making my decision, I had compared 2 similar Jeeps, one with short the other with long arms. Both had 4" lifts, the same coils & shocks and even similar wheels.
I expected softer ride with the long arms, but there was no real difference, on or off road.

I'd say that long arms are a must for 6" lift or more, but do not worth it up to 4", where, according to my experience, the advantage of long arms is more theoretical than a real one.

The following (exaggerated geometry) schematic sketch, demonstrates the difference:



The choice of shock/coil combination (mainly the shock valving) is what would make the big difference in road & offroad behavior.

 

I would give MetalCloak a look. I really like their "GameChanger" set up although it is way too pricey for me. I had a 3.5" Rough Country lift along with a 1" Daystar BL on the JK pictured in my avatar. I really liked the nice ride, however, it did seem a tad noisy. I don't know if that was because the control arms were not loosened when installed(had shop install it) or just the bushings in the lower front control arms were noisy. Pros, very inexpensive, decent quality, and nice ride. Cons: Noisy. Havent decided which one to go with for my new Commando Green Rubi, yet!

 

I have a Full Traction 4" lift kit, Fox coils w/ reservoirs, and the Full Traction CRC Link.
Real nice ride and handling for both DD and offroading, and completely quiet.

However, if I did it today, the 3.5" lift Metal Cloak Dual Rate Coils, with their 6Pak shocks, would have given Full Traction a tough competition.

The Metal Cloak may have been my final choice, because of the extra articulation, and the superb offroad handling I've seen in videos.