Best TJ Long Arm kit?

[Caleb]

My brother is going to be getting a long arm kit here pretty soon asn was wondering (from those that ahve more experience with this than I do) whats the best TJ LA kit out there? Currently we are heavily favoring the RE LA kit but is there any others than should be considered? What about the Fabtech kit, any good? Opinions please, but please post up your reasoning WHY one kit is better than another.

Another stipulation is it must be less than 6"s of lift...he only plans to run 35s and his Jeep is his daily driver too so road characteristics are important.

 

[Badcop]

Caleb, If I were to do it all over again with my TJ, Id still use the RK traingulated rear kit.

My first kit was the RE kit, great imo but really expensive. RE has a hell of a rep with the Jeep crowd for being quality and tough.

When I traded that one in and got the newer of the 2, I used the rock krawler kit, imo, still a top of the line item. RK imo again, has come along way in regaining its appeal. I wouldnt change a thing with there tri link front kit I have on the XJ now, almost the exact thing as the TJ, but without the rear setup.

 

[Caleb]

So you say the RE kit is really expensive, whats the price tag on the RK kit? You would use the triangulated RK setup for the rear, would you use their front components as well? What does this kit include? I like the fact that the RE kit has an all new 100% flat belly skid, does the RK kit include that? Thanks

 

[Herzog]

I believe RE now has a triangulated rear setup for their long arm system now.

 

[BlackSheep]

I would actually talk to Carl and Von at RL. Those guys put together a really nice long arm kit for a guy with a white TJ. Don't have any idea what it costs, but you are looking at spending about (rough estimate here) $2000 - $2500 for a 'bolt on' kit. If you install it yourselves.

I do have the RE kit, the original version with the one piece crossmember. It is not a flat belly skid. The next newer version than mine had a 3 piece crossmember, now it sounds like they have a totally flat skid. That is cool.

The ride quality is awesome compared to a short arm kit.

 

[Caleb]

I would actually talk to Carl and Von at RL. Those guys put together a really nice long arm kit for a guy with a white TJ. Don't have any idea what it costs, but you are looking at spending about (rough estimate here) $2000 - $2500 for a 'bolt on' kit. If you install it yourselves.

I do have the RE kit, the original version with the one piece crossmember. It is not a flat belly skid. The next newer version than mine had a 3 piece crossmember, now it sounds like they have a totally flat skid. That is cool.

The ride quality is awesome compared to a short arm kit.

I'll actually PM those guys right now. I know I PM'ed them a while ago when my bro first started looking and I can't remember their price range...and at the time he was looking for more budget...now after wheeling his short arm tera kit he knows how nice and how needed a LA kit is

 

[waynehartwig]

Me personally, I love RE's kits. They are well designed, built to last, have excellent after the sale support and warranty, and have fantastic on and off road charecteristics.

Along with those qualities:

Their long arms are made of 2x.25 Chrome Moly, not DOM tubing. Most of the kits I have seen are 2" but only 3/16" wall DOM.

Most vendors if something breaks, you have to send the old part back first. Then they inspect it, fight over the warranty if applicable, and then send you back the replacement. Best case your rig is down for 2 weeks. RE will send you the part FIRST, then you send them back the old one. Your rig is down 0 hours.

RE's warranty is no questions asked. If you break it, simply send them a picture showing it broken, they then send you the new part. I busted a coil spring on Constrictor a few weeks ago. Not only did they 2day replacements to me, they also upgraded me from 4.5 to 5.5" of lift! Although, I did have to purchase the front springs, and they warrantied out the rears. As well as the damaged shock.

RE's kits are VERY flexy! And they behave very well on the trails. There are lots of people on here that have seen my Rubicon on them, and will attest to the beating it receives and it still holds up.

 

[chadschoon]

i reciently put the 6" full traction lift on. it also has a triangulated rear. it has held up to everything i have put it through. excelent highway and off road performance. but you will also spend around 2200-2400 $

 

[Johnny4X4]

I have the RK long arm kit, I like it, It works great for me. I think you should actualy climb under a few jeeps with differant kits and take a look at them installed, and talk to the guy driving and see if he has had any problems or glitches with his kit. if you wanna come over, i will let you climb all over mine and tell you what i think.

 

[wipedawg]

If any of you have seen the new NTH degree long arm.. that thing looks impressive as ever. Very high clearance. Haven't heard how it performs but i did see the kit at EJS and it looked A+++ quality. Of course it comes with a huge price tag... but it has a belly up and all the other skids included.

 

[RockPaws]

Another thumbs up for the RE LA kit. Its hard to beat the quality and durability of RE. I looked into all of the MFG's before I purchased mine. I will be up grading to the RE LA soon. I spoke with Jason at Red Rock 4x4 about the new 3 link RE rear system. He said any day now it will be ready for shipping. He's actually waiting for one to come in for their product testing. From what I hear, they have been working on the design for some time and is very strong.

 

[chadschoon]

waynehartwig said tha RE triangulated rear does not look that impresive. he said he wishes that they would have done something like full tractions

 

[waynehartwig]

The Nth Degree LA kit is of the same design as RE's. The only difference is the belly up pan, which hangs down in the middle, so I'm not sure if it has a greater clearance than RE's. However, it is a cleaner looking design. Like I said earlier, RE's crossmember is kind of ugly, but very effective. Pkrfctr has the Nth Degree LA kit on his Rubicon. I met Tim Saturday, very nice guy! He tells me that Nth and RE were working on the LA kit together until RE pissed them off, hence the very obvious similarities! (grey long arms for one )

Chad is correct, I don't like the way RE has made thier Tri link hook up to the rear diff. It actually goes in between the diff and the cover. This isn't the problem, the problem is that it's not a full circle like the cover is. So now you have a 1/4" plate only using the top three bolts and nothing on the others. Doing this requires a LOT of silicon to fill the 1/4" void! YUCK! RE has also been saying that the tri-link will be shipping in a few days since I started talking to them about it back in January? I think? I honestly would be surprised if it started shipping much before the 1st of July. They are still making changes in the design, then they have to make them. I was promissed to get the first kit to roll out their door for testing. We'll see! Jason is a great guy, as well. I bought my RELA kit from him! lol Course that was before I was selling this stuff...Everything on my Rubicon was purchased before I had AllJeep.com.

Full Tractions setup bolts to the control arm and sway bar mounts. Granted, I've seen them get ripped off the axle before, so maybe it's not the best either. But it's definately a lot cleaner than RE's!

Full Traction's long arm kit, I don't care much for - they use a mix of long and short arms. In my opinion that's a waste and very limiting. Their belly up is VERY attractive, though! However, it doesn't gain you any clearance over RE's.

Just giving you my no BS answers....Informed buyers are the best!!

 

[waynehartwig]

I just thought of something, Nth Degree only has 3" lift springs. So for their 4.5" and 6" LA kits you get spacers. I don't know about you, but if I'm spending over $3,000 on a lift kit, I sure as he$$ don't want spacers!!

RE makes coil springs all the way up to 7.5". 3.5", 4.5", 5.5" and 7.5". Their springs are true lift as well. Simply adding a hard top will not effect their height. So you don't have to buy a 'heavy' spring, or 'additional accessories'. On the flip side, if you are only looking for a 4.5" lift, nothing more, then depending on what you have added to your rig, you might go with the 3.5" springs, which actually be closer to 4". I've parked my Rubicon next to other TJ's with 6" of lift and been just as tall as them with my old 4.5" lift. Bottom line, is RE's springs are under rated on their heights.

 

[Ken]

Both RE and RK kits are good in my book. If ya want to find out more about RK call creasy offroad and talk to scott he's a good guy.

 

[chadschoon]

The Nth Degree LA kit is of the same design as RE's. The only difference is the belly up pan, which hangs down in the middle, so I'm not sure if it has a greater clearance than RE's. However, it is a cleaner looking design. Like I said earlier, RE's crossmember is kind of ugly, but very effective. Pkrfctr has the Nth Degree LA kit on his Rubicon. I met Tim Saturday, very nice guy! He tells me that Nth and RE were working on the LA kit together until RE pissed them off, hence the very obvious similarities! (grey long arms for one )

Chad is correct, I don't like the way RE has made thier Tri link hook up to the rear diff. It actually goes in between the diff and the cover. This isn't the problem, the problem is that it's not a full circle like the cover is. So now you have a 1/4" plate only using the top three bolts and nothing on the others. Doing this requires a LOT of silicon to fill the 1/4" void! YUCK! RE has also been saying that the tri-link will be shipping in a few days since I started talking to them about it back in January? I think? I honestly would be surprised if it started shipping much before the 1st of July. They are still making changes in the design, then they have to make them. I was promissed to get the first kit to roll out their door for testing. We'll see! Jason is a great guy, as well. I bought my RELA kit from him! lol Course that was before I was selling this stuff...Everything on my Rubicon was purchased before I had AllJeep.com.

Full Tractions setup bolts to the control arm and sway bar mounts. Granted, I've seen them get ripped off the axle before, so maybe it's not the best either. But it's definately a lot cleaner than RE's!

Full Traction's long arm kit, I don't care much for - they use a mix of long and short arms. In my opinion that's a waste and very limiting. Their belly up is VERY attractive, though! However, it doesn't gain you any clearance over RE's.

Just giving you my no BS answers....Informed buyers are the best!!

how do they use a mix of short and long arms? they are all long. they all messure up about the same length. the front upper arms are 4-5 inches shorter is all. so therefor i dont really no what is going on about that.

 

[waynehartwig]

I thought I saw them bolt to the factory control arm location? If they don't, then I stand corrected!

 

[chadschoon]

nope you take the stock ones off, then mount new ones

 

[waynehartwig]

Well that's cool then!

 

[chadschoon]

how was the sweel?