malamuteman

I've got a 2014 Jku with 3" springs running 37's. currently I have front RK upper and lower control arms. I want to finish the setup but I've heard of difficulties with the rear RK arms. I've gone ahead and installed rear spring wedges. The question is do I purchase the rear ($450) or sell to get a full set of metalcloaks ($1200). Obviously money is a factor but I'd also like to get the most flex i can without wasting money.
I know the shocks are the limiting factor for flex. I'm running the 5160 for a 4"+ lift. Full extension is 27.4". Springs have retainer clips.

Biginboca

I have rock krawler rear upper and lower arms. The arms themselves are solid but the joints require maintenance and the bushings on mine are shot. I've never been thrilled with their joints.

I just ordered synergy rear arms to replace them. If I were you I would go metal cloak all the way.

malamuteman

Thank you. My rig is mostly a DD. I go wheeling 4-5 times a year. I'm on the east coast. NC to be exact. I'm also one to hammer the right foot.

kjeeper10

Rk's latest arms are shorter so you won't have issues people had in the past.

TheDirtman

Neither arm is going to affect your flex as they have way more misalignment then any one will really need. The fact is the MetalCloak joint is in bind except at ride height. Same with the Synergy joint. Not saying they are bad just making the point. They are relatively soft and flex pretty nice. I would not choose RK arms because of their joints, or their solid designs either. They just get a lot of hype on this forum because there are people that run their stuff and are vocal about it.

I also don't understand if you already have the fronts, why would you sell them and replace them with basically the same thing. All an arm does is allow for adjustment. You can simply replace a joint with a different brand if you want a different joint. There is no reason on whey you can't run RK up front and Metalcloak on the rear. You don't have to run the same brand front and rear and it will not affect your "flex".

kjeeper10

Since you own a JKU, rear uppers are only needed to set pinion running a aftermarket DS.

As far as the joints, it looks like they finally figured it it out changing to double retailers on the flex end. I guess RK has been shipping with the double retainers for a while now. (lower arms at the frame) I dont recall many issues with the pro Krawler joints. My only gripe is the 000 grease

which can be almost impossible to find. Washer used on older arms that can bow out and cause looseness within the joint.

TheDirtman

I would run either a metal cloak or a synergy joint on that end of the control arm with a Johnny Joint type joint at the axle side.

tcdawg

What aftermarket joints don't require maintenance?

kjeeper10

Synergy are true no maintenance joint.

Biginboca

Yes this is why I'm switching to them. The metal cloak is also very low maintenance. I greased my RK joints religiously every 5k miles and am very anal about maintaining my rig. They didn't hold up great and the rubber ends are really shot. RK offered to "upgrade" me to their latest arms at a discount which was pretty much the cost of synergy arms on sale so I'm going that way instead. I'm not willing to put more $ into RK products at this point. They have a bad track record on joints so far lol