Short arm vs long arm lift question

DMFNJ24601

DMFNJ24601

New member
I have a 2012 JKU Sport. Am currently looking at a lift and am looking for some information on the pros and cons of a short arm & a long arm lift? I am leaning a short arm lift because I want to do it myself plus I am not too keen on cutting stuff off of my Jeep. Any help would be greatly appreciated here. Thanks!
 
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Long arm, Do it once do it right. I am not a huge one for cutting things off but if you look around and look at the installs you might suprise yourself that its not that far out of hand. I can tell you it does suck tho i am in the middle of my lift as week speak and damn it blows, but i just keep thinking end game end game. Which in the end i should have a good lift that rides and acts good, well worth the extra couple bills and sweat. I have a 2012 sport as well.
 
All depends on lift height and trails you go on..see my sig, works great on the street and on medium trails like the Rubicon. I'll likely change to a long arm setup but I'm always trying to get the last few % increase in its capability.
 
DMFNJ24601 said:
I have a 2012 JKU Sport. Am currently looking at a lift and am looking for some information on the pros and cons of a short arm & a long arm lift? I am leaning a short arm lift because I want to do it myself plus I am not too keen on cutting stuff off of my Jeep. Any help would be greatly appreciated here. Thanks!
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The only real reason to run a long arm kit is because you are running a tall lift. Long arms will require you to remove your factory control arm frame mounts and have you install new ones further toward the middle of your Jeep. Doing this will correct your suspension geometry by making your control arms sit flatter again as they were back when you were stock. Where you will see the most benefit from this is ON PAVEMENT. The cons to a long arm kit is that they are expensive and require a lot of work to install.

If you think you'll be sticking with 37" tires and running about 4" of lift, you can get by with a factory length arm kit. I refrain from calling them "short" because they really aren't that short. Unlike the TJ before, the JK arms are actually quite long and will do just fine for most people. The pros of sticking with them is that kits are more affordable and are easier to install. The cons is that if you go over 4" of lift, you may find that your daily drive not to be as good as it was.
 
wayoflife said:
The only real reason to run a long arm kit is because you are running a tall lift. Long arms will require you to remove your factory control arm frame mounts and have you install new ones further toward the middle of your Jeep. Doing this will correct your suspension geometry by making your control arms sit flatter again as they were back when you were stock. Where you will see the most benefit from this is ON PAVEMENT. The cons to a long arm kit is that they are expensive and require a lot of work to install.

If you think you'll be sticking with 37" tires and running about 4" of lift, you can get by with a factory length arm kit. I refrain from calling them "short" because they really aren't that short. Unlike the TJ before, the JK arms are actually quite long and will do just fine for most people. The pros of sticking with them is that kits are more affordable and are easier to install. The cons is that if you go over 4" of lift, you may find that your daily drive not to be as good as it was.
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Ive read on some other site that you will receive almost as much flex from a "short arm" as you will from a long arm kit. Is this true?
 
shadow21 said:
Ive read on some other site that you will receive almost as much flex from a "short arm" as you will from a long arm kit. Is this true?
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There's no almost about it. Long arms only serve to correct your suspension geometry - they DO NOT increase the amount of flex you will have. Your shock length will be the ultimate deciding factor as to how much compression and droop you will have.
 
Someone here used this analogy before.

Imagine you were pushing a wheel barrel. First image, imagine your arms are where they are now, attached at the shoulders. Second image, imagine that your arms are attached at the hips. Now imagine that your pushing the wheel barrel and you hit a bump. The scenario where your arms are attached at the hips will be smoother than the other scenario, where your arms are attached higher at the shoulders.

That image helped me a lot when I first heard of long arms and shorts arms. :D

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Long arm moves the frame mounts further away from the axles. This in turn makes the arms closer to parallel with the ground for a more comfortable ride.

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justin mazzon said:
When you put a lift on your Jeep like a 3.5" Rubicon Express is that considered short arm?
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Any control arm that bolts up to your factory mounts is a short arm lift. A long arm kit will REQUIRE you to cut off your mounts on the frame and relocate them more toward the center of your Jeep. This will allow you to run control arms that are SIGNIFICANTLY LONGER than stock.
 
justin mazzon said:
When you put a lift on your Jeep like a 3.5" Rubicon Express is that considered short arm?
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If you don't have to modify the frame mounts by moving them away from the axles, then it's still a short arm lift. Even if the new arms are longer to help dial in caster, it's still a short arm lift.

EDIT: What Eddie said.
 
Someone here mentioned that long arms won't increase flex. But assuming you've got some pretty long shocks (maybe 14" travel or so), won't the longer arms allow you to reach the limits of your travel with less binding angle on your arms, assuming you are running a trackbar? Or are the stock jk arms not going to bind up against the mounts anyway in either case?
 
chitown35 said:
Someone here mentioned that long arms won't increase flex. But assuming you've got some pretty long shocks (maybe 14" travel or so), won't the longer arms allow you to reach the limits of your travel with less binding angle on your arms, assuming you are running a trackbar? Or are the stock jk arms not going to bind up against the mounts anyway in either case?
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Here's a couple of shots of 14" coil overs running short arms.

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We ended up having to install limiting straps to help prevent drive line bind. We still run limiting straps with our long arms for the same reason.
 
wayoflife said:
Here's a couple of shots of 14" coil overs running short arms.

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We ended up having to install limiting straps to help prevent drive line bind. We still run limiting straps with our long arms for the same reason.
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Can't really see the front driver's side to see if it's all the way into the bump but I'd imagine it's pretty close. And the passenger shock looks fully extended.

Even looks like stock arms and not aftermarket, right?
 
wayoflife said:
Any control arm that bolts up to your factory mounts is a short arm lift. A long arm kit will REQUIRE you to cut off your mounts on the frame and relocate them more toward the center of your Jeep. This will allow you to run control arms that are SIGNIFICANTLY LONGER than stock.
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Not necessarily! If they bolt in factory location, they could be a mid arm! Hahaha damn you rock krawler and your invention of pushing axles too far back! But they do give my rear coils an awesome shape... similar to a slinky.


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While I would love to have a long arm, the cost and time (doing it myself) was just a bit too extensive. I've seen what short arm JKs can accomplish, and it's certainly impressive, see Eddie's photo above :shock: even if you aren't running coil overs it's pretty nice.

I may go long arm someday, but if you want to DIY, get a good short arm, EVO + Currie and call it a day. I'm running the 4" EVO Plush Coils, EVO front lowers and Currie on the other 6. Love the lift and the ride. It wanders a bit, but I mostly feel like it's because my tires grab the road grooves and go with it, though it may be some caster as well.
 
Long arm vs short arm

Ive asked around locally and searched this forum, and have found differing opinions. I have a 2017 Rubicon Unlimited, I plan on 37's, 5.13 gears and flat fenders. Initially I planned on a 4" long arm kit, likely EVO. Now I'm thinking maybe the EVO Enforcer 3" and coil overs. Im undecided, i like the taller look of the 4". Ill probably be driving about 80% on-road. I was under the impression that the long arm kit would provide a much better ride on the pavement. Does anybody have any input as to wether the extra cost of the long arm kit would be worth it for me.

Thanks
 
2DMTN said:
Ive asked around locally and searched this forum, and have found differing opinions. I have a 2017 Rubicon Unlimited, I plan on 37's, 5.13 gears and flat fenders. Initially I planned on a 4" long arm kit, likely EVO. Now I'm thinking maybe the EVO Enforcer 3" and coil overs. Im undecided, i like the taller look of the 4". Ill probably be driving about 80% on-road. I was under the impression that the long arm kit would provide a much better ride on the pavement. Does anybody have any input as to wether the extra cost of the long arm kit would be worth it for me.

Thanks
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Long arm will provide great road handling manners since it corrects your steering geometry.

As far as lifts go, do the enforcer kit w/o the coilovers. If the 4" is to high when it's all said and done then you could easily sell them and get the 3" springs
 
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