Hey guys,

Bought a stock xj that I am looking to build into a primarily off road rig (excluding the driving to get to trails I'm looking at like 80/20 off road vs on road). I've definitely decided on doing a long arm setup. Searching through the threads and other places, I've noticed some companies offer a complete long arm kit, while others only offer a long arm upgrade. Building up from completely stock, would I be better off going for a kit (tossing up between Clayton and BDS right now) or installing a short arm lift and following it up with a long arm upgrade (I've heard really good things about b.lee and TNT)?

 

Do it once and do it right!! I think it's better to peice your lift together to get what u want and add long arms with it. Just remember long arms are expensive to do it right and most importantly install frame stiffners first. Good luck wish I would have started with long arms instead of doing a lift twice!!??
I went with b lee and it is amazing.......

 

If you're willing to spend the coin on one of the premier brands like you've listed then IMO a kit is a solid choice. Lower cost kits sacrifice quality to get the pricing down. Saying that if you understand what it takes to do a lift you may end up with better overall performance if you piece it together.

 

I'm willing to spend the money because I definitely want to do this right the first time. I can see the benefit in piecing a kit together myself and choosing exactly what I want, but I honestly don't think I have the knowledge at this point to do that.

 

You're better off buying coils, leafs, shocks, etc separate from the long arms


Depending on lift and tire height you want is suggest a combination of RE coils and leafs and the b lee 3 link

Give Brian a call, tell him David sent you

423-424-9662

 

This is what I'm doing. I pieced together everything and I'm really considering the B. Lee 3 link to finish it up. What's the big thing about that kit that sets it apart from the rest?

 

The fact that it's a legitimate 3 link..and not a radius setup like every other kit

Clayton also makes a 3 link but it's a bit more


Brian is a good friend of mine and will 100% stand behind his products. His work is fantastic, i ran it on one of my previous XJs and had no complaints

 

In addition to the b lee 3 link, what's a list of everything I would need to order separately in order to have a "complete" kit?

 

That's great to know. I'll give him a call tomorrow and see what he can do for me. Thanks for the info!

 

Wish he'd use some beefier heims though. I guess 7/8 would hold up for some trail riding... Rocks don't play nice though

 

All the internet engineers will toss up something to pick at..

Brian, along with dozens of other folks have wheeled in some of the nastiest rocks around with this 3 link kit. There are far more weakpoints in most XJs than a 7/8" chromoly heim

 

Coils, leaf springs,shocks, longer break lines,sye, rear drive shaft,proper offset rims and tires,frame stiffners,gears might as well install lockers at that point,shackle relocaters,jks acos adjustable coil spacers to level front if you ever install winch bumper and more just can't think of all of it

 

If you really don't want to try and put misc. parts together its time consuming and not knowing all parts well you might be better off buying a kit. If I were buying from scratch a full long arm kit the Clayton would be my first choice. The reason for that is I have saw them and wheeled with quite a few people who have them nice setups. They are a high quality kit.


That said, just the long arm the B Lee is a really nice setup and a "true" 3-link.

 

Is it necessary to stiffen the frame right away with a long arm?

 

Not necessary, but HIGHLY recommended. If you plan on stiffeners, then definitely do them first.

The other added benefit of doing stiffeners, is having a solid base for cage work later.