Control Arm Recomendation / Snorkel

[Jrama]

My stock arms are shot, bushings falling out of twisted stamped metal holding on to twisted control arm mounts at the axle. I am looking at getting something bigger and better.
What type of joints/bushings are people running and seeing success ? Between the winter and the mud I know that bushings of all kinds have a tough life out here.

I'm also seriously considering a snorkel. after that last run and a "not deep" mud hole, I found mud solidly lining the inside of the air box and a nice dirty spray leading righting in to the manifold. ARB snorkel seems good enough any other good ideas? There are a few good write ups out there any personal experiences?

[binare]

Snorkels are just plain silly on gas engines if you dont take the time to address everything else... especially the ignition system... diesel... give er! If your concern is the mud and dirt your fan kicked up... causing it enter your airbox... Id save the money spent on that snazzy accessorie snorkel and spend it on something more useful. Convert to electric fan with an override switch so you can turn it off if you cross deep enough to hit the blades and save the trouble of replacing a rad, fan, or cleaning your engine. Things a snorkel wont do for you. Elecric fan conversion can be done dirt cheap... pnp cheap.

As for CAs... make sure those new joints have some movement or your worse off then you think you are now with the stock arms. Personally... I like stock arms, cheap, flexy, easy to find. I got a stock pile of bushings and arms from people doing lifts that include cheap arms and cheap bushings from all in one kits.... yup... Ill keep my stockers till I can drop the coin on Curries with JJs or similiar.

[Jrama]

Interesting, I had already thought about the other potential weak points, but none seem to be as pressing as the air intake. While the fan, seals, breather valves on various components may be weak points. Usually they don't spell immediate death to your motor like sucking water directly in to the intake does. Fan clutches wear out, electrical stuff may stall the motor, water through seals takes a little time. I just finished changing my diff fluids today, front diff looked more like Mclean mud than oil.....Its not submersing the motor that deep that worries me, its having that high water mark and splashing effect that can cause damage. However you have a very good point, I'll definitely think about it.

As for the arms, Johnny joint Currie arms are the best, but very expensive. I was considering the new Rough country flex joint arms as well, I have no idea how they will actually hold up in the long term though and they do not have a flex joint at both ends. Plus I was even wondering If I want an adjustable short arm for the lowers? I am going no higher than 4" of suspension lift and even up to 6" companies keep the same fixed length.

[binare]

I think of it like this. The electric fan is really a no brainer for deep water crossings. The fan blades act like a propeller as soon as they hit water. Itll twist, and push, and pull itself right into the rad all the while... kicking up a shitestorm of antifreeze, diesel, mud, dirt, rocks and whatever else was living in that little mud hole before you attacked it. Having the ability to turn that fan off for the 20 seconds it took to cross that pit of despair is worth the fans weight in gold compared to a snorkel for the average user aka. no plans to submerge the engine up to said intake. Even if you ever do decide to swim that deep, you'll still want an electric fan. So.... I'd do the fan first, get used to using that override switch mounted on your dash aaand if the urge is still there.... then start looking at all the purdy lookin snorkels.


CAs. I've been around the block a few times, Jeepin isn't immune to the trend of packaging shiny useless objects with low price tags to make a sale. CAs packaged with budget lifts are "usually" those shiny useless objects. And boy do they work... for the quarterly projections of course. "why would I spend 2k on full Curries with JJs when I can get a full lift for a grand including flexy bendy parts?" They both are a rip... but one works well with less headaches, the other doesn't work much better then stock did. Are you shopping for the round eye in your avatar?

[w squared]

If you wheel in a way that gets mud in your airbox, then a snorkel might not be a bad investment. It does sorta shout "poser" but if you've already see nthat you've come close to hydrolocking your engine because of how you wheel and you don't want to adjust how you approach mud....knock yourself out.

As far as control arms, either buy quality adjustables, or just buy a set of takeoffs - that's a cheap was to stick a stock set back in there. Anything in between, you're probably wasting you time and money. As far as quality adjustables go - Johnny Joints. On JK parts, I know that Clayont, Currie, and ORE run them. I couldn't tell you off the top of my head builds 'em into control arms for TJ's.

[YoungFluff03TJ]

Comon j bles nothing stopped you spending an incredible amount of money on the heep before... do it once. do it right. Id say JJ are pretty sweet. The fan thing is a cool idea, but as soon as you go into the much it will get on your fan. turn fan on again. mud everywhere, although less pronounced it will still build up over the day. I think you should do both. the fan choke idea and snorkel, hell we can build a snorkel out of PVC pipe and a creative sawsall swipe. Its not hard to make. at all. And will save you a considerable amount.

[binare]

Do you carry a spare air filter at all? I use the cheapo paper ones and always have an extra. I get mud and crap in the airbox all the time. If Im really worried about Ill pull the top and check if the filters wet. If shes soaked Ill change it but it rarely happens. They designed that box pretty well and itd be pretty hard to suck water up and over the airbox let alone mud. That thing will probably hold a couple of liters before it would block the intake and your engine would start sucking it back. A couple drops of water and some mud in the box just means the whole setup is doing its job. Trap the big stuff and filter out the small stuff.


Since Im on this electric fan kick, one last plug for it. No fan spinning equals less crap in the airbox... No two ways about it. If you commit to doing it... Ill commit to wiring it up for ya... Deal?

[Jrama]

I do agree Electric fan and Snorkel go hand in hand. I don't go seeking deep water or mud situations, occasionally something is deeper than you or your "guide" expect. So the snorkel is like cheap insurance. I was out a couple weekends ago, and a friend of mine in a TJ (like me), he sucked water into the motor, no reckless splashing or anything in a mud pit that was to the bottom of the headlights. The motor didn't stall but the oil certainly had water in it and that ticking it was making didn't sound healthy. An oil change ended up fixing the problem entirely, but sure enough the filter was wet and water got past. The next time I'm out I find myself in nearly the exact same situation...I should have taken a picture of my air box, it was thick with mud, I removed it from the jeep and pressure sprayed it to clean it.

I am running an Amsoil re-usable filter, like a K&N except no gauze and oil, and much better filtration and about the same flow. Your supposed to clean it with a vacuum or compressor, I ended up using the kitchen sink and water to remove the caked mud on it, and thick dirt just about everywhere else.

Reviewing the information on the X joints leads me to the conclusion that they will be a pita, especially how often I wheel the Jeep. I'm leaning toward the JJ, I spend enough time maintaining and fixing things on the heep to be worrying about changing bushings in the arms. I wonder if there is anyone around here who could make a custom arms for a couple bucks cheaper? I might just get a replacement set of stock arms for now if they come up easily, Spending the money now or later really doesn't matter.

[binare]

Could look at Rockmens complete package:
 http://www.rokmen.com/suspension/control-arms/rokmen-1/rokmen-jeep-tj-lj-adjustable-control-arm-package.html

Its the way Im gonna go after the tummy tuck and fuel cell are done next year, the small stretch will warrant the need at that point. Ive talked to a couple machine shops about getting the steel work done. Thats the cheap part, by the time you price out all the joints, jam nuts, bungs etc. The Rokmen price looked better and better.

[JackstandJohnny]

i didn't read all the replies jamal.... lots o' talkin, me to lazy.

but i did see you ask about rough country 'xflex' joints......... i just put their 4" on my ZJ.  for the price its.......... ok.   i plan on upgrading the joints in my xflex with JJs when they wear out........ and i think they will............. very soon............. the rubber compound on the joints is just that; rubber.  i'm sure they will start clunking after a few runs........

long and short is i would run JJs.  if you are like me, and cheap, the rough country stuff is ok short term, and upgrade later.  i cannot confirm the JJs are direct bolt ins for the Rough country stuff though;  i will cross that bridge when i get to it!  but my plan is to run JJ joints in the future.........

[Unknown303]

I put a snorkel on my Jeep after a 9,000 dollar engine replacement.  It definitely gives me a little comfort knowing that I can worry about one less thing going into a pit/river crossing etc. And I've had Jeeps in some seriously deep water and never had electrical issues. Well in the TJ I replaced a few TPS but nothing major.

[binare]

Another option, unless its a YJ of course is just rerouting your intake to the cowl. If your like me, deep water equals death... Me no likey. If I ever had water comin over the hood and hittin the cowl... Id have done somethin really stupid for how I wheel.

[morerpmfred]

Yes I have had the cowl under water. I was lucky as that is where the air intake for the moter is. If you have a wet or mud on your filter you got lucky and dodged a bullit.
  Change your air intake , either move it or take air from the cowl or a snorkel.
  That being said I think all snorkels are butt ugly , personel opinion and on my jeep the intake is from the cowl.
  TJ have lots of room under the hood to make up a good functioning cowl intake.

[scott slade]

On the snorkle issue....   I had one on my XJ and plan one very soon for the LJ.  Not worried about water and mud, but the dust..!!!   Out on a dry trail and following others, the snorkle draws in more fresh air being up high...not sucking as much dust from the wheel and engine bay.    Just another thought. 

[Spinalguy]

i spent $20 on a snorkel for my jeep on 33's. When i got another jeep on 37.s...no snorkel. For the life of me, i could never spend money on a company brand name snorkel.