martifers Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Evening all. Could I have some opinions on these please? http://www.garageand4x4.com/page3.html Are there many people on here who have experience with them? I like the look and idea of them and have had good dealings with Garageand4x4 before but I just wanted to get some opinions. Can the joints handle off-road abuse, being sat with the vehicle arse end balancing / be dragged over a log on them? No joint / bush is finite, i guess i'm after some first hand experience. A lot of people are running rose / johnny jointed rear arms. How will these differ in capability? Cheers Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuck Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 It could just be the picture but the welds on the vertical "braces" look appalling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bowie69 Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Look a rather under developed product to new, compromised by the use of what looks like an a-frame ball joint, in single shear. Why use an a-frame joint when there are so many better solutions available off the shelf? And as above, welding looks a but suspect, compare it to a pair of X-arms and there's no contest. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gremlin Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 They look nasty, one good rock at the adjustable treaded part and i bet it will develop into a nice trophy to hang up in the garage! G Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
19MART82 Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 fairplay to them for comeing up with new ideas but personally i dont like the look of them,i dont think that joint looks up to the job in the middle,and i dont like the fact that on the defender brackets theres only the 2 small bolts holding the ball joint to the bracket,i think it would be subject to a lot more force than when fitted to the A frame but thats just my opinion, x arms get my vote ive had them on my 90 for a while now and cant fault them Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rick Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Really poor design using a ball joint in single shear @ the chassis end IMO as the lower links carry more load than the uppers. They'll also transmit a lot more NVH than even hard urethane with that link at the chassis end. The standard chassis end bush works well, it allows full twist in the arm during articualtion and won't restrict sane levels of droop travel if you use a decent bush such as Super Pro or Bearmach's alternative. [edit]You'd be instantly defected here if anyone with any authority saw them too and it wouldn't pass the yearly rego inspection, at least in this state. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stuck Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 I hope Si (X-Eng) doesn't mind me posting this but you can see the difference in thought that has gone in to his design: Mods please delete if doing this is against the rules. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
western Posted February 15, 2012 Share Posted February 15, 2012 Never heard of that supplier before, I think I would stay with the original arms, not to sure about the ones shown above.[not refering to the X-eng arms/joints] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martifers Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 Cheers for your thoughts. Interesting to hear people reiterate my A-frame ball joint concerns. They may become a problem if the axle wanted to be left behind an obstacle, you'd have everything hinged on 3 A-frame ball joints remaining intact... I don't believe they were ever design to be load bearing in that plane. Still hoping for someone with first hand experience to comment before I write them off. I would rather commend innovation and see how things work or don't work practically before passing judgement on theory. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moose Posted February 16, 2012 Share Posted February 16, 2012 Still hoping for someone with first hand experience to comment before I write them off. I would rather commend innovation and see how things work or don't work practically before passing judgement on theory. Please don't take this the wrong way... I am interested in what are you looking to gain from fitting these arms? Are you looking for more drop? Is it the ability to adjust the length of them? etc... I have been making my own trailing arms for years... to start with i used the standard bush mounting. I now use creeper jointed trailing links, not for more travel which most people amuse but because where I have a extended wheel base (and the links) the oem trailing arm brackets hang below the chassis rail and had a habit of getting you hung up on trees rocks etc. So i cut them off and and made my own mounts for the joints which gave my truck the flat belly need when dragging over objects. As i have not got a massive lift plus fairly small tyres (well by today's standards ). This image might give you a bit of an idea of what i mean... With regards to the arms your looking at... I would like to know the spec of the joints before using them and the (strengthening?) fins would just help get me stuck more. Paul Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
martifers Posted February 16, 2012 Author Share Posted February 16, 2012 Paul, by creeper joint, do you mean johnny joint or something else, i have not heard of them before? Be interested to see some more pictures Paul. I am not 100% sure what you mean. At the moment I have over cranked arm's. This is because the person that owned the truck before me seemed obsessed with lift... anyway i removed the spacers during rebuild so now just sit about 2.5-3 inches above std. The cranked trailing arms where cranked for the original lift so now on level ground, the top side of the chassis side bushes of the trailing arms are slightly compressed. This is great for droop as the the trailing arms do not provide much resistance and allow my shocks to extend to their limit. The problem is when the wheel is raised going over an obstacle, the already partially depressed trailing arm bushes do not allow as much upwards travel as they could. Thus the vehicle body remains higher - thus a higher C of G and i'm more likely to end up arse over head. Pictures may describe it better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landroversforever Posted February 17, 2012 Share Posted February 17, 2012 Creeper and Johnny joints are similar types of joint. They are both brand names. Johnny Joint: Creeper joint: They're all much of a muchness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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