TTB Radius Arms - Superlift Replacements???

[4x4junkie]

If you want lo-buck, extending the stockers is the way to do it.

Here's mine:


Check out my BII Cardomain page, there's more pics there. I used 2" .250 wall DOM tube to lengthen them.


As for manufactured arms, from what I've seen the Skyjackers are the best by a long shot. They are by far the most popular (at least over on TRS), yet the one single SJ failure I've ever seen was from a bolt being left loose. JD arms on the other hand I've seen two broken in the middle. Rancho flat-out sucks. Not only are they weak, the STOCK tires rub on them... hard. BTDT).

FWIW, I had a Stupidlift arm break after a mere 8 months (Not sure which was worse, them or the Rancho... At least the stock tires don't rub on Superlift).
I fixed it by plating it as already mentioned above (sorry, no pic, but just imagine grinding those worthless diamond-shaped pieces off the ears, placing 3/16 to 1/4" thick plates on them and then welding it all together around the sides). The rest of the arm is pretty beef, but the fact they used 3 welded strips of metal to form the arm leaves the ears extremely vulnerable to these kinds of failures.


Fortunately I caught this side before it broke all the way off (always good to look under your vehicle once in awhile before heading off to the trail )

 

[RangerX]

Here's a link from TRS of broken lift pieces: http://www.therangerstation.com/tech_library/BrokenLiftBrackets.htm

 

[Stic-o]

...Thanks alot Froader...

..and so it begins...I sent the owner an email...If you guys see a poor guy outside your doors begging for food scraps, please feed me...

if you need help picking them up let me know:

 

[91ROKKRAWLER]

here are my arms. would 300 obo be decent or too high? i've not looked into these.

 

[Tbars4]

if you need help picking them up let me know:

...I don't know if I'm sad or relieved....They just sent me an Email that both the Dana 44 and 9" are sold...

 

[91exploreron37]

here are my arms. would 300 obo be decent or too high? i've not looked into these.

IMO $300 is a tad on the high side for just the arms since you can buy them brand new for $150 a piece from 4wheelparts.
I'm not sure how much of a price difference there is from CA/OR to TN but it cant be that much.
Drivers: http://www.4wheelparts.com/Lift-Kit...1&t_s=399&t_pt=4996&t_pl=3982&t_pn=SUP03-1130
Passenger: http://www.4wheelparts.com/Lift-Kit...1&t_s=399&t_pt=4996&t_pl=3982&t_pn=SUP04-1130

 

[JTX]

Dude! Just go sas, you'll be happier in the end. Plus, a bunch of the guys you wheel with have a dana 44 or are planning one. More spares when you wheel. You and BrianK can go sas at the same time. Winner gets to meet Izwack.

 

[Tbars4]

...JTX, pm sent...

..4x4junkie, thanks for all the info but now I have another question...Where can I get a set of those killer whitewall m/t's???...:

..RangerX, that drawing/sketch at TRS looks just like where mine broke..

...91ROKKRAWLER, pm being sent soon to you...

 

[cybergasm]

You and BrianK can go sas at the same time. Winner gets to meet Izwack.

Maybe i'll jump in here and make it a 3 man race:

 

[JTX]

There ya go! The race is on!

 

[Tbars4]

...Don't count me in on that race...I don't have the bank to start buying all those parts...

...I just need to get my X back to trail ready as I'm going to be jonesing bad within the next month...

 

[JTX]

Sell your lift and etc, it pays for most of it.

 

[4x4junkie]

:COUGH:

Dude! Just go sas, you'll be happier in the end. Plus, a bunch of the guys you wheel with have a dana 44 or are planning one. More spares when you wheel. You and BrianK can go sas at the same time. Winner gets to meet Izwack.

Why is there always all this pressure to "just go SAS" even when it's not the TTB that broke? What do you do if your trackbar bracket breaks? You already have a SA in this case, now what do you do? What's wrong with just beefing up the part that broke and moving on?

I guess I just don't understand it because I've never had a problem taking my BII with it's TTB D35 anywhere SA vehicles go, it handles yet articulates just as well, and has been just as reliable too (more so if comparing it to Jeeps with their D30s). I have yet to see any SA vehicle that can turn on a dime like mine does too.
Seems like it would be less energy (and $$$) expended to do whatever is needed to make the TTB more reliable than to swap the whole thing out.

..
..4x4junkie, thanks for all the info but now I have another question...Where can I get a set of those killer whitewall m/t's???...:

Those things are the greatest! They slip awesome when you need them, they're excellent at introducing your diffs to rocks, and make tons of room in the fenders so you can gawk at those nice pretty springs & shocks (and they only cost $19.95 at Sears too)
With 5.13 gears they won't do much for your mileage though lol.
(they were the stockers that came on my BII when I got it. I was using them as 'rollers' until I cut out the fenders so the 35s would fit)

Anyway, I found a pic of repaired Superlift arms I was gonna post up here, but the ones 91ROKKRAWLER posted are exactly the same, so there ya have it

 

[91ROKKRAWLER]

200 plus shipping?

 

[JTX]

My explorer handled 100000000000 times better when i went SAS. Full width probably was alot of that though.

 

[4x4junkie]

My explorer handled 100000000000 times better when i went SAS. .

This is frequently the case, most certainly, although usually it's not because of the solid axle, it's because the steering geometry nightmare that's usually present on a lifted TTB also gets swapped out in the process.
Getting rid of just the steering nightmare by itself can have essentially the same improvement in handling (not to mention getting rid of the tire wear headache that often accompanies it).

This happens because for whatever reason the drop pitman arms provided in TTB lift kits are always at least 2" too short (sometimes 4" too short), which fails to fully correct the steering.
A proper length pitman arm (such as Skyjacker's pt# FA600) or a steering conversion (but NOT a straight-out-of-the-box Superlift Superrunner kit though) makes all the difference in the world here.

And yeah, being full width does greatly adds to your stability too.

 

[Tbars4]

...Although I have a long pitman arm, I'll will be doing steering pretty soon so go ahead and start sending me ttb steering linkage info...

 

[Stic-o]

Why is there always all this pressure to "just go SAS" even when it's not the TTB that broke? What do you do if your trackbar bracket breaks? You already have a SA in this case, now what do you do? What's wrong with just beefing up the part that broke and moving on?

I guess I just don't understand it because I've never had a problem taking my BII with it's TTB D35 anywhere SA vehicles go, it handles yet articulates just as well, and has been just as reliable too (more so if comparing it to Jeeps with their D30s). I have yet to see any SA vehicle that can turn on a dime like mine does too.
Seems like it would be less energy (and $$$) expended to do whatever is needed to make the TTB more reliable than to swap the whole thing out.

Why? Because it's simple and it works. Much less coplicated, and a TTB will never flex like a SA. Besides, TTB's were never ment to run 35's+. For lighter stuff I agree, stick with the TTB, but when you start getting serious and running 35's +. Is just a matter of time. Now I had tortion bars, but I never put a dime into the front end, because I knew it was a lost cause.

When lifting a TTB, instaed of spending 2k on a lift kit, and running 35's. just go SA and be done with.

As far as the track bar? build right and you should not have a problem. but if wheeling serious enough, anything could brake.

For the kind of wheeling Ted is doing, he's just buing time with the TTB. He get a lot of life out of it, but in the end he'll do a SAS anyway.

Tell me I'm wrong Ted?

 

[Tbars4]

.....I don't know what your talking about...:shifty_ey ...I take the bypass on the fire roads...:

...But maybe I should elaborate a little on my set up to ease all your minds...

...I have had f250's and wheeled them harder than my X and never really broke anything...I bent a bunch of stuff but never really broke them..

....I now own a wheelable X and that is giving me an education on weight versus parts, on a grocery getter platform...I honestly have not really cowboy'd the vehicle for a number of reason's, mainly wanting to learn more of what stressed it and what would break...Again, I am getting plenty of education so far...

...I know I could easily take and do a SAS once I rounded up all the parts and that would be an easy way out, and yes, I will probably do it in the not so distant future..

...Personally I think I would be missing out on the education most of you have already suffered thru..I do have a lot of respect for those members on this forum I have wheeled with and they never seem to stop amazing me with their knowledge of everyone's vehicles and the total history of parts on them,(when and where they broke and what they upgraded to)...

...I believe I need to go thru this without skipping a grade, in order to better help other up and coming Enthusiast...

...Or, the Readers Digest version...

...Ok, I'm just really hard headed, broke like the rest of you, and I wheel it, break it, fix it with better parts, and repeat...:mattmoon:

Update:

...If I can work something out with 91Rokkrawler, I am probably going to get his set of arms and get her back on the road...At least I know I won't be so easy to break those Radius arms...That will only leave me worrying about shafts and u joints....

 

[Stic-o]

I'm sorry this is what I got out of that...

blah blah blah ....do a SAS once I rounded up all the parts and that would be an easy way out, and yes, I will probably do it in the not so distant future.....blah blah blah