Custom Upper A-Arms

[carlover]

Im having a set of custom uppers made for my explorer very soon. They will be setup with a high angle replaceable ball joint. Those of you guys with a spindle lift can use these and have a kit somewhat similar to the camburg 6.0 kit. It will produce the same amount of travel and be far far cheaper. If anyone is interested in a set of these pm me and i can get you a set.

 

[IZwack]

Is that how you sheared the ball joints? By overflexing them?
If so, wouldnt you also need the lower arms replaced too?

 

[carlover]

I sheered mine due to no limit straps. Anyone buying these arms would of course need to limit the travel to around 10" or so. From my understanding the uppers hinder travel before the lowers do. even the camburg 6.0 kit uses the stock lowers but it is strapped to prevent over extending things. More than likely Brandon the guy building these will chime in and explain things better than i can, he's the expert lol.

 

[CDW6212R]

I'm not in need at the moment, my uppers have 76k on them. How much will those be, and what kind of bushings will be in them? Regards,

 

[carlover]

They will be roughly 400$ for the set. Keep in mind that these will allow far more travel than the stock arms. As far as bushings go im not really sure i will talk to the builder and see. I have some pics of a set of his arms around here somewhere ill find them and post them up.

 

[CDW6212R]

Thanks for the estimate Sean. I understand that the point of those is for tough off road use. The stock arms have a very short life span, so for me I'm always looking for an improved part. Regards,

 

[carlover]

These will be a definite upgrade. Im not sure how theyd work on a stock application, but i will find out.

 

[IZwack]

Hey quick question, on a normal 2nd gen suspension, what "limits" the A-arms from dropping down to extreme angles? Is there a bump stop or something?

 

[carlover]

there is a bumpstop but it only protects the suspension from compressing to much. there is nothing protecting it from overextending and snapping ball joints like i did at truckhaven. which is why next time the explorer goes out it will be strapped and maybe even bumped.

 

[sikamikanico816]

Hey quick question, on a normal 2nd gen suspension, what "limits" the A-arms from dropping down to extreme angles? Is there a bump stop or something?

First of many limiting factor is the stock shocks; They are too short, therefor hold the lower control arm from going any further. Next comes the brake lines; They will stretch if you dont buy custom ones or unbolt the bracket holding them. Then comes the upper arms, i believe; They are stopped by edge of the frame. And lastly comes the lower ball joints; The obtuse angle will become to great and wont let the lower control arm go any further. I've managed to achieve "10 of travel with my custom upper arms aswell. I'm limiting to protect the lower BJ's.

 

[hunterdan]

On my sport the limiting factor for me is the CV angle. When I was cranked higher in the front, and hitting small dips in the road it would overextend and cause the cvs to start grinding. I lowered the front about an inch to prevent this, but if I hit this one hill fast enough here I can still get the front suspension to droop far enough that the cvs start to bind up. Now if there was a cheap way to drop the front diff an inch or 2 it wouldnt be a problem.


Dan

 

[sikamikanico816]

Its harder to achieve more travel with 4wd. Not many prerunners are. With my 2wd i have less things to worry about. i kinda wish i had it. i would throw a dixon bros kit on it. =)

 

[carlover]

I think one of my other issues with the breakage was the 8in shocks i have in there. The ball joints limit and snapped before the shocks reached thier limit. Its ok im glad it happened now, gives me the reason and excuse to build it up better.

 

[carlover]

First of many limiting factor is the stock shocks; They are too short, therefor hold the lower control arm from going any further. Next comes the brake lines; They will stretch if you dont buy custom ones or unbolt the bracket holding them. Then comes the upper arms, i believe; They are stopped by edge of the frame. And lastly comes the lower ball joints; The obtuse angle will become to great and wont let the lower control arm go any further. I've managed to achieve "10 of travel with my custom upper arms aswell. I'm limiting to protect the lower BJ's.

do you still have torsion bars?? or coilovers?

 

[Brandon@BTF-fab]

Hi guys, my name is Brandon... I am the one that is going to build Sean's arms for him. I just want to clear a couple things up. Your stock explorer's (2wd) will actually cycle about 9.5" - 10" travel with longer shocks...my arms really won't give more travel, but they will give extra strength and longevity. The problem is, the stock upper balljoints are completely maxed out at about 10" and the angle on them is really harsh. And you've seen them...they're tiny little baljoints.

the balljoint upper arms I am making use MOOG hi-angle units (same as the ones on my LT kit)that will remain in their "operating range" in the 10" travel you will get. They will not be completely maxed out.

For even more strength, I can also make arms with a 1" uniball, but the cost will be about $650 or so, because I have to have special machined pins made to slide into the spindle. The pins will be heat treated 17-4 stainless (real strong stuff)

the balljoint arms will look similar to my longtravel upper balljoint arms, but shorter obviously...and the uniball arms will look similar to my uniball arms I make for coilbucket rangers.

My friend, who has my longtravel kit on his truck has used & abused the LT kit for about two yrs. now, and is still on his first set of balljoints (daily driven truck, and weekend warrior)

 

[carlover]

If you wanna email me the pics i can post them up for you, yoyo92335@yahoo.com.

 

[CDW6212R]

That sounds interesting Brandon, I hope to inspect my upper arms of my 98 in the next day or so. Those are the only thing that I replaced when I bought my truck. They may or may not be any good after 76k miles.

 

[Brandon@BTF-fab]

I'm not in need at the moment, my uppers have 76k on them. How much will those be, and what kind of bushings will be in them? Regards,

sorry I missed this before: bushings will be a poly bushing, similar to most aftermarket arms. If the consensus here is to add in a zerk fitting, I will do that, too.

 

[mounty71]

Well if you are checking interest in this, i am most definitely interested...just not at the moment. Also Brandon, your friend who has the long travel ranger kit, is he running the MOOG bj or uniballs? Just curious. So to clear this up, the MOOG ball joint is merely for added strength while keeping travel at 10", while the uniballs are for strength AND increase travel over 10"?

 

[Brandon@BTF-fab]

Yes, the LT truck (grey stepside jumping in the pics on my myspace) has the MOOG hi-angle balljoints.

You're not going to get any more than 10" travel with the stock lower arms, maybe 11" max. if you make your lower balljoints mad at you they are pretty much the limiter. The MOOG's actually articulate further than a 1" uniball does, so the uniball is really just for even more strength, and because some people think they NEED uniballs because it's a fancy buzzword these days