I'm still new to the Jeep world, so forgive me for asking. I have been compiling my build sheet and have been torn between the Evo 4" enforcer and the Clayton LA kit. The Clayton kit is definitely more expensive. Can someone please explain what a "radius front" is and how this compares with the Evo Enforcer set up? :thinking:
Well, to be clear, you are comparing apples and oranges here. The EVO Enforcer kit is standard kit that utilizes factory length arms. The Clayton kit is a "long arm" kit in that it require you to cut off the factory mounts off your frame rails and install new ones more toward the center so that you can run longer arms. EVO does sell a Double D kit which is a true 4-link long arm kit and that's what you should be comparing the Clayton kit to.
Regarding radius arms, they are great on vehicles like desert race trucks where you have big vertical travel of the axle. However, by it's design, radius arms are in a state of bind the moment you try to force them to articulate. If you were to disconnect the radius arms at the frame, they would stand straight out like a diving board. See image below:
In fact, if you were to grab each end of the radius arms and try to push them in opposite directions, you would find it very difficult to do as your axle holds them firmly in place. Think of your sway bar - not the links but the actual sway bar itself - it is basically a torsion bar that wraps around with 2 arms that the links are attached to. That's essentially what your front axle and radius arms are like only, your axle is no torsion bar and it will not twist. believe it or not, there are companies that have made axles that allow for this kind of rotation on the axle but without it, you have bind. Now, having said all that, you can force radius arms to flex but in order to do so, an enormous amount of stress is placed into your bushings as they get squashed and stretch and in time, these bushings will fail.
I will be building a rock crawler and am only interested in the LA kits for ride quality. This will be my daily driver as well, because I don't make the money that some guys on here do, so it seems...:grayno: Any clarification would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.
Being that you want to build a Jeep that will need to flex, I would recommend that you not get a kit with radius arms.