What makes RockJock better than JKS or BDS?

TerryD

TerryD

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Looking at a 3-4" short arm lift for my LJ and I'm curious what about the RockJock stuff is actually better than a similar JKS or BDS kit.

They all seem like similar parts and JKS and BDS have been building suspension parts for many many years. I had their track bar on my XJ and I was very happy with it's function and longevity.
 
It’s subjective and depends on your needs but in my research RockJock is more Jeep-focused, and goes all out for quality and durability of parts. You get beefier components, the superior Johnny joints, excellent hardware, including things like greasable bolts and occasional nice upgrades like 12-point heads and beefed up flag nuts … more quality and attention to detail all around, generally.
I don’t have an adjustable front track bar myself (yet) but I understand the RockJock one clears the front diff by more than the JKS.
Again it’s up to you, and you could mix and match some stuff too. RockJock does include some JKS stuff like sway bar end links in their kits; and I have those, but that’s just because they don’t make anything better yet!
 
Granite said:
.... RockJock does include some JKS stuff like sway bar end links in their kits; and I have those, but that’s just because they don’t make anything better yet!
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RockJock makes the Antirock. That is arguably better than JKS disconnects. RockJock would also agree the SwayLoc offers a notable improvement over the Antirock.
 
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I started with jks stuff, and through the years, it’s all been replaced with rock jock, aside from the rear track bar . It’s is functionally better in almost every way. Rock jocks springs have a longer free length, their control arm joints are far superior, their track bar is more well designed, etc.

All that said, JKS makes good stuff and if you’re just looking to do “standard Jeep stuff” it would probably serve you well. When you get to where your optimizing travel and balance,and maximizing the platform, you’ll start to be disappointed with JKS and see where rock jock’s attention to detail starts to matter.
 
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Mike_H said:
I started with jks stuff, and through the years, it’s all been replaced with rock jock, aside from the rear track bar . It’s is functionally better in almost every way. Rock jocks springs have a longer free length, their control arm joints are far superior, their track bar is more well designed, etc.

All that said, JKS makes good stuff and if you’re just looking to do “standard Jeep stuff” it would probably serve you well. When you get to where your optimizing travel and balance,and maximizing the platform, you’ll start to be disappointed with JKS and see where rock jock’s attention to detail starts to matter.
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Can you expand on what makes their joints and track bar better?

The track bar I see differences in but straight control arms with a flex joint is difficult to differentiate any major advantages one over another without someone like yourself who's experienced them pointing it out.
 
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TerryD said:
Can you expand on what makes their joints and track bar better?

The track bar I see differences in but straight control arms with a flex joint is difficult to differentiate any major advantages one over another without someone like yourself who's experienced them pointing it out.
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I don't have direct experience with JKS's Control Arms, so I'm basing my opinion on what I see on their site...That being said:

1717552139004.png


Only one flex joint, where RockJock gives you two. I don't think that having a single flex joint will actually prevent any articulation, but my concern comes in where you start flexing that bushing end to the max often. It can move far enough, but its a lot of pressure on the bonded joint. Eventually it will tear and need replacing. Again, if you're not throwing 12" travel shocks on, its probably fine. The arm is also bent when there is no need for it to be.

Looking at the rebuild kit for the flex joint, it appears to work the same as a Johnny Joint, with one less washer. I don't know how much preload they include on the joint, but I don't see a compression tool mentioned anywhere, so maybe not enough. I also don't see any grease channels, or a castellated perimeter like the JJ, so I don't think the zerk would be effective here either, again, unless they don't have enough preload.

Edit: Looking at the rebuild kit install instructions, they require the use of a press tool similar to Rock Jock's. So, maybe they do have enough preload. Would not surprise me if the joint is VERY similar to a johnny joint, since JKS made quite a bit of Rock Jock's stuff when it was Currie. We all know the grease zerks are pretty useless on a Johnny Joint as well, so I don't see any real advantage/disadvantage comparing flex joints themselves.

FWIW, I don't care for Rock Jock's Single adjustable lowers, or anyone's single adjustable lowers. They are a real pain to use when you're trying to dial in pinion angle, caster, axle position, etc. I made mine double adjustable after setting up my suspension once...it was too much for me to bear!


On the track bar, the bends are better positioned on a Rock Jock. Plus, you again get two johnny joints, instead of a pseudo JJ and a rubber bushing. The Rock Jock also uses a forged axle end for adjustment vs the JKS bent steel...and I bent mine twice (which is a big reason I now have Rock Jock). I believe the rear track bar is more advantageously bent too, but that is hearsay, since I've not had any direct experience with that. I do know that I had to move my mounting points around to get my JKS rear bar to clear the Savvy tank skid and rear shock mounting crossmember. Once I did that, its been a non-issue.

Hope that helps.
 
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Excellent info and insights. Thank you. It gives me some thinking to do.

I tend to build for a good, dependable driver that can run tough trails. I'm not a fan of open joints like heims or "spherical bearings" on my rig because of the severely shortened life span.

For instance, the upper control arms on my Xterra. I run a booted ball joint and poly bushings VS the heim/spherical bearing joints my buddy runs. I put 64k miles on my arms off daily driving and wheeling around Virginia with no issues whatsoever. My buddy is on his 3rd set of spherical bearings and 2nd set of heims with half the mileage and less offroad use. I have slightly (fractions of an inch) less travel than he does but spend much less time lubricating and rebuilding my setup.

I'm trying to find the option that will give me similar reliability and performance for my LJ.
 
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TerryD said:
Excellent info and insights. Thank you. It gives me some thinking to do.

I tend to build for a good, dependable driver that can run tough trails. I'm not a fan of open joints like heims or "spherical bearings" on my rig because of the severely shortened life span.

For instance, the upper control arms on my Xterra. I run a booted ball joint and poly bushings VS the heim/spherical bearing joints my buddy runs. I put 64k miles on my arms off daily driving and wheeling around Virginia with no issues whatsoever. My buddy is on his 3rd set of spherical bearings and 2nd set of heims with half the mileage and less offroad use. I have slightly (fractions of an inch) less travel than he does but spend much less time lubricating and rebuilding my setup.

I'm trying to find the option that will give me similar reliability and performance for my LJ.
Click to expand...

I will say, one knock against the Johnny Joint here in the east is that they do require a bit of maintenance. For me, that is pulling every joint apart once a year, cleaning and regreasing. The clay based mud here in Michigan will dry out the grease, just like kitty litter will soak up oil. They are also build with so much preload they don't really take grease through the zerk. I've been working on a long term "experiment" trying to figure out a way to keep these greased if you're interested...

https://wranglertjforum.com/threads/johnny-joint-grease—an-experiment.55000/


Its a bit of a pain, but I stay with it, because I don't know of anything better.
 
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Aside from joints, the rockjock track bars have a more optimized bend to clear other components during suspension cycling than JKS track bars. That is why many of us pay up the wazoo for something silly like a trackbar. That being said, if you have a press you can make anything fit how you want.

Springs have longer free length which means more pressure is being placed on the axle through the outer reaches of downtravel.

For arms, if you are running tough trails then you want JJs on both ends and you want them double adjustable. Nothing special about rockjocks links. I opted to make my own aluminum links at my buddies machine shop.

Skip the disconnect phase and go straight to an off-road sway bar. Based on your usage a swayloc would be up on my list.
 
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starkey480 said:
Aside from joints, the rockjock track bars have a more optimized bend to clear other components during suspension cycling than JKS track bars. That is why many of us pay up the wazoo for something silly like a trackbar. That being said, if you have a press you can make anything fit how you want.

Springs have longer free length which means more pressure is being placed on the axle through the outer reaches of downtravel.

For arms, if you are running tough trails then you want JJs on both ends and you want them double adjustable. Nothing special about rockjocks links. I opted to make my own aluminum links at my buddies machine shop.

Skip the disconnect phase and go straight to an off-road sway bar. Based on your usage a swayloc would be up on my list.
Click to expand...

I don't even run sway bars on the Xterra because of the increased spring rates on all 4 corners and I was going back and forth between sway bars and light springs or just heavy springs and no sway bars but I like the sound of the SwayLoc bar.
 
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TerryD said:
I don't even run sway bars on the Xterra because of the increased spring rates on all 4 corners and I was going back and forth between sway bars and light springs or just heavy springs and no sway bars but I like the sound of the SwayLoc bar.
Click to expand...

You will want sway bars on the Jeep for sure. Antirock is awesome stability off road and just okay on road. Sway loc is best of both worlds with no compromises. The stock rear sway bar is fine
 
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