Full Traction 4" Long Arm vs. 4" Short Arm

[scottjk]

I am now down to either the 4" Long Arm or 4" Short Arm. There is a relatively large price difference, but both require moving the exhaust, an SYE, and longer drive shaft.

So it comes down to ride. Long arm "better than stock" (Full Traction's comment) but the biggest criticism on the boards is getting hung up on rocks. Short arm does not get hung up on things, and according to Full Traction, delivers a stock ride.

My budget points me towards the short arm, and while I am on dirt every week, I don't do a lot of rock crawling per se. However, I do a lot of highway driving getting around the desert. So having at least stock ride and handling is critical. However, if the handling is marginal, then it is better to make it hurt in the wallet and get what I need.

So does anyone have the Full Traction 4" Short Arm? Do you like its handling characteristics? Would you get it again? Or any 4"ish short arm system?

Last comment - I'll be running on either Bridgestone or BFGoodrich 33s.

Thanks...

[swbooking]

Yeah there is the criticism that a LA kit causes you to get hung up on lots of things but ive seen PLEANTY of LA kits that have gone over anything that an SA kit has and not had a problem. I think i comes down to how well of a driver you are and how you pick you lines. I doubt that any kit will give you a "better then stock" ride but the LA kits are supposed to be more comfortable. I have an RE 4.5" SA kit and i think the ride is fine. Its what you would expect for a rig thats built to off road. My steering was giving me a little problems at first but i just got a drop pitman arm and it cleared up my bump steer. If it were me, i would do the LA kit and if my steering was a little out of whacked, i would just do OTK, something like the JCR steering upgrade. CJBrian on here has a 6" Full Traction LA kit and im pretty sure he likes it. and hes gone over many hard obsticles with no problem. According to all the JeepSpeed racers, FT is the best kits around. My .02
-Allen

[blkTJ]

where do you plan on wheeling?

[xjkevin]

i would go long arms and be done with it, seems like the only people who talk long arms down is the ones who dont have them, even at 4'' youl tell the difference on the streets, i went from r/e short arms all adj at 4.5 to 5.5 long arm on my zj and the difference was clear as day. just my opinion//good luck//Kevin

[blkTJ]

... seems like the only people who talk long arms down is the ones who dont want them...

fixed it for ya.

[Dukes69]

fixed it for ya.

:thumbs_up :cactus:

[xjkevin]

Lol Lol

[rockrat33]

go with the long arm I got a 4" sa and if I had to pay for it I would have gone LA. Let me get a pic of 04crawlers new fabtech coilover set up it is so sweet I can't wait to get mine done. Rides better than stock even with the 37"s . If your worried about the arms get the Nth degree that kit is soposed to ride like a caddie on the road and flex better than most LA kits.

[blkTJ]

go with the long arm I got a 4" sa and if I had to pay for it I would have gone LA. Let me get a pic of 04crawlers new fabtech coilover set up it is so sweet I can't wait to get mine done. Rides better than stock even with the 37"s . If your worried about the arms get the Nth degree that kit is soposed to ride like a caddie on the road and flex better than most LA kits.

where do you get all this stuff.

does anyone have any actual trail experience with fabtech stuff and it's durability???

tire size has nothing to do with ride quality. what axles is he runnung with those 37s???

which sa kit did you get??? what shocks are you running???

have you ever seen an Nth degree setup out perform anything???

[rockrat33]

yes the guys at all j used to run the fabtech kit. Ran a prototype for two years before he went to the Nth and didn't have problems with it.
On the lj the ride os great on the road. Flexes out well in the rocks too. It is the coil conversion. but time will tell.
The lj has 44 rear with and ox locker and a 30 front for now. We'll see how long it holds up.
I got his old tera flex 4" with bilstiens rides good but wanders a bit.
A few guys from all j run the Nth and it seems to flex out better than a simalar rig with the re.
this is just my 2 cents of course, as I have not driven the Nth yet.

[Lead Dog]

I'm running the Fabtech 8" kit with coilovers and love it! It's now my daily driver because it rode so well! Handles great off road and articulation is excelent!

[xjkevin]

looks nice and im sure it works great for what your using it for,//Kevin

[blkTJ]

wow, amazing.

[scottjk]

Thanks for the input...

For blkTJ - The wheeling I do is back in the Mojave desert. Lot of sand, some washes and mud during the rainy season, and decent rocks on the mining trails.

I will admit that I don't take the "line least traveled" and take the "line of least resistance." Mostly because I use my rig to explore, camp, and get around rather than challenge the rig itself.

So...that means I'm not looking to take the rig out to the Johnson Valley Rockcrawling competition - but want to be able to get around with confidence. Right now I run stock on the Jeep and have gotten where I wanted to go...but not without a bit more sweating than I'd like.

Thanks again...

[blackZZR]

have you ever seen an Nth degree setup out perform anything???

I have been running the rear suspension by Nth for 2 seasons now. I think it really preforms better than the suspension I had before it. And it is a really nice system that requires very little special maintenence. Like it so much I bought the Jyro Joint system for the front, just witing for a warm weekend to install it.

I reall am not lifted enough to get into the long arm vs short arm arguement, I am at borderline. I do see a lot of long arm jeeps in the desert every year stuggling to do what a short arm could easily do. And I see a lot of short orm stuff in the rocks and trails that would be better served with a long arm. That said I see guys with short arm stuff just totally embarrass a lot of long arm guys, so which one? Got me. I like the stable platform of the short arm.