homebrew extended arms

[PhantomEB]

Just throwing out my idea then seeing the responses.

I already have a wristed arm up front which I want to turn into an extended wristed.....

-Solid chunk of steel drilled and tapped at one end to thread onto the end of the stock arm and plate somewhat as well drill out to do some rossette welds.
Other end would be machined down similar to the stock radius arm.

-Chunk of DOM tube, tapped and drilled, all similar work to the one above. Other end tapped to thread in a piece of all thread (?), rosette welds and all.

Reason for thinking this way, is to eliminate the drop bracket I have! And aim for a flatter belly pan.

I am not interested in hiems etc, as I do run Mud as well, and dont need that shit in there. Simplicity can work just as well.

I know I should have extreme amounts of droop, going extended/wristed, simple fix, limiting strap to the point of where I JUSt max out the longest shock I can find.

[Rokcrln]

I have built extended arms in the past and I here what you are trying to do but the question is do you really need that much more flex then you have now? If the answer is no and you just want to get rid of the drops for reasons of hanging up on them, then why not just plate in the back side of the drop and kind of ramp it to the frame. |__/ this way you dont have the problem of hanging up on them. Extending them will still make the arm hang down in the same spot just as much but then extend it farther back to the frame height. If you still think this is the way to go then I would look at WH's new extended arms as they did a nice job on having them made this time. Now if you really just want more flex please take it from me their is a piont of too much and I was their. It was great off road but was a death trap on the road and mine was built about as well as they can be built. After a few too close of calls I cut it up, sold off most of the parts and am building a full tube EB just for off road only! So take all this with a grain of salt and know I am not trying to bust anyones balls just save some from what I have wasted lots (over 50K in the blue one before cut up) of money on with mixed results.
As far as your option of extending your arms, it could work but you are building in a few spots that will fail under extream force. Your joint from old to new needs to be plated for as far front and back as it can be to eliminate joint failier. Their is alot more stress on that front arm then most people can even imagine from flexing to hard braking and even just crusing down thre freeway. So what ever you do just make sure it is as safe as it can be. Feel free so send me pics or ideas to my E-mail and I will be happy to evaluate them for you and respond as I can. rokcrln@pacbell.net

This EB had a 3" body, 5.5" front WH rockcrawler, extended tubed arms, a wristed axel housing, 3.5" rear WH/national 11 leaf pack springs, leaf spring piviots and 19"s of front shock travel and never used over 14" or so as the suspention was perfectly ballanced front to rear. The second pic just shows how low extended arms hang down and keep in mind the upper end is only 1/4" below the frame to the top of the joint.

Kevin

[pepper]

I have extended and wristed arms on mine and I like it. I pute johnny joints on the end of mine for about 12" total. I think it helps remove some of the binding that occurs with the factory bushing set up. Puting a pivoting joint also takes some stress off of the drivers side arm. They can break. I'd say go for it!

[PhantomEB]

When I do decide to do this, the truck will pretty much be non street legal do to the fact at the same time, Full width diffs will go under as well.

I have been seriously thinking Bent and Twisted's Arm extensions, which from the looks of it, slide over the ends and threads onto the very end. I also would be plating it somewhat as well.

[brocbronc]

If you want to use Bent and Twisted extensions, I have a pair that I didnt end up using. They are brand new. Im in Nor Cal. I also have the shackle flip kit he used to sell for the rear. It flexes really nice. I think he got the top honors for engineering in the TOP Truck Challenge in 99. Let em know if you are interested.

Also for sale

Brand new 5.5 Wild Horses rockcrawler coils (red)
Brand new 14 inch 2.0 remote res SWAY AWAYs coil overs. Dual rate kit and coils and tender spring

kbroumand@sbcglobal.net

thanks

Kevin