Originally Posted by DJ1

I would consider taking a look at the JKS J-Axis line.

Rubber bushings on both ends (which equates to less vibration and zero maintenance) AND the bushing heads can actually rotate a full 360 degrees ==> better articulation while causing much less stress on those flimsy control arm brackets on the stock axles which have been known to snap on the trail.

They are beefy and cost a little more coin than the synergy, metalcloak, and teraflex's but have been worth it. I actually got em' on sale @ Northridge.

Buy once, cry once.

Originally Posted by Mike H.

The axle also moves side to side throughout the suspension cycle (due to the track bar pulling/pushing the housing) so the deflection not only needs to account for longitudinal torsion, but lateral misalignment as well, all at the same time.
The JKS arms rely on the clevite bushings deflection (stress/strain/bind/wear) to allow this lateral deflection.
JKS make good products, but there are better arm designs for less money on the market. Metal Cloak and Synergy do so with "rubber" bushings, others use the Currie Johnny Joint and imitations thereof.

Originally Posted by holeshot

hey guys, I'm thinking about upgrading my control arms in the next year or so.

I've been running on 4 RK lower arms in the past 3 years. Had to change the monster bushings on the rear arms, cleaned and thightened the joint bushing halves last year, and now I got to replace the krawler joint bushings. Kind of tired of the maintenance on these joints, so I am looking for maintenance free joints.

On a side note, I had to replace both joints on the RK front trackbar also.

I have 3 full kits in mind.

Teraflex Alpine, retails at around 1400$ CA
Synergy adjustable with DDB joints, retails a little over 1700$ CA
Metal cloak, retails around 1500$

Not really concerned about the price, I just want something that will last and won't squeaks.

They're all three good companies with good reputation. Just wondering what would be best. Metal cloak are kinda hard to find in canada. Synergy claims they will clear bigger rubbers, which is a plus to me, always rub at full turn, either on the frame or on the LCA's.

For those who think I will lose flex...really? not enough to make me reconcider.

Originally Posted by toughbadnancy

I'm currently running all 8 Teraflex Alpine Flexarms.....they are almost maintenance free you just need to ensure the locking collars haven't loosened. I love my 3" Teraflex Lift I'm also running there monster track bar, tierod and drag link.....not to mention their big rotor kit! Teraflex is a great company that stands behind there products.

Originally Posted by DJ1

Per Metalcloak's website, their control arm bushings only account for high misalignment / "transverse flex" which is the up/down movement of the joint via up/down movement of the axle and the forward/back rotational movement of the joint which per their statement is the "micro-wear that DESTROYS flex joints."

Straight from the MetalCloak page...
Attachment 663383

Side to side movement of the axle would equate to a side to side or "in and out" movement of the control arm bushings which no mfg, including Metalcloak, addresses on their website.

...and I have Synergy, MetalCloak, and JKS products on my rig so I'm not particular to one mfg.


.

Originally Posted by DJ1

In MetalCloak's defense, in their video they do show side-to-side movement of the control arm joint which most likely represents side-to-side movement of the axle as the axle shifts under extreme articulation which is good for crawling. The only problem is that the majority of the additional stress now gets focused on the 2 trackbar mounting points and/or the 2 trackbar bushings per axle. Since most have a beefed up axle trackbar bracket that they have installed with their bolt-on lift kits, that means the thin frame side trackbar bracket is seeing the brunt of the flex stress = No bueno. By keeping all of the bushings OEM/OEM-like, you can still evenly distribute the stress amongst all of the axle and frame side mounting points as well as the trackbar mounting points vs having it all come down to 1 or 2 weakest links, in this case the front or rear trackbar mounting brackets. my 2 cents... .

Originally Posted by Chuck-The-Ripper

here's a RK trackbar I had rip off and just fixed

Originally Posted by Chuck-The-Ripper

here's a RK trackbar I had rip off and just fixed