i am looking to buy a new suspension for my jeep and i was wondering what was the difference between long and short arm suspensions. can anyone help?
Short arm kits are good up to a 6 lift. A short arm kit comes with new lower control arms that are about 1/4 longer than the stock arm. What it does is place the front axle at the proper angle for alignment purposes (caster) A long arm kit does the same thing but the lower arm is a lot longer. It will mount farther back on the frame and a good kit will also come with an upper control arm. The long arm gives the Jeep more articulation (wheel travel when rock crawling). This means your front tire can climb up something a lot farther before the rear tires start to come off the ground. If you are not building a super off road machine, there is no reason to build a long arm Jeep. You can also look into johnny joint lower arms. They are a short arm kit that has a heim joint at the axle so it can twist like a long arm set up, just not as much.
This refers to the length of the control arms. Short arm suspensions use the stock location. This is fine up to about 3 lift. They are made up to about 4 These are cheaper than long arm kits. Long arm kits relocate the control arm pivot on the frame further away from the axle. This gives you a greater range in axle motion. This is important when you're at 4 or greater lift. Long arm also more expensive, but the benefits outweigh the cost if you need it.
