Replace Upper or Lower Control Arms on 2.5 Lift ?

Replace Which Front Arms?

  • Front Upper

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Front Lower

    Votes: 17 81.0%

  • Both

    Votes: 3 14.3%

  • Neither

    Votes: 1 4.8%
  • Total voters
    21
  • Poll closed .
dotnetrob

dotnetrob

Member
Installed a 2.5" Teraflex coil w/ shock lift back in January. Was told to also do front lower arms to correct geometry/caster, but was waiting to do that when I got new wheels/tires. Delayed my wheels and tires until now. But now I was recommended to actually replace the front upper arms instead?

Which is better to replace? front upper or lower? Will be on a 2.5" lift with 35's
 
Sharkey

Sharkey

Word Ninja
Sullivan said:
Front lower with rear upper.


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^ This, but I fail to see why you need to replace the rear uppers at all with such a small lift. In addition to the unnecessary new rear upper arms, you will also need to buy a new rear driveshaft. With 2.5" of lift and 35's, I wouldn't touch the rear (except for a trackbar relocation bracket.)
 
K

KJV

New member
Do as said above. A good set of adjustable lowers will let you get back to factory specs. Nothing is needed in the rear, especially with a JKU.
 
Mike_JK_Houston_711

Mike_JK_Houston_711

New member
Yep, all you need is front lowers. No need to do anything to your rear right now. Any higher than 2.5", you'll want to seriously thinking about an aftermarket front driveshaft as it will eventually fail.
 
Sharkey

Sharkey

Word Ninja
Mike_JK_Houston_711 said:
Yep, all you need is front lowers. No need to do anything to your rear right now. Any higher than 2.5", you'll want to seriously thinking about an aftermarket front driveshaft as it will eventually fail.
Click to expand...

True, and maybe sooner than later with TF coils. I bet he nets a lot more than 2.5 inches.
 
Trail Jeeps

Trail Jeeps

-
We advocate replacing the front lowers for sure. We always like to replace the rear lowers to kick the axle back to center as well and get the pinion angle back to stock.

Replacing the lowers has the benefit of being a lot stronger. We sell bazillions of the JKS JLink fixed arms, they're bulletproof and cheap.

As for the driveshaft, there are always exceptions but generally the stock driveshafts will go for quite a while with a 2.5-3.5" lift. More often than not when we see a failure in a factory driveshaft after the Jeep was lifted, it's usually due to a worn out u joint that was exacerbated when the Jeep was lifted. A performance driveshaft is always a great investment they're much stronger and often last the life of the Jeep with proper maintenance. I will always advocate putting driveshafts on your short list of mods to do sooner vs later, but don't let it deter you from doing a mild lift on a JK.
 
Sharkey

Sharkey

Word Ninja
^ How many rear OEM lower arms have you seen break or fail? I just don't get why you would replace them with something that is also fixed and supposedly the correct length for 0 to 4.5" of lift.
 
dotnetrob

dotnetrob

Member
Sharkey said:
True, and maybe sooner than later with TF coils. I bet he nets a lot more than 2.5 inches.
Click to expand...

The lift was installed in Jan, I actually ended up with 2.5 lift in front and 2.25 in the rear after the lift. Have put 20k miles on it since.
 
Trail Jeeps

Trail Jeeps

-
Sharkey said:
^ How many rear OEM lower arms have you seen break or fail? I just don't get why you would replace them with something that is also fixed and supposedly the correct length for 0 to 4.5" of lift.
Click to expand...

I've seen a few. They can withstand a surprising amount of abuse for what they are. It's mainly when guys throw their Rubicon on 37s and think they're hard...

While they don't fail a lot when driven moderately, they are a weak point. We prefer to replace them and give you something to bounce off of boulders with and not worry about it.

The fixed arms are great when they're lengthened for caster. The JKS arms are $240/pair and get you just shy of 5* caster on a 3.5" lift. They're a hell of a lot better than alignment cams and don't leave a bunch of junk hanging out under your Jeep like a bracket. Win/win across the board in my book.
 
JKbrick

JKbrick

Active Member
Trail Jeeps said:
We advocate replacing the front lowers for sure. We always like to replace the rear lowers to kick the axle back to center as well and get the pinion angle back to stock.

Replacing the lowers has the benefit of being a lot stronger. We sell bazillions of the JKS JLink fixed arms, they're bulletproof and cheap.

As for the driveshaft, there are always exceptions but generally the stock driveshafts will go for quite a while with a 2.5-3.5" lift. More often than not when we see a failure in a factory driveshaft after the Jeep was lifted, it's usually due to a worn out u joint that was exacerbated when the Jeep was lifted. A performance driveshaft is always a great investment they're much stronger and often last the life of the Jeep with proper maintenance. I will always advocate putting driveshafts on your short list of mods to do sooner vs later, but don't let it deter you from doing a mild lift on a JK.
Click to expand...

On Currie front lowers does it matter which end the Johnny Joint goes? I've seen pictures of it at the axle and at the frame and they fit either way.


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WJCO

WJCO

Meme King
JKbrick said:
On Currie front lowers does it matter which end the Johnny Joint goes? I've seen pictures of it at the axle and at the frame and they fit either way.


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I just bought some arms from a company that had Currie JJ on one end and rubber on other. Like you, I saw pictures of both locations. The company told me they usually put the adjusting end (with the JJ) on the frame, so I did just that. Not sure if there is a right or wrong way.
 
RockinAZJK

RockinAZJK

Caught the Bug
WJCO said:
I just bought some arms from a company that had Currie JJ on one end and rubber on other. Like you, I saw pictures of both locations. The company told me they usually put the adjusting end (with the JJ) on the frame, so I did just that. Not sure if there is a right or wrong way.
Click to expand...

I'm with WJCO here. Put the johnny joint at the frame and rubber bushing at the axle


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wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
WJCO said:
I just bought some arms from a company that had Currie JJ on one end and rubber on other. Like you, I saw pictures of both locations. The company told me they usually put the adjusting end (with the JJ) on the frame, so I did just that. Not sure if there is a right or wrong way.
Click to expand...

That's odd. I don't think there's a right or wrong way to do things but typically, you'd want the end that sees the greatest amount of rotational movement to have something like a Johnny Joint or rod end installed. Ideally, having a soft bushing like a rubber clevite would be at the frame to help absorb road noise and being that it won't see as much movement. This is how Full Traction and a host of other companies have their arms installed.
 
WJCO

WJCO

Meme King
wayoflife said:
That's odd. I don't think there's a right or wrong way to do things but typically, you'd want the end that sees the greatest amount of rotational movement to have something like a Johnny Joint or rod end installed. Ideally, having a soft bushing like a rubber clevite would be at the frame to help absorb road noise and being that it won't see as much movement. This is how Full Traction and a host of other companies have their arms installed.
Click to expand...

^That makes more sense. I may have been mis-guided by a salesman. :mad:

Either way, so far anyways, they're quiet and feel great. If they get noisy up the road, I may switch them just to see.
 
wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
WJCO said:
^That makes more sense. I may have been mis-guided by a salesman. :mad:

Either way, so far anyways, they're quiet and feel great. If they get noisy up the road, I may switch them just to see.
Click to expand...

Honestly, I'm sure you're fine with them as is.
 
Draconianwinter

Draconianwinter

New member
wayoflife said:
That's odd. I don't think there's a right or wrong way to do things but typically, you'd want the end that sees the greatest amount of rotational movement to have something like a Johnny Joint or rod end installed. Ideally, having a soft bushing like a rubber clevite would be at the frame to help absorb road noise and being that it won't see as much movement. This is how Full Traction and a host of other companies have their arms installed.
Click to expand...
Correct me if I am wrong as my knowledge isn't very much on these setups. Seems to me that putting those in backwards would cause some issues with stressing the control arms under flex due to the less flexy joint being put on the axle side. Again not sure if it would and basically trying to learn more about these setups, and just voicing a thought.

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wayoflife

wayoflife

Administrator
Staff member
Draconianwinter said:
Correct me if I am wrong as my knowledge isn't very much on these setups. Seems to me that putting those in backwards would cause some issues with stressing the control arms under flex due to the less flexy joint being put on the axle side. Again not sure if it would and basically trying to learn more about these setups, and just voicing a thought.

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Click to expand...

There would definitely be more bind at the axle when flexing but I'm sure the arms could handle it. If anything, it'd be the brackets they are attached to that would see stress.
 
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