Rubicon Express rear control arms

clreinstein · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 12:02 pm

Does anyone here run them or have opinions on them? When I talked to Al Handy about them he said the stock arms are fine but the RE arms couldnt hurt. What are the benefits to going with them?

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 12:13 pm

installing the lower arms without changing the upper link would not help at all, maybe make the angles worse since you would be pointing the front of the diff even further down, ( if you made them longer than the stock ones. plus with the amount of lift we can really go its not needed, may look cool but no real advantage that I can see
Al (Handy) knows his stuff for sure he played with his old Blue KJ enough to know what works and what doesn't :wink:

now going to the 6 inch from Marlin then thats way different

clreinstein · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 12:19 pm

tommudd wrote:

installing the lower arms without changing the upper link would not help at all, maybe make the angles worse since you would be pointing the front of the diff even further down, ( if you made them longer than the stock ones. plus with the amount of lift we can really go its not needed, may look cool but no real advantage that I can see
Al (Handy) knows his stuff for sure he played with his old Blue KJ enough to know what works and what doesn't :wink:

now going to the 6 inch from Marlin then thats way different

My main thinking was you could get more flex since they have johnny joints in them. Although I have seen a lot XJ's and TJ's with stock arms and they flex like mad so it doenst seem like the rubber bushed arms are a limiting factor.

On a related topic are the length of the stock KJ arms the same as in a TJ or XJ cause they would be a great upgrade for those cheap stamped steel arms they have.

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 12:39 pm

clreinstein wrote:

tommudd wrote:

installing the lower arms without changing the upper link would not help at all, maybe make the angles worse since you would be pointing the front of the diff even further down, ( if you made them longer than the stock ones. plus with the amount of lift we can really go its not needed, may look cool but no real advantage that I can see
Al (Handy) knows his stuff for sure he played with his old Blue KJ enough to know what works and what doesn't :wink:

now going to the 6 inch from Marlin then thats way different

My main thinking was you could get more flex since they have johnny joints in them. Although I have seen a lot XJ's and TJ's with stock arms and they flex like mad so it doenst seem like the rubber bushed arms are a limiting factor.

On a related topic are the length of the stock KJ arms the same as in a TJ or XJ cause they would be a great upgrade for those cheap stamped steel arms they have.

just remove the rear sway bar and you will have about as much flex as you need or want, do make sure you install good bumpstops though

Inc · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 1:48 pm

Do you guys think the dog legged rear control arms from Nth Degree would fit? Give you more clearance on rocks.

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 5:04 pm

incubusmike wrote:

Do you guys think the dog legged rear control arms from Nth Degree would fit? Give you more clearance on rocks.

I haven't looked at the Nth stuff for a while so can't remember what it looks like, if adjustable to about or very near the same lenghth as the KJs then I would say yes, you don't want it too much (if any longer at all ) due to screwing up your angles on the pinion

Tom

tjkj2002 · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 7:18 pm

tommudd wrote:

incubusmike wrote:

Do you guys think the dog legged rear control arms from Nth Degree would fit? Give you more clearance on rocks.

I haven't looked at the Nth stuff for a while so can't remember what it looks like, if adjustable to about or very near the same lenghth as the KJs then I would say yes, you don't want it too much (if any longer at all ) due to screwing up your angles on the pinion

Tom

No more Nth stuff,they went out of buisness.AEV makes the stuff now.

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:12 pm

tjkj2002 wrote:

tommudd wrote:

incubusmike wrote:

Do you guys think the dog legged rear control arms from Nth Degree would fit? Give you more clearance on rocks.

I haven't looked at the Nth stuff for a while so can't remember what it looks like, if adjustable to about or very near the same lenghth as the KJs then I would say yes, you don't want it too much (if any longer at all ) due to screwing up your angles on the pinion

Tom

No more Nth stuff,they went out of buisness.AEV makes the stuff now.

I thought AEV was going to use the name, so they have changed it all over to AEV Brand now ?

Inc · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:15 pm

No, it is still Nth Degree. AEV just own it now. Still same though.

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:16 pm

incubusmike wrote:

No, it is still Nth Degree. AEV just own it now. Still same though.

thats what I thought but.............

Inc · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 8:17 pm

Yep, go look on the AEV site, still good old Nth Degree goodies.

Dje Ryu · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:41 pm

On that note, I have a "15% off any one item from AEV" discount certificate that I'd sell for $180-200 if anyone's interested.

ohv_kj · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 10:58 pm

just remove the rear sway bar and you will have about as much flex as you need or want, do make sure you install good bumpstops though[/quote]

i keep my on and still flex the rear...they are not attach to the body

tommudd · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 11:00 pm

ohv_kj wrote:

just remove the rear sway bar and you will have about as much flex as you need or want, do make sure you install good bumpstops though

i keep my on and still flex the rear...they are not attach to the body[/quote]

mines on as well, and I get along just fine, but most say it helps a lot, I agree with you though

Inc · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 11:09 pm

It does help a lot. I had it on and I am running 3" bumpstops in the rear and I had zero rub at full flex. I took the swaybar off and I got tons of rub on my rear fenders when at full flex now.

HyperKJ · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 11:38 pm

here are a couple pics of mine installed,, i had all j's put them in when they installed teh lift(litterally like 4-5?? year old frankenlift,, which i love,,
but OME shocks/struts were just a glimmer in the eye back then).. ranchos all around,, skyjacker rear coils, OME front springs?, etc...

the RE's are set to the same lenth as the stock arms on mine.... like others have said,, the rear suspension(boomerang,trilink)??? wont gain too much
from these, and theres no provision for the rear sway bar,, if you decide to put it back on some day.,, and you dont want to go longer cause of pinion angle??/
thrust bearings??

i think the best "bang for the buck" like what tommudd/tjkj said is just remove rear sway bar,, and its free. i didnt really notice much gain in articulation from stock kj arms to the RE's,, maybe some lateral movement,, side to side etc..

^^^^-----that being said,,, the only positives are:

1) RE arms are absolute beef,, look at the weeney stock arms,, are they even fully boxed?? or hollow?? you will NEVER bend one of these,, stock ones look
like they would bend like a taco..?? look at them side-by-side,, no comparison what soever...

2) greeseable heim joints???( <<-- is that what there called??) rebuildable if need be,, bulletproof,,

but ya,, all in all i cant really say $250 is worth it just for that..

like i said i lifted while ago , so correct me if im wrong or if things have changed.. sorry for grammer/punctuation/spelling

Inc · **Posted:** Tue Sep 23, 2008 11:41 pm

I'd spend $250 on the Nth Degree ones if they fit. Not sure they will though.

Inc · **Posted:** Thu Sep 25, 2008 8:58 pm

Got an email from AEV about the Nth degree arms and they are adjustable through gyro joints.

They sell 8"(12-13.5), 9"(13-14.5) and 10"(14-15.5) rear arms for $185. I have already added them to my wish list.

clreinstein · **Posted:** Thu Sep 25, 2008 10:41 pm

incubusmike wrote:

Got an email from AEV about the Nth degree arms and they are adjustable through gyro joints.

They sell 8"(12-13.5), 9"(13-14.5) and 10"(14-15.5) rear arms for $185. I have already added them to my wish list.

Which ones would we need? Do they have them on their website somewhere?

Inc · **Posted:** Thu Sep 25, 2008 11:18 pm

Nope not on the web anywhere. You need to email em to get the list. Not sure which we need because I have no idea how long our rear arms are.

Rubicon Express rear control arms

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