Radius Arms: Skyjacker or James Duff?

[little x]

I'd like to get some extended radius arms. To my knowledge Skyjacker and James Duff are the only 2 companies that make them. Which one is stronger? They seem to be similar designs, with a cross member and what not. The James Duff are 2" diameter (I think) with .25" side walls. Where as the Skyjacker are square? How thick are the skyjacker's? Is one slightly longer then another? Which will give me more flex? Which will be stronger?

Thanks

 

[FROADER]

Either one would work fine and they'll give the same flex. I'd go with the cheaper one.

 

[410Fortune]

Skyjacker radius arms are not square
Skyjakcer radius arms are very very tough
The Skyjacker transmission crossmember is so so, meaning it hangs low in comparison to the James Duff version and its a round tube, so if you dent it all strength is lost. With that said I have not made a dent in my Skyjacker setup and it has been abused.m Skyjacker radius arms are made to be used with 4-8" of lift, they work very well with rubber bushings and they fit perfectly every time.


The James Duff classic style radius arms are nice, but we have had some trouble fitting them onto Explorer's They are also made to be used with 2-3" of lift and their shock hoop.
The Duff transmission X member is really trick and is tucked up nicely under the truck

The Duff new Heim style radius arms use a single tube, which has been tried many times before, but so far I have not heard of these new ones failing.
They again are designed to be used with 3-4" of lift and the Duff cusom coil bucket and shock hoop

As Froader said any extended arm is likely going to allow you to reach your maximum TTB travel, unless you go further and run custom steering and beams...so price and lift height would be a good place to start.

I cant say enough about Skyjacker products. Over the years I have seen Rancho arms fail, I have seen Superlift arms be re designed 3-4 times because they had design flaws and also would fail, I have heard about issues with the Duff suspension parts fitment, but never really their strength. The only disadvantage we have found with teh Duff products is that with over 4" of lift the radius arms just dont cut it, they dont have enough caster built in, on my friend truck that runs 6" lift coils and the Duff classic arms mounted to custom beams, we had to flip the Duff arms side to side and run them upside down.
I have never heard these complaints about the Skyjacker TTB stuff nor have I seem their radius arms fail

 

[FROADER]

Also with the SkyJacker x-member, when you finally realize that you want to go solid, it works perfectly with the stock length full size radius arms.

 

[little x]

Thanks. I guess I'll go skyjacker. I wanted to do 6". Hopefully using some really soft jeep springs. And there is only $30 difference in pricing new. But over $100 difference in the prices between skyjacker's dual shocks and the duff dual shock set up.

 

[410Fortune]

dual shocks are not needed on these trucks IMO
Be careful when mix matching lift parts from different manufacturers it can get you in trouble

 

[little x]

I think I'm going to need dual shocks to keep it streetable, since the springs I'm eyeballing are only 240 PPI, instead of the 400 PPI explorer lift springs. I'm planning on basically doing the same thing as this guy, only with 6" axle pivot brackets, and a spring spacer. http://www.therangerstation.com/Magazine/Fall2003/MaximumFlexForTheTTB.htm
It looks like it will be all Skkyjacker in the front end, with the exception of springs.

 

[410Fortune]

A rancho 9000 set to 6-7 is going to be quite stiff enough to negate the need for dual shocks, putting it on 9 is way too stiff for the street, even when towing, but it's your truck. My point is you can get a stiff enough shock for your size truck.
These trucks simply are just too small and not heavy enough to warrant the need for two shocks if fighting body roll is your only concern, but thats just my opinion, I know plenty of guys who run the dual hoop and it works just fine.


I find my 350# coils are soft soft and going to a 300 or lower would be WAY too soft for the street and trail, 400 is about right for an explorer.

I take it this is a trail truck mostly?

 

[little x]

It's transforming from my daily driver to a trail truck. I mostly drive my GF's car now. What springs are you running that are only 350? I didn't think anyone made anything for the X softer then 400.

 

[410Fortune]

Skyjacker 6" Ranger coils, they give me about 4.5" of lift after they wore in and I installed a V8 drivetrain