What is the deal with Metalcloak?
- Thread starter Igoo65
- Start date
Like all lifts and off-road companies plenty of good and bad to go around. I have their lift and trackbars and it’s all done really well for me. Even the heim joint in the front track bar that’s been on my LJ the longest (4 years now). Do your research on a few different forums and you’ll gather enough info to sway you one way or another.
They do more than suspension, I have a Metalcloak front bumper, can't fault it.
My heim joint I think is finally beginning to show wear after 45k miles +/-. Not sure what I did differently to make it last longer other than washing my rig quite often (if that even matters). The control arm joints are still holding too.
Well I do like to keep my Jeep clean as well, so hopefully I'l see the same life out of it!
I have a full set of them on one of my rigs right now, and I think I have a few more laying around somewhere...and a set of stock arms - actually, I might have two sets of stock arms - and some Currie stuff, and some Savvy stuff, and all kinds of other random bits I've collected along the way. That being said, I'm not sure what your question has to do with the current thread - it seems more personal than anything else - but I'll turn it into something relevant on your behalf, nonetheless.
The fact that I've overtaxed a set of JKS arms and killed the bushings at least twice is exactly why people need to stop thinking that they know everything, pay attention to the difference between fact and hype, and actually learn before they spend their money. JKS built a really cool arm...but the downfall of that arm wasn't the arm itself: it was the Clevite bushing that resided in either end. If you're as uneducated as I was at the time, it's easy to look at their presentation and think that their solution solves a problem...and to an extent, the free-rotating adjustment really does solve a problem (adjustability and flex along the arm itself), but it doesn't solve the real problem: limited rotation of the bushing around the mounting bolts. Thankfully, I only had $200 in that entire set of arms, so my misunderstandings, assumptions and mistakes didn't cost me a great deal to correct...so when I rotated those bushings beyond 10° I didn't pay a lot of money to find out where their limits lay. That was valuable knowledge; gained through stupidity and destruction, yes, but still equally valuable, and I'm glad I learned it. However... I could have also learned it for free by investing more time understanding how things work, and that's exactly what I had learned to do by the time the Duroflex joint came out. Thus, I looked at the diagrams, watched the video a few times, looked at the diagrams again, said "Hey...wait a second..." and then made a couple of phone calls to persons with the knowledge and experience to either uphold, counter or amend my conclusions. Since that day, I've never had any desire to put that joint under any of my rigs; my carefully-hidden loathing of the company itself came later. Up until that point, I had planned on using their products; thankfully, my JKS experience taught me to think a little less of myself and a little more about things that actually make a difference. Now, despite my obviously-donned online persona, I suggest that others do the same...at least, I do so when they take the time to ask relevant questions.
Well I went with the Synergy DDB bushings and had Core 4X4 build me a set of arms they would fit in. I like to be different and I have only 900 in all 8 adjustable arms. They ride so much better than my wifes old TJ with both factory arms and the Rusty's stuff. After multiple adjustments to the rusty's stuff that kept wearing out, I put stock arms back on. The new LJ rides so much better, even with 4" of lift that the no lift.
I meant no malice in my question. I just remembered you had the JKS arms you got from the Bease and was wondering if you moved on. The relevancy of my question pertains to whether you have actually had experience running any other arms, other than stock or JKS for any length of time, and to what conditions did you run them. You mentioned that you have been thru a couple sets of Clevites with the JKS arms, which leads me to believe you have put them thru their paces. It amazes me how well the stock arms hold up. I mean I had over 100K on my lowers before moving on with other arms, and I wasn't kind to them. I was just mostly curious why the stock arms outlast the JKS arms. You and I don't need to debate the other BS.
Yeah, that was a good deal on those arms; I was going to karma-sell them to Sweeney for his LJ but he decided to go with another arm and joint, which was a smart decision on his part. So, I kept them, and I really want to mod them for a set of the Dual-Durometer bushings from Synergy just to see what happens, but I have limited bottlecaps and limitless desires.
Regarding experience: I sincerely hate it when people pedigree their opinions, but I'll say that I have dealt with enough joints at this point to know that I literally have nothing to add to the discussion beyond the established knowledge. I'm not kidding about this, either; I can't contradict or add to a single bit of it. In my opinion:
- Stock arms and clevites are great unless you push them past the design envelope.
- Johnny Joints are pretty fucking good for almost any rig that still has sheetmetal.
- The Duroflex solves problems that aren't problems and doesn't fix anything that needs fixing.
a joint can fix.
- Aftermarket arms with clevites are great on road, but the bushings still die screaming if you twist them too far.
- Knock-off JJ's are just that: knock-offs.
- Haven't fucked with the rest.
Yes, I have put the JKS arms through a lot; the arms themselves are fine, but you simply can't over-rotate the clevite without killing it. As for why stock arms last longer...well, I don't know that they do, but I would suspect that most people with stock arms aren't pushing them as far or as hard as most people with aftermarket arms. I was brutal to my suspension at two different points, and there was damage to several joints - not just the lowers - immediately; as for which ones...as best I can tell the ones that died were the ones that simply gave up first.
And yes, you're right; there's no sense debating the other bullshit, because that's exactly what it is, and there's no "correct" end to it. At that point, it's just opinion, and everyone is encouraged to have that.
Agreed.
I too would like to hear Sween's outcome with the Rancho arms. IMO though, the Synergy, Rancho, Giiro joint, while an elegant design, is still just a offering that doesn't solve any problems.
thanks. finally, a perfect expression of what I always feel on other forums
You're welcome; glad to be of service.
I'll take it for a spin on Thursday and tell you what I think.
"Solve any problems" is really the key phrase for me, and it's one of the things I really try to focus on when I'm making decisions. With control arm joints, I translate it a bit and I say "where's the improvement?" while trying to select qualified values that can also be quantified. Example: Currie over Clevite: is there an improvement? Yes, in some ways there is, by my rationale... especially if "proven cartridge joint" is among my chosen values. If "cheapest offering" was chief among them, then the Clevite would be superior and the Currie offering would not be an improvement. A value of "lots of rubber in the bushing" would likewise render the Johnny Joint inferior. Pedantic, perhaps, but sometimes the line between being a pedant and being misinformed is very fine...and very often, being neither requires an existence that knowingly and equally straddles both sides of the line.
RC bushing, not really sure how it happened, it’s the only one that has done this though. I squished back as evenly as I could, I’m not putting anymore effort into RC components, it’s all been slowly replaced.
I know it's an old thread but I came across something and this thread seemed like the right place to put it, rather than starting a new one for something so silly.
I wanted a 1" lower bump stop extension. This came up in a google search.
Far as I can tell, Metalcloak is asking for $54 for some basic fasteners and actual hockey pucks, or should I say "One Inch thermoset elastomer pads", that anybody could piece together for under $20.
Then if you go to the 4" version, they give you a longer bolt and $8 more worth of pucks and up the price by another $45.
I just had to laugh, as I went to Amazon and bought 2...actual hockey pucks.
I wanted a 1" lower bump stop extension. This came up in a google search.
Far as I can tell, Metalcloak is asking for $54 for some basic fasteners and actual hockey pucks, or should I say "One Inch thermoset elastomer pads", that anybody could piece together for under $20.
Then if you go to the 4" version, they give you a longer bolt and $8 more worth of pucks and up the price by another $45.
I just had to laugh, as I went to Amazon and bought 2...actual hockey pucks.
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My last post in this thread was 40k miles ago. The control arm joints were completely shot at 80K miles +/- and probably should have been replaced around 50k. 80k isn't a bad run, but I was getting severe driveline movement and knocking. 16 new joints was somewhere around $220 IIRC.
The first heim joint on the front trackbar was replaced at 60k (and was due for replacement well before 60k). The second one lasted 20k. I've put on a third joint recently with plans in the near future to go to a currie.
The first heim joint on the front trackbar was replaced at 60k (and was due for replacement well before 60k). The second one lasted 20k. I've put on a third joint recently with plans in the near future to go to a currie.
