johnny262 wrote:Any idea why they cracked? Extra leverage?
I'm guessing so... theres a tonne of force pushed through those BJs when you bottom out, particularly hard if doing a jump etc...
I used to wheel with a guy who had an old Isuzu Trooper with 5.13s and front/rear Aussie lockers, and 34x9.5 TSLs. Thing's performance would scare the shit out of anyone and was strong as an ox. He had zero problems until he tried BJ spacers and playing with the bumpstops... then he had all sorts of things happen, with bent tie rods and bent idler arms to show for it.
Heard about (probably read on here) having trouble certing aftermarket arms? Can low profile bumpstops on original arms be certed
I had no prob certing mine, just showed him the factory stampings on the arms and the install manual from Superlift. The arms I'm using are made of .219" wall thickness DOM tubing and .25" thick steel plate.
http://www.superlift.com/pc_product_detail.asp?key=8DB4C9F5F1BE49B28F36AD8C28A60C9CHere is a pic of the setup, also using diff drop bushings on the two crossmembers that locate the front diff:
Aftermarket Arms are awesome IMO but not necessary. As you can see there is room for more droop, but I prefer this setup as it means I trade off a bit of extension travel for strength... generally when trying to get up steep rock ledges, the front will be at full droop (I'm working on a way of controlling this ie manually compress the spring on demand)... anyway with a locked front I would prefer to be able to hammer it if necessary without worries about the excessive CV angles and therefore the risk of breakage.
Personally I'd just make sure the droop/compression bumpstops are firmly im place, soften up the torsions and leave the susp. alone.... at factory settings it works well and with the correct backspacing you can run 33x10.5 or 34x9.5 on these vehices with 0" lift.
I'd focus on the steering upgrades - An IFS steering system has to work extremely hard, particularly if locked or on high speed whoops sections... tierods constantly tugging on the draglink... Personally I'd go steering box idler (or idler brace if you don't want it to bend it but enjoy replacing bushings), and the 2wd draglink mod. This will ensure reliable service.
Steering is vital and often overlooked ...Until we go to an inverted Y style linkage (such as you would find on a Ford TTB setup or a Jeep live axle) which would delete the idler altogether, reduce the number of rod ends (serviceable moving parts) but in doing so also minimize deflection/toe in under high torque locked scenarios... and come up with a custom dropped pitman arm that would allow the two steering links to run on the same plane as the control arms... until then, I say make it as bomb proof as possible.
$0.02c
, will upgrade if need be
