westcoast or WH Rad Arms??

[FLYINHIE]

I looked through alot of old treads but didn't find this topic(maybe I didn't go far enough)..Is there an opinion out there about West Coast Bronco Radius arms v.s. Wild Horses Radius arms v.s. Building your own. I'm talking about extended arms of course? I noticed WCB ads a couple deg. into there arms(castor) to help with the correction needed with a large lift but it didn't look like WH took that into consideration.

[CityHick]

Re: westcoast or WH Rad Arms??

I have not seen the WCB arms in person but they look very nice. As for other options, many of us are partial to those offered by CAGE - however I've spoken to many folks who like their WH arms, especially when you add a flex joint to the rear of them!

[TRAILBOUND]

Re: westcoast or WH Rad Arms??

WH arms have built in caster. The better arm of the 2 would be west coat. But if your willing to spend that kind of $$$. Then you need to buy some cage arms.
It is my opinion that cage or duff ( they are the same arm, designed by the owner of cage offroad who used to work for Duff ) is the best possible option for a radius arm.
But if your on a budget the WH arms are good arm. And when your ready to upgrade you wont have to change arms, just modify the WH ones. i.e. ballistic joints instead of stud, and small stuff like rotating the way the shocks mount. If you go with WH arms run poly C bushings, but rubber bushings for the stud.

cage offroad
http://www.cageoffroad.com/product_d...d=45&itemid=71

[TRAILBOUND]

Re: westcoast or WH Rad Arms??

I ran flex jointed WH arms, worked fine, course i never used them before they were jointed.

[FLYINHIE]

Re: westcoast or WH Rad Arms??

Thanks for all the input I'll check into cage arms. I'm considering saving alot of money and just building my own. Making a jig to get a couple degrees of camber and fabing some up. Anyone gone down that path yet?Any pitfalls I might consider. It seems pretty staight forward..

[Efibroncoman]

Re: westcoast or WH Rad Arms??

I built my own out of stock radius arms and 2"x2" square tube about 10" over stock with 3" Ballistic Joints. I built in 10 degrees of caster so my front axle sits at the correct angle. They look really strong. The only thing I wish I could have done is build an angle into the arm to keep the tires from rubbing. But the compound angle would have been really difficult to make without building a jig.

[jjwtwice]

Re: westcoast or WH Rad Arms??

Not to h-jack but, what about just going to a 3 link. Cost should be about the same, and not that much more fabing since all the tabs can be bought.

[Formerjughead]

Re: westcoast or WH Rad Arms??

go with Cage arms. There is a guy who is commnig down from Portland next month that can bring them and save you the shipping. Actually, maybe we could put together a "Mass Buy" on a bunch of Cage stuff and have Regshawn schlep it all down here for us.

Maybe we'll even keep the price secret to create a buzz.

[TRAILBOUND]

Re: westcoast or WH Rad Arms??

3 link is gonna cost you the same as cage arms.

here is your shopping list

3 pieces of tubing
6 bungs
6 joints ( good heims/ballistic/jonnie/SM )
7 brackets
and probably a new track bar

the easy way to make a killer set of arms would be to contact cage and see if they'll sell you just the C's. Then just make 1 reverse y arm (wristed) and 1 strait link and "bam" your done.

if you go a couple pages through "tech" you should find a thread titled "front suspension" by me. there are some pictures in there of some good ideas.

[TRAILBOUND]

Re: westcoast or WH Rad Arms??

here is that thread

http://www.norcalbroncos.com/forum/s...referrerid=438

[Delta 4 Wheel]

Re: westcoast or WH Rad Arms??

No matter what you do, if you use stock arms, plate the entire arm and run the plate all of the way up to, and around the C portion of the arm. We built our bent and lengthened arms back in the late 90's and they lasted about 5 years before the end of the radius arm broke clean off. Of course they were not plated then, just punched out 15 inches. If you want a narrative on what we did, which wasn't the cheapest way let me know.

[FLYINHIE]

Re: westcoast or WH Rad Arms??

I've been mulling over the whole issue and I'm def. going to build my own and build a jig so I can get the angles I want. I used to be a tool and die maker and still have access to my buddies shop. It's just a matter of getting a day to get it done. I was looking at someone elses Bronco today and noticed that his Duff arms sit parrallel(or almost parrallel) to his frame rail with only about 2 1/2 maybe 3 1/2 inches between the two, so my question is this. With the front articulating don't the rad arms hit the frame rail. It doesn't look like there is much room for articulation before the two intersect each other. Anyone had that problem? Do the Rad arms hit the frame rail at any time?Sure looks like they would. PS thanks delta good tip about adding enough plating.......trailbound I'll check out the pics thanks

[TBS-POPS]

Re: westcoast or WH Rad Arms??

No they dont hit. I have cage arms on mine as do others here. things start hitting and binding other places first before the arms hit the frame (tires/fenders,coil bind, bump stops,etc..). Remember, travel decreses as radius decreses...I thought the same thing when I was installing mine..LARS here on this board made a nice set of extended stock arms and a few run them here. check them out if you can search for the threads..Sillyfab did about the same too!! Nice, easy, strong, good looking too!!

[Broncrick]

Re: westcoast or WH Rad Arms??

CAGE, do it only once and right.....my .02 (and costly experience)
Rick-

[CityHick]

Re: westcoast or WH Rad Arms??

CAGE, do it only once and right.....my .02 (and costly experience)
Rick-

I looked long and hard at some kind of DIY answer to Cage arms but in the end I decided that it was easier to pay for somebody else's design and build time on something as critical as a suspension component.

I did however hold out for a deal on them... when I found a used pair I jumped on them!

The front 3-link idea is cool and all, but to me designing a true 3-link that works well on and off road is something best left to an engineer, which I'm not!