Superior Engineering Super Flex Radius Arms Review

[Despingator]

I have been wanting to pull the trigger on the Superior Engineering super flex arms for quite some time now. Ive had 3 80 series and although i love them, my main complain has always been lack of flex. Before owning the Cruisers i had a 2006 Rubicon with a 6" long arm lift kit which gave me infinite amount of flex. Living in Florida where its mostly mud, flex inst that important but i travel a lot with my rigs and things get real sketchy quick with the 80s with one tire almost always in the air. Ive never gotten used to the feeling and Ive tried many different set ups to remedy it. Ive looked into linking the front like some others have done and although the results are fantastic, i am scared i would end up hating the road matters since one of the biggest reasons i sold the jeep was because it always wandered down the road.

So i called the guys at Superior Engineering in Australia and they answered all my questions and promised results. I pulled the trigger and bought them and put them on my cruiser. They arrived to Miami in about a week well packaged and protected (i was too excited opening to take pictures). The install was fairly easy, i ordered the performance series which are meant to keep the sway bar, instead of the Offroad series which get rid of the sway bar so i could maintain perfect OE road manners. I had to cut the sway bar brackets on the driver side so i could fit the radius arms and also move out of the way some brake lines which interfered with it on the axle.

Ive had them on for a couple of days now and i am happy to report that she drives perfect and just like she did with the factory arms and a combo of caster bushings and drop brackets. Before i move on to the flex pictures, i must say that no i did not do a before an after test, and that in some pictures the truck has all sway bars connected, and in others the sway bars disconnected and the height looks the same because with the sway bars the rear tire started to pick up so we stopped, then i brought her down disconnected them and started to lift her up again and we brought her to about the same level and at this time my boss didnt allow me to go any higher because he was afraid she would tip over. I have now say in this other than she was perfectly planted. I will post more pictures and measurements with comparisons between sway bars attached and sway bars disconnected but i need to find a nice ramp or someone to lend me a forklift. I havent wheeled her yet with the arms but i am extremely happy with the results.

Truck suspension set up running 37" BFG:
Dobinsons custom 7" coils
Superior engineering super flex performance series radius arms 6"
TJM Front and rear HD sway bars (built by Whiteline)
Metaltech lower control arms
Old Man Emu upper control arms
Fox 2.0 reservoir shocks measuring 31" or so with the front running a 2" eye to stem adapter
Dobinsons rear panhard
Old Man Emu Front pan hard
Extended brake lines, sway bar brackets, and bumpstops.

 

[Despingator]

 

[NLXTACY]

Nice! No binding within the frame side bracket at full extension?

 

[richardlillard1]

Oh good, now someone can bother you about them instead of me.

In b4 @Delancy says your pinion angle is fxxxed.

In b4 @NLXTACY calls them rollover arms.

 

[Despingator]

Here are some comparisons of the flex on previous set ups of the same truck. The red picture i did not own it then, but i believe it was running OME 5" coils and L shocks. The other two pictures one is with TJM 3" coils and TJM L shocks, and the other one is with my current set up with OE radius arms and Dobinson MR shocks for a 6" lift

 

[Despingator]

 

[NLXTACY]

In b4 @NLXTACY calls them rollover arms.

He's got a snorkel. As long as it's Chinese he'll be fine.

 

[Despingator]

Nice! No binding within the frame side bracket at full extension?

If you mean anything hitting each other, then no there is no binding that i have noticed.

 

[richardlillard1]

Nice! No binding within the frame side bracket at full extension?

If they do bind on the frame end, it's very minimal. Most of the bind I've noticed is in the axle mounts, which is normal for any radius arms on these trucks.

Compare the two. Mine with SE arm:

Ignore the white marks on the diff.

And a narrowed factory arm on the same rock:

This helps with the bind considerably and my next set of bushings will be installed once the arms are ground down and put on a diet.

EDIT: Also, in b4 "that forces the rear to comply!"

 

[Despingator]

Oh good, now someone can bother you about them instead of me.

In b4 @Delancy says your pinion angle is ****ed.

In b4 @NLXTACY calls them rollover arms.

Pinion angle seems fine to me and i have no vibrations, and rollover arms i did not notice any loss in stability, although compared to a cruiser with oe sway bars mine has always been night and day difference since i upgraded them to the whiteline sway bars.

 

[richardlillard1]

Pinion angle seems fine to me and i have no vibrations, and rollover arms i did not notice any loss in stability, although compared to a cruiser with oe sway bars mine has always been night and day difference since i upgraded them to the whiteline sway bars.

There's a bit of back story that you're missing.

I noticed none of these issues either, but others that have run the arms, specifically the exact ones currently on my truck, have had a few bones to pick with them.

And on that note, in b4 @Delancy posts a picture of his truck on its side. AGAIN.

 

[GW Nugget]

Sweet, another 80 with SE arms... ive been very curious about them. I've talked with richardlillard1 about them. May I ask how much was the shipping to get them to your door? Did you have to pay customs etc?

 

[nzeighty]

I' have them in my truck I didn't bother with sway bars
Truck drives way better on road
Caster is in spec
Front flex has improved

 

[Delancy]

And on that note, in b4 @Delancy

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned....

There are some that consider a s*** sandwich a delicacy, most especially, collectively, ignoring the taste of s*** in the crowd.

Me, it still tastes like s***, even with mustard.

@Despingator,

Are the splines cut long for a reason?

 

[Despingator]

Sweet, another 80 with SE arms... ive been very curious about them. I've talked with richardlillard1 about them. May I ask how much was the shipping to get them to your door? Did you have to pay customs etc?

I work for one of their US distributors so i got it a bit cheaper, they retail landed for about $1160 give or take. depending on location and insurance.

 

[Despingator]

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned....

There are some that consider a s*** sandwich a delicacy, most especially, collectively, ignoring the taste of s*** in the crowd.

Me, it still tastes like s***, even with mustard.

@Despingator,

Are the splines cut long for a reason?

View attachment 1315532

Reason for the driveshaft is that i broke my actual driveshaft at the overland challenge and i borrowed my buddies double cardan which was way shorter than mine. Since i abused it, its was only fair to buy him a new one and keep this one as a spare.

 

[half k cruiser]

Man that thing still looks really stiff in front. Of course without before photos who knows. It would be nice to drive a rig that had them and see the difference.

 

[richardlillard1]

There's definitely a difference, but I would guess that his is stiff because of the upgraded sway bars.

I've found that running just the factory rear and none in the front makes the truck articulate pretty evenly. In fact, now that the front bushings are showing signs of wear, the front is starting to out move the rear.

This will get addressed when I get around to putting the new bushings in. I had planned to do it a month or two ago, but I've been too busy, so who knows when I'll get to it.

 

[Despingator]

There's definitely a difference, but I would guess that his is stiff because of the upgraded sway bars.

I've found that running just the factory rear and none in the front makes the truck articulate pretty evenly. In fact, now that the front bushings are showing signs of wear, the front is starting to out move the rear.

This will get addressed when I get around to putting the new bushings in. I had planned to do it a month or two ago, but I've been too busy, so who knows when I'll get to it.

The sway bars stiffened up the truck a lot, however like i said i got to the same height with the sway bars connected and disconnected and the front looked similar, could also be the stiff spring rate i am running up front.

 

[richardlillard1]

The sway bars stiffened up the truck a lot, however like i said i got to the same height with the sway bars connected and disconnected and the front looked similar, could also be the stiff spring rate i am running up front.

Definitely. I run OME coils and the truck moves very evenly. About the only change I would make is a 'nicer' shock (Fox, King, etc.), but the radius arms and flex have nothing to do with that. That's more about my use of the vehicle and what I don't like about fast movement.