aristobrat

Yeah, if you're doing wheeling where you're scraping/getting hung on your lower control arms a lot, the drop brackets probably aren't the best solution for you. As you pointed out, one of the cons is that they sit lower. They're shaped so they're pretty hard to get hung on, though.

The pros for them are that they change the geometry (the difference between the lowers and uppers isn't the same as stock) so that when you hit bumps on the road, the force is directed less into the frame and more into the shocks .. your JK feels a lot smoother/less-jarring going over them. They also give your JK significantly less anti-dive when you really hit the brakes and lessen the angle that your front drive-shaft operates at.

So again, another AEV conundrum. You can surely buy adjustable front control arms (or use cam bolts). You just won't get the same ride.

wayoflife

funny, i don't know if i could agree with that statement at all. but hey, that's just me.

as i stated, "and/or tested" most of the kits available today. to that point, i did get to spend quality time with the aev engineers in moab and they took me out in their rig to test out the quality of their kit. and, i would be the first to say that it's a good kit that performs exceptionally well on pavement and even pretty damn good going fast on desert trails. however, they were the first to admit that their kit wasn't made for the kind of rock crawling that i prefer to do and really, there's nothing wrong with that. is it really worth the price tag? in my humble opinion, no, at least, not for a set of brackets and slightly better, but real, on road performance gains over kits that come complete with adjustable HD replacement components. of course, that's just my opinion.

having said all that, have you built up and or even tested anything other than what you have on your jeep? can you say with authority that the aev brackets provide significantly better ride and handling over a kit that's been dialed in with with adjustable heavy duty components?

wayoflife

funny, you just said that you "agreed" with the statement that i made regarding ride quality and handling being 100% subjective but now, you are effectively suggesting otherwise. of course, i can only assume that your opinion is based on the fact that you have at least driven and wheeled your JK's with these components on it. surely, how else could you speak with such authority.

aristobrat

Yeah, I'm pretty jealous of the kind of rock crawling you get to do. From what I can tell, there's virtually nothing near that caliber in the Mid-Atlantic states. Matter of fact, it's a good six-hours (one way) to find anything a quarter as good as what you get. This is unfortunately why on-street performance is so high on my list.

The first lift I installed on my JK was a TF 2.5" coil (which I chose mostly because the price was right, and not having any personal wrenching experience, your write-up on the TF 2.5" BB made me feel comfortable enough to do it myself). In my Jeep club, I've done a fair amount of riding with a friend who has a BDS 4" lift, and some guys with frankenlifts.

Nope, the only thing I can authoritatively compare it to are my experiences, as posted above. And even then, I wouldn't really count the experiences from riding with a friends, as spending a few hours in a vehicle isn't the same experience as owning what they have and getting to see how it performs day in/day out, the way I drive my JK.

A lot of how the AEV behaves comes directly from the geometry setup via their brackets. If their track bar brackets raise the axle-side mounts 4"-6" up (to purposefully change the roll center), how does an adjustable HD trackbar achieve the same results? Edit: I didn't post that to be a smart-ass, I really don't understand (and have never seen anyone explain) that.

nthinuf

How good is the strength and design of these geometry brackets?

Several other brackets have been known to be somewhat weak or add extra stress that may cause issues, which prompted reinforcements or different designs. So I was just curious about the design of these. Are they reinforced somehow, or will they possibly cause stress related issues of some type?

(I have not been following any of the threads on these, I haven't actually seen a pic of the ca geometry brackets installed, nor have I seen any comments related to the strength - this is just something that I was curious about, and this thread seems a good place to ask...)

aristobrat

I have driven my lifted JK with stock control arms in their stock position.
I have driven my lifted JK with stock control arms mounted with the AEV drop bracket.
I can point you to many posts on project-jk made by people who have compared the performance of their JK before and after the AEV drop backet, many of whom had adjustable control arms.

My experiences from everything above give me no pause to give my opinion in the matter. Respectfully, I do not claim to speak with any authority, and I've never had a situation on here where anyone has taken my opinion for anything other than that -- my opinion.

wayoflife

and, i can completely understand your point of view and, since you seemed to have missed it earlier, i specifically stated "if most of your time is spent on pavement and/or expedition style wheeling, i think you'll be happy with this kit ". is it, as the OP had originally asked, "worth the money?", in my opinion, no, but that's just me.

you'll forgive me but, a 2.5" lift, coil or otherwise or even frankenlift is far from what i would consider to be a "complete kit". as far as the 4" lift your friend has, was it a "complete kit" with all the components you really should have at that height installed and dialed in properly to address some of the same things that the aev brackets do? if not, i don't think that would be a fair comparison either. but really, that's all a moot point. from the very beginning, i have stated that the aev kit is good, that you would like it for your needs AND, i have even gone so far as to state that it performs exceptionally well on pavement. hell, i'll even go so far as to say that in my opinion it performs better on pavement better than any other short arm kit on the market today BUT, only slightly. of course, if you ever get a chance to ride in a nice high quality long arm kit, you might just see things differently.

yeah, i read the brochure too and even had the aev guys sell me on that too. fact of the matter is, any kit that gives you 4" of lift or more SHOULD come with a track bar relocation bracket and dropped pitman arm or drag link flip and if you look, you will see that i say as much ALL THE TIME. also, there are other kits out there that have track bar brackets that attach on the axle and do the same thing and this feature is not something unique to aev.

wayoflife

and, that's my point, you have not driven your jeep with anything other than stock arms or stock arms with these drop brackets. please understand, i completely agree that they do what they are advertised to do but, i think you would find that if you had tried running a dialed in suspension setup using adjustable control arms, it wouldn't have been too bad either. for me personally, i still have a hard time wanting to LOWER a mount that already gets hit all the time on the trail especially after paying so much to get the underside of my jeep up higher - i'm mean, it seems self-defeating. if ride comfort and handling is so important, i would highly recommend that you try driving a JK with a high quality and very complete long arm kit installed. if you're really honest with yourself, i think you would find that it is way better than what you have now.

just to reitterate, i am NOT saying that this isn't a good kit. i have mearly given my opinion to the OP who specifically asked - is it "worth the money?"

in all fairness, i'm pretty sure this is the first time that i've heard you state that you were just giving your opinion. before now, it appeared to me that you were making statements that seemed pretty absolute and without qualifing them. but, it's all water under the bridge to me

BuckLisa

I drove my AEV lift with Rock Krawler arms 1st then added brackets and kept the Rock Krawler arms on. Yeah, yeah yeah, now my upper LCA mounts sit lower towards the ground: but I drive my Jeep 60 miles a day on the highway way: that justified me adding the brackets. It does drive better and handles the braking and curves better. Granted, I can't do what you do, but I can go offroad and have a great time and take my 3 kids to school and daycare then work the next day. I will later take the brackets off when I dedicate my Jeep as my second vehicle. Yes I have added Teraflex trac bar also. I am not saying AEV is the best at all, but it works for me and my needs.

h1ker

I have the OME HD kit with LT shocks and it rides almost as good as factory No id say it rides as good as factory and like you said Northridge is running a special on it. Go for the OME w\ track bars