Best material for control arms.

[Lifelong Jeeper]

I'm getting ready to pull the trigger on building my control arms on my ZJ. I fear that 1.75" x .120 is too light duty, but also that 2" x 1/2" wall is overkill. Do you agree that 1.75" x 1/4" wall is the way to go? I just really like the price of the .120 wall.

 

[brandonlmb]

I bent my 1/4 arms the first time out. Now I'm running a 3/8th wall.

 

[scout392]

Buy 1 3/4" DOM and sleeve it with 1 1/4" DOM.

 

[Lifelong Jeeper]

Buy 1 3/4" DOM and sleeve it with 1 1/4" DOM.

I've considered sleeving them. What wall thicknesses to you use on both of those pieces?

 

[skippy]

I am running a 1.5 inch .120 wall DOM sleeved with 1.75 .120 wall chromoly i have been running them this whole year with great luck and they are 36 inches long.....

 

[DaveB]

I run 1.75" 1/4 wall sleeved with 2" .120 wall. This has worked well for us.

 

[RockChucker]

what are the advantages of sleeving over just getting tube of that thickness? is it stronger? or is it just b/c they don't make tube that thickness?

 

[I Lean]

Sleeved tube is not as strong as one-piece. (if we're talking the same diameter and total thickness) It probably is cheaper though.

 

[skippy]

Its way cheaper i used chromoly on my lower links and with everything it was still almost half the price of just buy .25 wall DOM

 

[Venture13]

1.5" OD .120 wall upper links and 1.5" .250 wall lower links. Light and effective, unless you drag across the rocks all the time and your link are not longer than 36".

A longer link makes a weaker link, so a bigger diameter or heavier wall thickness is desired.

 

[Too Far]

I guess it depends a little on what heims and weld in bungs you are using.
I went with 2" .250 wall DOM for my links. The bungs for the 1.25" heims fit 1.5" ID, so it works out great. If these links don't hold up I will go with 4130 heat treated links of the same size.
As was mentioned above length makes a huge difference. If you are just going with factory length links the .120 wall stuff will probably work. If the links are 4 feet long they will need to be much stronger.

 

[99TJ]

Just use 2x2 .25 square its tough as nails.

 

[Lifelong Jeeper]

I've heard both sides of that argument..."square tube is stronger than round". But then another guy, while we watched a rig hit a boulder with a lot of momentum, said, "Good thing his links aren't square; they would have bent for sure."

Additional thoughts from everyone?

 

[O'neal]

I've heard both sides of that argument..."square tube is stronger than round". But then another guy, while we watched a rig hit a boulder with a lot of momentum, said, "Good thing his links aren't square; they would have bent for sure."

Additional thoughts from everyone?

I've heard both sides as well..I used .25 wall 2" square tubing on an old samurai and my old 4dr sidekick and the link's held up well with no damage,bending etc...but then again the damn thing's dont weigh anything either.

 

[RRBDodge]

I run 2" .25" wall on my 48" long arms on my Cummins and have only bent the right side lower one time. It was a pretty hard landing but it didn't bend so much where I could drive back home and until I straightened it back out. Since straightening I haven't bent it again and I slide mine across the rocks every time I wheel. Now I don't go crazy fast either but it's held up just fine. Plus my rig is a 24 valve deisel and weighs a ton, so in my opion .25" walled is probably strong enough to hold up to your project.

 

[Herzog]

It also depends on the length of the arm you are building.
I use and have bent 2" .250 wall DOM tube lowers on a relatively light buggy.

On my new build I'm using the same material but I'm considering adding some kind of reinforcement to my front lower arms because of their length.

 

[Lifelong Jeeper]

I'm planning on the links to be in the 36" variety. 36" - 38" in the front and depending on how much stretch I can get in the rear maybe up to 36" - 40" or so.

With my current D44a, I can easy get 4" of stretch, but when I do these arms I'm switching to 60's F&R. I anticipate that I should still be able to get approx the same amount of stretch that I want (2" forward, 4" back).

I still need to crunch my final numbers on the design though.

 

[skippy]

I would like to retract my previous statement....LOL I was in ephraim this weekend running hanging tree and bent one of my links pretty bad.....

So..............Instead of running super thick walled DOM how much stronger are the solid 7075 aluminum links???? i got quoted $190 for a set and by the time you pay 14.50 a foot plus 4 weld in inserts for a set of DOM links its only another 40-50 bucks and they seem ALOT stronger from what I have observed

Not to mention the sweet BLING BLING factor

 

[Lifelong Jeeper]

The nice thing with the Aluminum links is they have a huge degree of deflection (bend) and then returns back to their original shape. Pretty cool stuff.