New control arms on

[Trunk Monkey]

Spent last night putting mine and Dave Connors control arms from Rock Logic on our trucks. A friend had machined a slug out of aluminum for us to use to push the bushings out. His went quickly, done in about 1.5 hours, no issues.

Mine, not so good. One of my eyes had taken a hit at some point and was round on one side, slightly oval on the other. We tried to press it, but ended up turning the bushing into hamburger and bullet-nosing the aluminum slug. We got a spare arm he had from another friend's rolled 80 and used the bushing out of that. About 4 hours for mine.

We found out that the arms on a 93/94 and 95+ are different. The early arms have cast eyes, pretty beefy tube with obvious weld rings around the tube where the eyes have been attached. The 95+ arms are tin foil.

Other lesson - while you're waiting for a spare arm to show up, don't get all anxious to work and take the other control arm off - you'll wind up with a longer wheelbase 80.

Looking forward to smacking the arms on something now and using them as a slider rather than an axle relocation device.

 

[Doc]

No pics? BAN!

 

[Dusty]

pics pics pics

tomorow I am sleeving my rear arms with 2" odx 1/4" DOM. I have J springs in back. Has anyone tried lengthening the lower arms by 1/2 inch to correct pinion angle (as oposed to shortening the upper links)

 

[jfz80]

what a tease!!!! no pics are these a new product? beta run i didnt see em on their website. i take it they are designed to relocate the axle for lifted applications.

 

[Trunk Monkey]

I posted this pic in a thread a couple weeks ago. They did a run of 12. They're not designed to move the axle, just designed not to bend.

 

[-Spike-]

re: jfz80- I've never understood the fascination with 'relocating' axles for lift. Lifts do not require relocation of the axle, unless you intend to cut the body and can't cut one side of the wheel opening. If you relocate the axle, it will no longer be centered in the wheel opening under full compression, which can cause tire rub in some cases.

FZJFillmore, I take it you didn't support the weight of the truck on the frame, hence your unexpected wheelbase change.

Dusty, go with an adjustable upper. It's a bit of work up front, but being able to set it wherever you want, and adjust it if you don't like the results or want to change something is nice.

-Spike

 

[Trunk Monkey]

Spike - nope, I figured the driveshaft, upper arms, and coils would be enough to hold it in place on level ground. The axle rolled under about 3", no big deal, just jacked on the front of the pumpkin and it rolled back into place.

 

[CreeperSleeper]

Is he selling any of those? Or do you guys have some stock ones I can get off you? Mine are bent beyond repair...

 

[kennyv0826]

We found out that the arms on a 93/94 and 95+ are different. The early arms have cast eyes, pretty beefy tube with obvious weld rings around the tube where the eyes have been attached. The 95+ arms are tin foil.

What??? You mean they made the rear arms wimpier in the later 80's? Please let me know on this since I am about to lift a 95 but have all the arms from my 94 available to me if they are better.
Thanks!

 

[big80]

Yes, thats true. The earlier arms are ALOT bigger than the series 2 80 series arms. i bent my 95 model arms on its 3rd outing, got a mate to make up some 45mm OD, 1/4" wall thickness chromoly arms. I have tried, but cannot bend them!

 

[Gumby]

I was very surprised to see the thickness of a lower control arm. They are pretty puny.

I figured they'd be good enough for the upper links on the pig though.

 

[ats4x4dotcom]

We make our arms out of 2mm thicker material for the eyes, and we use RHS and notch it around the eyes, to keep them round, as I have had trouble with them making the eyes end up oval from being stretched.

This works much better than staying with round stock for the arm IMHO.

 

[alaskacruiser]

Word has it the earlier control arms are larger in diameter, and the later ones are smaller in diameter, but thicker. If someone has bent / throw-away control arms from early or late models, it would be interesting to cut them open and post some pics for comparison.

 

[jfz80]

re: jfz80- I've never understood the fascination with 'relocating' axles for lift. Lifts do not require relocation of the axle, unless you intend to cut the body and can't cut one side of the wheel opening. If you relocate the axle, it will no longer be centered in the wheel opening under full compression, which can cause tire rub in some cases.


-Spike

so call me out on a technicality? maybe i should say realign to be clear as mud? no didnt mean relocating as in extending or shortening wheelbase, was just refering to the slight changes in arm design that some aftermarket vendors provide to allow for more accurate (acceptable) suspension geometry in order to maintain close to stock driveability; AND i thought they were Front arms

 

[-Spike-]

Word has it the earlier control arms are larger in diameter, and the later ones are smaller in diameter, but thicker. If someone has bent / throw-away control arms from early or late models, it would be interesting to cut them open and post some pics for comparison.

According to FZJFillmore, he looked at both, and the earlier ones were not only larger but also thicker-walled. Perhaps he would verify this, as I also had heard that the earlier ones were larger diameter, but thinner-walled.

-Spike

 

[Trunk Monkey]

I didn't make any comment on wall thickness, just that the eyes were cast, the tubes were wider in diameter and the whole arm was overall heavier than the one off my 97. Sorry for any confusion. The 93 arm is still straight, so that's staying uncut as a spare. I've got at least one bent 97 I can cut if anyone is that interested.

 

[-Spike-]

so call me out on a technicality?

Sorry for jumping on that, I obviously misunderstood you. I've had that discussion with people before, and they couldn't understand the concept. I'm waiting for someone to extend their arms because the figured that a big lift shortened their wheelbase, and find themselves rubbing tires on compression. I can understand the idea of lengthening the lowers a tad to correct pinion angle, although IMHO those corrections are best done with the upper arms. In reality, it probably doesn't matter which arms you adjust.

My apologies!

-Spike

 

[-Spike-]

I didn't make any comment on wall thickness...

Sorry, I took 'pretty beefy tube' as a comparison to the newer arms. My mistake!

I'll be cutting up a pair of older arms some day, perhaps you could measure the thickness of the wall on the newer arms and post it up? Not sure when I'll get around to that particular mod, but I might remember to post my findings here when I do.

-Spike

 

[cruiserdan]

Here is a photo of a stocker early arm and a Slee arm. I put Slee's on mine a couple months ago.

There is a very significant weight difference, on the order of almost twice, what the stock arms weigh.

 

[-Spike-]

I hate to argue with 'the Man' about Toyota parts, but that isn't an 'early' stock arm pictured. As FZJFillmore noted, the early arms have a cast eye, thicker than that one, the eye has a shoulder that extends out about half an inch and mates to the tube at a perfectly round joint, not conformed to the eye as that one is. The tube is larger diameter as well, looks to be approximately the same as the Slee one you have pictured there. I can measure tomorrow if you want, I just eyeballed it for comparison. I'm guessing that's actually a '95-'97 arm, and they sell them for use on all years.

-Spike