Trackbar and control arm question for those of you with high clearance skids

[truckjohn]

Hey All

I am in the process of doing the high clearance transfer skid plate.

I have almost everything together so far.....

There are a couple of things that I know I have to have, no questions, but some like the CV driveshaft will wait till I get the bulk of the stuff installed to actually do the measuring.

So.....

Will I need an adjustable trac bar and relo-bracket front and rear for the increased pinion angles.

I am betting that I will have to have one in the rear, but that I will most likely not need one for the front right away.

The other question is about the control arms. I am guessing that I will need all 4 in the back, but am not real sure if I will need the front ones or not. Maybe the lowers for the front. (still running stock arms)

Any opinions or experience with this?

Any brands that are highly recommended? I have heard good things about JKS and RE, and that a couple of others are pretty good too.

Thanks

John

[mrblaine]

Originally posted by truckjohn
Hey All

I am in the process of doing the high clearance transfer skid plate.

I have almost everything together so far.....

There are a couple of things that I know I have to have, no questions, but some like the CV driveshaft will wait till I get the bulk of the stuff installed to actually do the measuring.

So.....

Will I need an adjustable trac bar and relo-bracket front and rear for the increased pinion angles.

I am betting that I will have to have one in the rear, but that I will most likely not need one for the front right away.

You will be pointing the pinion at the much higher output shaft on the t-case. Upper and lower arms that are adjustable for the rear are needed for ease of doing this. There are other ways that are marginal and a real pain, so just get the arms and simplify your life and amount of time spent working on it.

Since you will be tilting the pinion upwards to line everything up, get the angled RE relocation bracket for the rear track bar. Works pretty well and solves a problem.

I would also get an adjustable front trackbar at the same time. I have little experience with the one from Currie, but a lot with the RE stuff and it will work just fine. It is not without issues when it comes to max flex, but for most stuff works just fine.


The other question is about the control arms. I am guessing that I will need all 4 in the back, but am not real sure if I will need the front ones or not. Maybe the lowers for the front. (still running stock arms)

Any opinions or experience with this?

Any brands that are highly recommended? I have heard good things about JKS and RE, and that a couple of others are pretty good too.

Thanks

John

One will assume you are lifting the skid to improve your breakover angle and get you into more trouble on the trail. Based on that assumption, at least get aftermarket lowers for the front. Not that they flex any better, but their beefier design will serve you better in the rocks or stumps. The stock arms, while an engineering marvel, are not that sturdy.

During the skid raising process, be aware that you are also affecting many other areas which may need attention. Exhaust being one of the harder problems to solve in most cases and may require adjustment of the tranny mounted exhaust hanger.

Another potential problem area is the t-case linkage bracket mounted to the side of the tub. Often it will need to be adjusted to compensate for raising the t-case in order for the shifter to work correctly. The AA t-case bracket eliminator and relocator is a good way to go, but I have had to modify it on occasion to make it work.

Also be aware that when you raise the rear of the drivetrain, you are lowering the front and it is quite common to force the fan blade into the shroud and stop it from turning. Most recommend a 1" motor mount lift, but in my experience it needs to be closer to 1 1/2" to work correctly. The one inch doesn't raise it high enough and under flex it is possible to induce rubbing against the shroud by the blade. I am not a fan of slotting the holes in the shroud to lower it, so I just raise the motor higher.

I did not see a mention of a body lift and I don't think a raised skid is possible without one. I did find out the other day that Currie has duplicated the PA body lift in aluminum and that would be my choice. Second choice would be any lift in the 1.250 flavor. That extra quarter of an inch makes a big difference at times and is well worth the work to locate.

If you have access to a welder and some decent fab skills, cosider cutting the stock tub mounts loose and sliding them upwards on the frame. Just the three on each side that are exposed the most and not all of them. Not a mod to be taken lightly, but well worth the effort involved. I have done this to a couple of jeeps and don't regret the time and effort one bit.

That should about do it. I have done several of these as have some others here and we can pretty much walk you through anything you might encounter.

[TJRON]

The only thing I can add is the problem you will have with the shock mounts. When you tilt the pinion your shocks will want to hit the spring perches. You can turn the shocks can side up, grind the perch or get extenders. To leave the schocks can side down I needed extenders and some grinding.

[truckjohn]

Ok, to fill in the rest of the info that I left out earlier....

I do have the 1" MML and 1" BL (just showed up yesterday.) I went with the MORE torsion rubber MML.... it seems like the rubber should help out some. Engines rattle around a bunch, and I think a poly mount would be a little rough.

The BL is the one piece daystar Poly-U ones that replace the stock mounts completely. I will probably regret getting rid of the rubber stock ones, but I think it will work out.

I also have the Skyjacker tx shifter relocation bracket. That pretty much seemed necessary.

I have the AA SYE, but no driveshaft yet as I don't know the final numbers and I want to get it locally if I can.

I was pretty much counting on having to slightly "adjust" the exhaust hanger a little.

Now, the arms and trackbars are left. I just wanted to make sure I had the right ones and didn't leave anything out in the mix. It looks like I had overlooked the rear shocks.... and I will have to figure out what to do so that they are mostly in the right place again.

Thanks

John

[TJRON]

John,
I and quite a few others run RE control arms. I'm sure they aren't the best but they work well and can be had reasonable if you shop around. If you do get some and they have the rubber bushings with an air space in them, send them back. They made a bunch of these with the horrible experimental bushings and some still show up. The bushings wear out in a matter of weeks.
All adjustable arms are nice but I figure the non adjustable ones might be a little stronger. You have to have adjustable uppers in the rear and adjustable lowers in the front. I know some have found a need for adjustable lowers in the rear but I have never figured out what that need is.
Also the RE adjustable track bar seems to be the popular way to go in the front and rear. I know Tera front adjustables suck and have broke for many. I have the Tera rear adjustable and it has worked fine for me. It will not work with the RE CV type (bent forward) bracket, but requires the normal straight up one. Again, I think the RE is the popular one here and most prefer it.
What type skid are you going to run?

[truckjohn]

I am doing the 33 engineering 2-piece skid.

It just came in yesterday, and the thing is heavy. It is made out of 3/16"... which sounds smallish on paper but is pretty thick in real life -- it is about the thickness of a new legal pad.

The skid weighs in at like 65#. I was kinda surprised by how heavy it really is -- I have dealt with the stockers before, and they are pretty light.

The 2-pieces kinda solved a couple of issues for me -- like how to work on all that stuff without pulling the skid and jacking up the tranny.

The financial part of doing the belly up type skid is kinda weird compared to other mods. The skid itself is only $260.00, but all the rest of the stuff will bring it up into ~1200-1500.00 worth of Jeep mods.... of course, that is doing it right the first time and trying to avoid most of the common cheap weasel problems.

Best regards

John

[TJRON]

I'm not sure you need any front adjustable control arms or track bar for the flat skid. If you have over three inches of lift and no built in cams on the axle, you will need adjustable lower control arms for castor alignment. Running the stock track bar, even with a re-drilled hole, puts enormous pressure on your frame bracket during flex and it will eventually rip off. Been there.
I have never even checked the pinion angle of my front axle and never had a problem with it. I just worry about front end alignment.

[mbeshears]

John, I hope you have a manual tranny. I picked up one of 33 engineerings skids last month at the Off Road Expo, in LA. It is well built, but they were unaware that the automatics have the trans mount farther foward than the manuals. I only found this out at the time of the install.
Offroadtoystore.com owner Mike Nevitt has quickly handled my return and is in the process of developing a flat skid for auto TJ's.

[truckjohn]

Yep, I have a manual.

The automatic mount must be quite a bit farther forward than the manual... I will take your word for it, I have not crawled under an automatic I-6 yet. There has been some talk of them going ahead with the design of the automatic skidplate.

and No, I certainly am not in the mood to have the track bar mounts pull off the frame or axle. That would be bad -- and that is the sort of thing that I am trying to avoid by doing a little advance planning and some asking around to the experts before I buy all the rest of the stuff.

Thanks

John

[truckjohn]

TJRon

What kind of extenders did you use?

I have seen the MORE YJ ones, but am not totally sure that they would work.

Thanks

John

[TJRON]

JKS, I believe. I may have an old set if you need them. TJRON@lvcm.com