Let’s talk control arms

[zip04]

I am pretty sure I read on here that unless you have a long arm kit or a certain height of lift, stock control arms are ideal for the front. Am I recalling this correctly? At what height should you go adjustable? Lastly, does the creak typically come from the upper control arms or should I go ahead and replace upper and lower?

Mine are creaking every time I hit a bump and need to be replaced. I currently have a 4” lift, SYE w/ Adams Double Cardan CV rear drive shaft, and adjustable upper rear control arms.

 

[ac_]

I am pretty sure I read on here that unless you have a long arm kit or a certain height of lift, stock control arms are ideal for the front. Am I recalling this correctly? At what height should you go adjustable? Lastly, does the creak typically come from the upper control arms or should I go ahead and replace upper and lower?

Mine are creaking every time I hit a bump and need to be replaced. I currently have a 4” lift, SYE w/ Adams Double Cardan CV rear drive shaft, and adjustable upper rear control arms.

I by no means am a coil spring guru, but I have a OME 2 inch lift running all stock control arms. I replaced them late last year before my lift, but I think you could get away with it fine. I do notice that neither my front or rear pinion angles are anywhere close. I get a small amount of vibration during take off that is new and my steering is like a wild shopping cart at 70+MPG. I think both of those issues would be fixed with adjustable control arms, so my guess would be that anything over 2 inches I would replace them.

That said, My girlfirends TJ has an at least 3 but I would guess a 3 1/2 inch lift and it is smooth as can be with the stock control arms and even the stock rear driveline, but it is almost not driveable on the freeway because it suffers the crazy shopping cart steering also but at a lower speed. We are in conversations about putting all adjustable Curries on hers. The only thing is the steering is the only problem and we are not sure we want to throw 1300 bucks at it to maybe fix the steering problem. I mean we would do it tomorrow if we knew for sure that would fix the issue, but like I said I am not a 4 link guru, but the pinion angle as you can guess is crazy, so I can't imagine that wont fix it.

I would suggest if you have over two inches to just do it, As far as your creaking. I don';t have that issue so I am afraid I cannot help.

 

[Chris]

I am pretty sure I read on here that unless you have a long arm kit or a certain height of lift, stock control arms are ideal for the front.

Yes, if you're at 2.5" or less, the stock control arms are ideal. However, that's not to say you couldn't run a nice set of Currie or Savvy control arms to take advantage of the rebuildable Johnny Joints and maximum misalignment those arms provide.

At what height should you go adjustable?

3" or more I would say.

Lastly, does the creak typically come from the upper control arms or should I go ahead and replace upper and lower?

It can come from either. But the creak is usually due to poly bushings which are notoriously loud and harsh. However, stock bushings could make this noise and something as simple as some axle grease could fix it, or new bushings / arms.

 

[zip04]

Thanks. I am leaning towards holding off and living with the creaking until I can replace the entire lift with a high quality one (previous owner installed a Zone lift, but I have replaced the shocks with OME and the upper rear control arms with adjustable ones). However, if it is simply the upper control arms and I can use stock ones, that is only a $40 fix.

 

[Chris]

I hear ya. I am going through the process of replacing a crap quality lift installed by the previous owner, so I can relate.

 

[Rob5589]

If you have the 3"/1.25" Zone lift then you are probably still good with stock arms since you are at 3" of suspension lift. Of course nothing wrong with going adjustable if you have the dough.

 

[bobthetj03]

What type of bushings are in your adjustable rear uppers?

 

[zip04]

What type of bushings are in your adjustable rear uppers?

They are rubber. I have Rusty’s adjustable control arms.