wayoflife

well obviously, he's on a rock and on a slight slope. however, IF he had better flex, his jeep would be more balanced and stable. as it is, this photo makes his jeep look very tippy. or, at least, that's how i'm seeing it.

apparently, you haven't seen the teraflex long arm kit. also, the full traction front cross member only sits about 1/2" lower than the factory cross member and that's because it has a skid plate that protects the exhaust cross over.

all that aside, exactly what does any of this have to do with FLEX? i will still contend that my short arm kit offers better flex than the RE long arm kit and any 4-link long arm kit would offer substantially better flex than would the RE long arm kit. unfortunately, not liking certain features of kit made by other companies won't make the RE long arm kit flex any better.

wayoflife

see, now that's FLEX!!

wayoflife

you'll forgive me but when has this discussion ever been about clearance of the cross member? in truth, what difference would clearance make if you don't have the flex to get yourself up really big rocks?

i should also point out once again, the FT cross member sits only about 1/2" lower than the factory cross member and this is only because they offer a skid plate that helps to protect the exhaust cross over. yes, this would make it have the lowest hanging crossmember but i fail to see how more clearance would help improve the limited flex of the RE kit.

Eracer76

Mabe he got the wrong shocks sent with his kit or something?
We've all seen stranger things happen before..

Yes Im using the shocks that came with my kit.
My tires do drop below the pinch seam which is covered up by my rock rails that hang down almost to the bottom of the frame.
Yes, Ive seen 37's drop below this point too, but only when using extra long travel shocks or coilovers, and not with shocks out of the lift kit box.

I am aware of that fact, but the picture was taken with my Jeep way off camber. That rock was on a hill with all sides sloping away from the rock. My right front was down hill which is why the body was so far off center and not stuffing the rear tire. Besides, it wasnt half the shock shaft, it was less then 2" and about the same amout of room I had to the bumpstops, not to mention I still had the rear swaybar fighting my flexing ability in that pic.




Those are some great shots of your Jeep!
Yes I can see how your droping a 37" below the pinch seam and mines only a 35" to almost the same spot, but now your starting to compare apples to oranges here, of course yours is going to flex more then mine, you have those pretty long travel coilovers and I do not

After all, I never came on here to compare mine to yours, I came on here to let others know that the pic you posted of the RE LA kit is not showing what it can really do, and that something is not right with that Jeep. The RE short arm does not flex more then the LA kit like your pictures are showing.



All I know is that my arms are not binding and limiting my flex, its the shocks and coils. I know this from when I installed the kit in my garage, I tested the flex with no coils or shocks, and I installed the uncompressed coils while flexing it before putting on the shocks, so I have a pretty good idea of how much further the arms will flex



Thanks,
Yep, the picture of mine on the rock is way off camber as I mentioned above.

The design of the RE kit is one of the reasons why I got it, I really like how it attaches to the frame with nothing hanging below it to catch on rocks


I understand what WOL is trying to say, but If I had 14" travel shocks, mine would drop that far too....look how far his front coil is falling out of the seat...about 2.5" amost enough to remove the coil on the trail

I still have the RE shocks that came with my kit and my coils only unseat about .25" which is only enough to wiggle it around, not take it out

jeepik

its simple

lower mounting point will allow the tire to be lower for more appearance of flex


i believe Mel posted pics of the evo lever with the RE kit and with the full traction kit, both looked like flexing monsters

the rear mounting point on the FT kit for the rear arms is a good 2 inches lower then RE's tucked up mount

Eracer76

The picture may make it look tippy, but it wasnt at all...
Better flex in that off camber situation, would not have made it anymore balanced then it was. If my Jeep didnt have flex, it would have pulled a tire off the ground and tipped over, but it didnt, it still had all 4 on the ground.



Again, of course yours flexes more then the stock RE LA kit, you have COILOVERS
Give me a set of coilovers and I'll show you how far it can flex.....
Or maybe I'll just have to remove my shocks, drive up my RTI ramp and let the coils fall out, all to show you guys how far it can really go

wayoflife

agreed and i was just going off of what i was told by the owner of the jeep. if something were wrong, it wouldn't be the first time as you have stated.

really? i just looked again and tried taking into account for the rocker guards but i'm still not seeing it or maybe it's just sitting at the pinch seam. perhaps a different pic would be needed to demostrate this.

that is odd because i have not seen this. in fact, time and time again, i have seen wheels hanging in the air when they should have been on the ground. but, that's just been what i have been seeing on the trail and on more than one JK that has the RE kit.

looking at your pic again, i compared the amount of shock that was exposed on the driver side and compared it to the passenger side and unless you have really short shocks, i still feel that i'm seeing close to half of what is showing on the passenger side. am i really wrong on this? also, i understand what you are saying and maybe the photo you used is not the best example of the RE's flex.

but the whole point of this conversation, what started it all was that with coilovers and short arms, you could achieve as much flex if not more than what you could with a long arm kit and more so that you could achieve with an RE long arm kit. this made me question the need to go long arm at all. certanily, i have more flex, more clearance and a great ride and all for about the same price as what you paid for your RE kit.

that's fair and i understand. for what it's worth, i did some checking and determined that the pic of the short arm kit had 33's. not exactly a fair comparison.

if you insist. you do know that RE themselves will be the first to admit otherwise, right... that their kit won't flex as well as a 4-link?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40RReTuJJto

honestly, even with longer shocks, i just can't see how that would be possible.

wayoflife

sorry, it's not that simple and if you talk to mel himself like i have, he will tell you the truth about just how much flex you really get with the RE long arm kit vs. the FT kit and with both having the evo lever setup.

jeepik

good to see a neutral debate here

wayoflife

and going back to my original point, why get something like an RE long arm kit when you could go this route instead?

are you really suggesting that your coils would fall out before your tire leaves the ground? that is something i would like to see. if you do it, please use a 30° ramp and document it scientifically.