Upper and Lower Control Arms????

[PAS]

I would like to have some input from everyone regarding this issue. I have read on various forums that 9 out of 10 times they recommend switching to adjustable upper and lower control arms.
I have a 4.5" premium Nth lift. I've put around 35k km on it in the past 5 months and I can say that I have had no problems other than an alignment that I did a couple of months ago. It would be great if I could here from Jim, he is one of the main reasons I went with a Nth lift.
What are the pros and cons to having adjustable upper and lower control arms? Anyone that has a lift on a JK, better if it was an Nth lift, what have your experiences been with the different control arms.
I would understand that AEV went with a cam bolt to keep costs down and I appreciate that for that reason, but are you guys looking at maybe doing a set of adjustable control arms and wondering if you maybe looking at getting into the long arm market with the JK Nth lifts?

[JeepinJon]

Post #4 on here from Jim gets into this a bit.

http://forum.aev-conversions.com/showthread.php?p=7168&highlight=control#post7168

This document (which I would assume was written by Jim) also covers many of the control arm items as far as length, and bushing vs. Johnny Joints, etc...


http://www.aev-conversions.com/12things/AEV_twelve_things.pdf

This is just to give you a start. I know last week Dave mentioned Jim was traveling for work, and I would assume he is at the Off Road Expo this weekend in Cali, so it will probably be a few days before he responds directly.

[PAS]

Thanks for that info, it helps but it really gets technical for a non techi kind of guy. I hope I can hear from some others as well.

[Racer83L]

if you are happy with everything, why change a thing??

adjustable control arms are wonderful as they are.. adjustable. BUT, there con, is also that they are adjustable. They do require more maintenance as the stockers.. they have grease fittings etc.

I know many brands have issues with their bushing wearing and failing quickly.

I think that is the main reason AEV likes using the stock arms.. They are pretty good, and the bushings in them are very quiet.

[AEV Jim]

if you are happy with everything, why change a thing??

adjustable control arms are wonderful as they are.. adjustable. BUT, there con, is also that they are adjustable. They do require more maintenance as the stockers.. they have grease fittings etc.

I know many brands have issues with their bushing wearing and failing quickly.

I think that is the main reason AEV likes using the stock arms.. They are pretty good, and the bushings in them are very quiet.

Bingo! We went with cam bolts not so much because they're cheaper (though they are and that does help allow us to include High Steer and ProCal in a competitively-priced package), but because it allows us to avoid the pitfalls of aftermarket bushings including poor durability and horrendous ride quality penalties...those are the real reasons. The requirements of greasing and the fact that the adjustability feature can seize up and at best is used only a couple times in the life of the arm are also points, but bushing performance is the primary one.

Next week at SEMA we'll be showing adjustable UPPER front arms for JK. They're simple no-nonsense double-threaded (i.e. on-car adjustable) arms to change caster with for those that just can't overcome the forum-brainwashing about cam bolts. They're uppers because it allows us to avoid the bushing pitfalls that are more relevant to the lowers, but they'll still be optional items because they're just not necessary to put into the kits to replace the cam bolts (and would raise the price). For those that know Nth history, these arms are a JK-adapted version of the same upper arms that Nth was making for TJ's, which we'll also be reintroducing (they've actually been available the whole time).

...and no, Nth does not plan a longarm system for JK's - there's other threads (plus the document that JeepinJon referred to that I wrote) that cover the reasons why.

Jim

[forsakenfuture]

Wow,its already SEMA time again.:eek:Where as the year gone.

[Cole]

:Where as the year gone.


Before March 9th it went down....after March 9th it went up! ;)