for all you lifted libs out there*updated with pics*

RespectMyLibertay · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:25 pm

As I stated earlier and Troy reiterated, the stock arms are known for ball joint failures and Al's arms >Gen4 are known to break at the weld to the ball joint bung.

But take a look at the new JBA 4.5 gen arms....much better design! Instead of welding directly to the ball joint bung, steel strap is used to transition from arm to ball joint bung. It appears as if the ball joint bung was designed around the arm, where as the older gens appear to have the arm designed around the ball joint bung. I think the older gens are Al's original design...while the new ones are Marlin's I suspect.
I heard from a little birdy that the ball joints in the new arms (4.5) should be greased every 1000 miles or so. No problem with me, as I normal do that anyways, just a pump or two.

nosnorb_808 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 9:07 pm

The new arms are Marlins? As in Marlin Crawler Toyota god Marlin?! If so being a Toyota guy before, Thats a name I trust & stand by.

LIV42DY · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:24 pm

Just real quick look, it looks like it was a faulty weld, according to the picture it snapped right at the weld. Did it?

Guest · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 10:58 pm

nosnorb_808 wrote:

The new arms are Marlins? As in Marlin Crawler Toyota god Marlin?! If so being a Toyota guy before, Thats a name I trust & stand by.

Doubt it. Marlin as in the name of the current owner of Jeepin' By Al.

nosnorb_808 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:08 pm

I see. I was in :shock:

to see & think that it was the other Marlin. Kinda threw me like wow Marlin is taking an intrest in KJ's now? Thanks for the clear up.

jg45 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:16 pm

How do you tell which generation A-Arm you have? I've got black ones from when Al ran the joint.

M&P40 · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:50 pm

LIV42DY wrote:

Just real quick look, it looks like it was a faulty weld, according to the picture it snapped right at the weld. Did it?

yep snapped at the weld. i believe that is why they now have thicker tubing and gussets at the joint to overcome that weak spot. after we took the old arms off i held them both and the new ones were substantially meatier (if you can call it that) anyway they are on now and working great and the tires dont rub on them anymore. i just put 1000 miles on them in one day and they did what they are supposed to so no more worries.

however i did have my darn window regulator break in new mexico and yall know you cant ride with one of the rear windows down and none of the others down (serious vibrations) anyway duck tape got that fixed for the last 400 miles now when the dealership does the warrnty work on the window they will have tons of sticky stuff to clean off the window and frame

myjeepwalks · **Posted:** Thu Jul 24, 2008 11:52 pm

nosnorb_808 wrote:

I see. I was in :shock:

to see & think that it was the other Marlin. Kinda threw me like wow Marlin is taking an intrest in KJ's now? Thanks for the clear up.

Nope not the same Marlin. Although Marlin Crawler is also a great supplier for my Toyota junk.

Back on topic, I just swapped out my gen 3 arms for my new gen 4.5's. 4.5's are alot nicer and i think there is a bit more clearance before the arm hits the spring on full droop.

tommudd · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 12:01 am

I had a set of the 3s or 4s here before and have to agree the 4.5s I have now look a lot better for sure, I do put some grease in the balljoints every 1000/1500 miles just to make sure :wink:

Sport · **Posted:** Fri Jul 25, 2008 8:21 am

jg45 wrote:

How do you tell which generation A-Arm you have? I've got black ones from when Al ran the joint.

I can't tell either, mine are black as well. I do know that mine have the joint welded slightly to prevent backing out of the arm. I think that was an issue with them a while back. No problems with them so far but I do have alot of grease on them and I don't really do extreme with the jeep. I am concerned though for sure.

AdamIsAdam · **Posted:** Sat Jul 26, 2008 5:44 pm

JeepinbyAl wrote:

With the release of the Gen 4.5 A-arms, We are getting emails and phone calls asking about trading in the old UC arms for the NEW Gen 4.5 arms.

Now we have an upgrade program!

If you have a black set of Als a-arms we will send out the NEW Gen 4.5 for $275.95 plus shipping, we will attach a return label to send back your old a-arms.
http://jeepinbyal.com/prod-Als_Upper_A_ ... s-592.aspx

If you have a red set of Als a-arms we will send out the NEW Gen 4.5 for $250.95 plus shipping, we will attach a return label to send back your old a-arms.
http://jeepinbyal.com/prod-Als_Upper_A_ ... s-593.aspx

This program will last till September 30th 2008, it is available to all who have purchased a set of Jeepin By Al’s a-arms, even if you got them on EBay.

You must return the old a-arms with in 2 weeks or you will be charged full price.

Now you can have the latest and greatest a-arms with our upgrade program!

OK. I've been gone a while! Jeepin By Al is not Al any more? But Marlin has Al's user ID?

Anyway, I have what I think is gen 2 black arms I bought from Al. I wheel about 2 times per year, pretty hard, and do 12-15k per year. Everything is fine now, but should I upgrade my arms now? I've had them on for a few trips off road for aabout 2-3 years.

Do they REQUIRE upgrading?

tommudd · **Posted:** Sat Jul 26, 2008 10:50 pm

Marlin will upgrade for a price, so good time to do it if you are thinking about it. I like the 4.5s I have now

rangerd77 · **Joined:** Sat May 03, 2008 10:48 am **Posts:** 512

[quote="tommudd"]Marlin will upgrade for a price, so good time to do it if you are thinking about it. I like the 4.5s I have now[/quo

Marlin might upgrade for a price but is he gonna start top guarentee his products and reinburst the people that have them break?

tommudd · **Posted:** Sun Jul 27, 2008 3:56 am

rangerd77 wrote:

tommudd wrote:

Marlin will upgrade for a price, so good time to do it if you are thinking about it. I like the 4.5s I have now[/quo

Marlin might upgrade for a price but is he gonna start top guarentee his products and reinburst the people that have them break?

reinburst ???
I think Marlin stands behind his product 100 % or at least from what I have seen and dealt with him he will!

Guest · **Posted:** Sun Jul 27, 2008 4:27 pm

Hasn't he replaced EVERYTHING that has broken free of charge? I know Wes had a trouble-free transaction when his Gen 4 UCA broke.

AdamIsAdam · **Posted:** Sun Jul 27, 2008 5:27 pm

I'm still wondering if I should replace mine preventatively.

Can anyone share the circumstances that led to the failures? Perhaps there's a common situation that caused the breaks that we can try to avoid. Ya know, just like how we know not to get our front diff's spinning in a situation where the front tires might come down and have sudden traction, thus causing the aluminum front diff to crack.

Should we treat this upgrade like a factory recall?

Guest · **Posted:** Sun Jul 27, 2008 5:50 pm

From what I can tell Adam, watch for cracks around the welds on the Gen 4s. If the powdercoat starts to have a nice little gap in it, replace it.

I don't know what the Gen 2s look like...if they look similar, then do the same:P

M&P40 · **Posted:** Sun Jul 27, 2008 6:08 pm

he did replace mine 100%free. i had to pay shipping but that was cause i wanted them overnighted as i was stuck out of town. He did not hassle me one bit or question what i was doing just said "we will get them right out to you" cant complain about that

tommudd · **Posted:** Sun Jul 27, 2008 8:31 pm

As far as I know and what I have witnessed first hand he will take care of any that break. Great guy to deal with

And yes they will break at the weld near the ball joint, you should at least clean them and check them real close every few thousand miles I would say. The ones I bought had been wheeled pretty hard I think :shock:

and one side starting to let go.

AdamIsAdam · **Posted:** Sun Jul 27, 2008 9:27 pm

ok. Thanks. I'll look them over VERY closely, VERY often. It's my fear that they won't break on the trail at 3MPH, but rather on some exit ramp at 50 with my kids in the Jeep or something like that!

for all you lifted libs out thereupdated with pics

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