The 4 link long arm is FINALLY complete and had its first test run today. Boy whata test run for it and it performed flawlessly. On the road it rides SOOOOO much better than short arms, and offroad it was much more stable and solid feeling than the previous arms I had on there. Also fair warning that this is a detailed and LONG writeup...anyways down to the nitty gritty details of the build, here goes
The build, from start to finish, took about 6 days of LONG days. I mean from bout 8am to 7pm all six days! We ran into some issues along the way, mostly cause we customed fabbed EVERYTHING from scratch cept for the joints and the tubing of course.
Of course most of yall understand suspension geometry and the ins and outs of fabbing a suspension for a jeep but I figured Id do a FULL write up for those interested...
The build consisted of many high quality parts and we didnt wanna skimp out on nothing...we picked up 2"x.250wall DOM tubing for the rear upper links and lower links and used 1.5"x.250wall DOM tubing for the radius arms. Ok ok so it may be overkill but we like it that way. We also got greasable bushings from Rubicon Express for the axle ends of the lower links as well as the uppers. Six 1.25" shank Johnny Joints finished off the other end of the four lower and two upper links for that nasty flex
The radius arms have heavy duty heim joints on the lower link end and bushings for the axle end. The flat belly skid and ALL the bracketry was crafted from 1/4" steel, or what we thought was mild steel until it chewed threw a sawzalll blade in literally 30 seconds. Turns out it was high carbon steel, which for those who know steel is pretty much the densest stuff out there. Really a bi*ch to work with but it turned out to be a bombproof suspension build cause of it.
Here is some of the parts we started out with for the build...sorry blurry pics
4x4 sheet of 1/4" high carbon steel
Now on to the build...
We started out the build by dropping the old "shovel" as we Rubi owners have dubbed the sensored word muther &*%^#$
and supported the tranny on a jack stand...
Here this "shovel" before he finds his final resting place
We then started the long process of measuring out all the dimensions for the bracketry and figured out just exactly how we'd like to make this kit work. Our original idea was to have the lower and upper link brackets to be on the inside edge of the frame completely tucked up and away from the bottom where they are traditionally welded but no such luck. Turns out the exhaust was a PITA to make it worthwhile to do it this way. So we eventually decided to just run it as most other long arm suspension kits are and have the lower joints be directly under the frame.
Ok so after all the measurements for the different pieces that needed to be cut were taken, we began the LONG process of cutting the steel. Since it was so thick, and since we dont have the funds for a lazer or plasma cutter
we just went old school and used a torch to make it work. It took MUCH longer this way and the cuts were not pretty but lots and lots of grinder wheels got all the edges of the skid and brackets to our liking.
We finally got all the pieces mapped out on the 4x4 sheet and cut em out. Then came the process of grinding. Like I said, literally a dozen grinding wheels were used by the time this porject was complete
Here is my buddy Mike doing the Captain Morgan pose...he didnt have a little captain in him, but we did have a little coors in us
Ok so after literally a days worth of grinding (it seemed like at least) we finally had all our brackets, for the most part, ground down and cleaned up enough to being welding them together.
Here are the brakcets ready to be pieced together...
1/4" high carbon steel brackets=BOMBPROOF
Ok so the brackets are cleaned up and we are ready to start making stinky poo happen as far as welding and shifting this build into second gear. We alternated welding and grinding cause as many of you know it can be a tedious and LONG process on the hands, eyes, and back for us guys who are well over 6 foot and well over 200 lbs
Mike doing a bit of welding...
Ok so things finally started to pick up for this project after the brackets began to take shape.
Here is one of the brackets that was welded to the frame. Inside obviously is the pivots for the Johnny Joints. The flat side going straight up is welded on the underside of the frame while the flat side sticking out is welded to the outside of the frame. Eventually the upper mounts were welded to the section that was welded under the frame and the whole bracket was boxing the frame cause we also welded a piece of steel over the top...
A better side view of the bracket...we mounted the joints in so it makes more sense and things start to take shape...on the flat surface with the tapered edge and a section that sticks out a bit farther, thats where the upper mounts were welded.
Ok so now that the brackets were pieced together it was time to clean up the frame a bit and grind down the old mounting holes for the shovel (they protruded from the frame a bit in case everyone didnt know). Now time to weld the brakcets to the frame. We didnt box them in obviously until the upper mounts were welded as well. We also "rosebudded" the brackets to the frame in four locations. There were three small ones on the bottom of the frame where the bracket meets and one large one which is clearly visible in this picture here...
After both brackets were welded (yes they would be sanded and cleaned again later) we couldnt resist making the front lowers, without the radius amrs, just to get them in there and see how itd look. We took our measurements and ended up with two front lower arms that were an overall 38 INCHES including the joints on either end!!! Thats a long stupid long arm
Here is a teaser of the suspension with just the front lowers in minus the radius arms...
So after those went in we decided to start work on the skid. Since the metal was so heavy, and since I had to be at work numerous times, we decided to try and knock some of it out of the way cause it was a two person job. First off, yall Rubi owners know that we have our nice little air governer thingys mounted on a bracket right on our old t-case shovels right? Well we needed to decide how to find a trick and unique hiding place for these bad boys if we were to build a flat skid for my tcase...
These are the things Im talking bout...
We took the assembly apart and were left with the bracket they are mounted on. After much thought and trial and error for mounting locations, we finally decided to do some custom mods to that bracket as well
We ended up cutting off a piece of it to make it flat across and then cut another piece of scrap and welded it to the bracket and came up with this...
Those with a good eye may see where this is going...we then got us some self tapping screws and I drilled holes in the frame and tapped the bad boy bracket right on top of the frame so it looked like this...
Another view of it with the governors and whatnot on there...
We took the hi-tech route and ziptied all the wires and whatnot well out of the way and up near the tub so our uppers arms were free and clear for movement and so they couldnt get caught up on the trail.
Next was the issue of the extremely low hanging tranny mount on the t-case. Again we got creative and I thought what a cool idea it would be to have one that mounts on either side of the tcase, hence having a flush skid to the tcase. We thought about how to accomplish this and decided to fab up some brackets that would eventually weld to the crossmember. I then used some of the OEM upper CA bushings to make a mount on either side of the tcase. As yall know, or maybe dont, the OEM tranny mount also has an extension that mounts up high on a hanger with a bushing there as well. We decided it was best to reuse the bracketry from the OEM mount and then weld the tabs to that and then drill holls in the new crossmember and thread some grade 8 bolts right on thru the OEM upper CA bushings. We finally had a working and slick tranny mount...dont worry hopefully this will make sense with this pic...here is what we came up with...
Here is the stock tranny mount, you can tell how much more low pro our mount design is compared to OEM...
Here is what the finished tranny mount looks like...much more low pro than before...
Another view of the new mount...that framework is the mock of the new crossmember...
Now for more of the skid. We then made a crossmember out of box tubing that would be welded on the inside edge of each new bracket that were mounted to the frame. It essentially follows the pattern of the skid exactly. It was much easier to work with this metal and in no time we had a corss member welded up and ready to drill out holes for the grade 8 hardware for mounting the skid.
Here is the crossmember fully complete minus paint and holes...
Next we torched out the skidplate, ground down the edges, cleaned it up real good and gave it a test fit. We then decided that in order to make recessed bolts so my skid was high speed and low drag we torched out six 2"x2" sections around the edges of the skid. We then cleaned those up and welded with 3"x3" pieces of scrap sheet, thus capping the holes creating a little recessed area for the bolt. The welded sheet side would obviously be on the side of the side away from the rocks and closer to the tranny and tcase.
Here is the unfinished, but final shape, of the flat skid...you can see the little 2"x2" sections to be torched in sharpie.
Unfortunately my other pics of the finished shid and it mounted under the jeep didnt come out quite right but I promise to take more soon and post em up
Ok so now that we had completed the bracketry, the crossmember, skid, two lower arms, and various other doodads it was time to finish this puppy up with the remaining arms, radius arms, paint, and test run.
We then welded the upper mounts together onto their respective spots on the brackets that were welded to the frame and boxed the WHOLE bracketry system for super human strength
Here is the upper mounts for the rear uppers...
After those were welded to the frame it was time for more measurements...we busted out the tape and began making the front radius arms. After fabbing up some brackets to weld to the front arms we cut the tubing, welded the tube adaptors in and welded the brakcets to the frame and *poof* we had radius arms. Mounted them in their new home and the front end was done!!
Here is how the radius arms turned out with the much longer front lower arm after a clean up and some rattle can. You can see how it mounts to the lower arm...the total length with joints was approx 12" +/-
Here is how it looked mounted on the jeep...
We then made the rear upper arms and the rear lower arms...they all mounted in very nice and everything worked well...here is the rear lower...
Finally it was just down to cosmetic things...sanding the skid, sanding all the brackets, sanding the arms, painting everything with some textured Rustoleum and bolting it all back on the jeep.
Here is the finished project...
Flexy with a 3" lift for now...
Sorry for the sideways pic but here is a comparison of the finished front 38" lower arm vs the stock stamped steel OEM lower arm. You choose which one you want on your rig
All in all it was a great project for the TJ and it started the transformation from a DD to a trail rig. It will take another year or so for the transformation to be complete once its on a flatbed but until then stay tuned. It has bigger axles, coilovers, and much more custom fabbing in its future
Hopefully you enjoyed the write up and thanks for being patient and reading!!! See you on the trails this Spring and summer!!!
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