Rough Country Adjustable Control Arms?

[abebehrmann]

Does anybody have these control arms or know anyone that does? What are your thoughts on them? I've been wanting to get some adjustable lower control arms for a while now and found these.

http://www.roughcountry.com/jeep-adjustable-control-arms-1190.html

I should be able to afford them sometime in the next month or so but don't know anyone else that has them. Any info you could give me would be greatly appreciated.

[drakan1908]

I have them on my Grand....no problems. They came with my lift. Of course I have them on front and rear. Rear upper and lower, front lower.

[bigjim350]

I have them on my xj. Have had them for about 3yrs. Havent had any problems with them. They are a bit noisy though, the flex joint will bang against the control arm mount as they get some wear on them.

[rabies]

WJ front uppers for front uppers.

use JK rear uppers for xj front lower....

ul have .5-1" extension
fyi front lower control arms have a slot for adjustment also. not much though. like .25"

[4.3LXJ]

I think the biggest weakness of that arm is not the steel in them, although a little thin for my area with the size of the rocks here. It is the design of the flex joint and the inserts in them. What I don't like is the snap ring design. You press it together and if there is some wear on the ball, or the insert then there is no adjustment. I have some joints I use, although they are builder parts, that have a threaded adjustment. I have a total of six of these and had to adjust one once after two years. Also, this type is much easier to rebuild should they need it. The snap ring type are cheaper to manufacture, and cheaper to buy. However if the insert gets a little loose, then the problem compounds itself each time it gets thumped. Much better to just adjust them when you get a little noise

[abebehrmann]

WJ front uppers for front uppers.

use JK rear uppers for xj front lower....

ul have .5-1" extension
fyi front lower control arms have a slot for adjustment also. not much though. like .25"

Thanks for the tip. My whole build so far is junkyard parts and stock take offs, but I'm trying to get away from this and slowly replace these parts with better performing aftermarket parts. I might end up doing some more research and going that route if I can't find some adjustable arms in my price range and can find these take offs for very cheap/free.


I think the biggest weakness of that arm is not the steel in them, although a little thin for my area with the size of the rocks here. It is the design of the flex joint and the inserts in them. What I don't like is the snap ring design. You press it together and if there is some wear on the ball, or the insert then there is no adjustment. I have some joints I use, although they are builder parts, that have a threaded adjustment. I have a total of six of these and had to adjust one once after two years. Also, this type is much easier to rebuild should they need it. The snap ring type are cheaper to manufacture, and cheaper to buy. However if the insert gets a little loose, then the problem compounds itself each time it gets thumped. Much better to just adjust them when you get a little noise

So these joints aren't adjustable? I'm probably wrong or misunderstanding you but I thought I saw that the x-flex joint was adjustable and included an adjustment tool. Would you mind posting up a pic of the builder parts you're talking about?

[4.3LXJ]

Sigh, two mistakes today. I was looking at the snap ring side and thinking about past products. Yes, those do appear to be adjustable. They have apparently gone through several changes over the time since they have started offering the cheaper long arms

[abebehrmann]

I just wanted to share what I've learned about these control arms. I contacted Rough Country because I was concerned about the thickness of the metal used to make these adjustable control arms. They sent me the attached schematics. The thing that concerned me was that they list SC80 pipe as one of the possible building materials. I contacted them to see if this actually was something that they used and they told me that it was at one point but they have phased this out and only use DOM/HREW but wouldn't tell me if these were two separate types of metal or if they meant that the HREW tubing used has been drawn over mandrel.

[abebehrmann]

In the end, while I was impressed with the construction of the Rough Country adjustable control arms, I ended up going a different direction due to a number of reasons.

I picked up these RuffStuff Specialties Adjustable Control Arms over the weekend because:
1) They are made in California by real human welders (not machines) with steel made in the US. :patriot::patriot: I'm not sure if RC are or not but I like knowing for sure one way or the other.
2) They are made of stronger materials 2''x0.25'' DOM compared to 1.88''x0.188'' DOM/HERW
3) Ruffstuff was having an after Thanksgiving 22.5% off sale so they ended up being cheaper after shipping than the RC arms were before shipping and I am a cheapskate who can't pass up a good deal...:rolleye0012:

My only concern is that the heim joint will transfer more road vibrations than the RC X-flex joints but I'm hoping the stock rubber bushing at one end helps to minimize this.

[4.3LXJ]

The rubber will help