Johnny jointed or OE radius arms on a D2?

[Jeff Blake]

Now that I've moved up to the mountains I'm trying to fix some steering issues on my D2.

I'm planning to order front and rear 6 degree arms from Adrenalin 4x4 with SuperPro bushes. They offer regular bushing style and JJ option for chassis mount. I have an email into them asking for pros/cons of each but would also like to get some suggestions here. James says the JJ's are bolt on: " it just requires a spacer either side of the Johnny joint when fitting, these are supplied with the arms, they are a straight bolt on fit."

OE style:

https://adrenalin4x4.co.uk/shop/ols/products/caster-corrected-and-johnny-jointed-front-and-rear-radius-arms-for-discovery-2-models-cst-crr-and-jhn

JJ:

https://adrenalin4x4.co.uk/shop/ols/products/caster-corrected-and-johnny-jointed-front-and-rear-radius-arms-for-discovery-2-models

To see pics go here

https://adrenalin4x4.co.uk/shop/ols/products/caster-corrected-front-radius-arms-for-discovery-2-models

 

[rovercanus]

Are you really going to pay that much for radius arms? Don't like the RTE for 300 to 500 less? And what is it with the Eurotrash gold anodizing on their shit?
Unless you don't street drive this most people here will tell you to shy away from the Heim joints.

 

[Jeff Blake]

Are you really going to pay that much for radius arms? Don't like the RTE for 300 to 500 less? And what is it with the Eurotrash gold anodizing on their shit?
Unless you don't street drive this most people here will tell you to shy away from the Heim joints.

Not a fan of the paint job either, I'll just rattle can them black...
From my understanding, RTE takes in a core (which I don't have), modifies them, etc. And the pricing on their site is never their actual pricing from my experience, plus haven't had the greatest experience with them in the pas. I'm between places too and don't have a press, so if Adrenalin can give me plug and play arms with poly bushings installed, I'm all for it.

Where are you getting heims? I'm comparing johnny joints vs regular poly bush

 

[rovercanus]

So most here once again won't recommend non bushings on road.
I just threw away some arms when I moved. Wish this had been discussed them, I would have given them to you.

 

[lunchbox]

I have their a arm. The build quality is top notch. JJs are not heim joints. they don’t wear as fast nor do they click. They are a bushing on the inside. They are rebuildable with a snap ring, and greasable. That said, it depends on your goal with the truck and if you want the opinion of someone on 37s, links, and a fair amount of body damage...

 

[Jeff Blake]

So most here once again won't recommend non bushings on road.
I just threw away some arms when I moved. Wish this had been discussed them, I would have given them to you.

All good, thanks though!

I have their a arm. The build quality is top notch. JJs are not heim joints. they don’t wear as fast nor do they click. They are a bushing on the inside. They are rebuildable with a snap ring, and greasable. That said, it depends on your goal with the truck and if you want the opinion of someone on 37s, links, and a fair amount of body damage...

Yes I do want your opinion... do you have the JJ arms or bush? I optimize without question for the trails, but having some decent road manners are a plus (mine is currently a mess on the road, this is Part 1 of many to hopefully get to the point of not bouncing all over the road when turning). Yeah sure the issue is likely elsewhere but these 3 degree TF arms aren't great, have different ID than stock (so replacing the bushings in the future is a big question mark), and my last alignment showed castor a couple degrees off

 

[robertf]

does the JJ go at the frame end or both axle ends?

Doesn't seem like it should hurt road manners too much, the track bar still has to do its job, right?

I'd be more worried about the angle. If it were mine I'd find a way to cut and turn the stock axle to get things right, corrected arms are going to help and hurt either steering or vibrations.

 

[Jeff Blake]

does the JJ go at the frame end or both axle ends?

Doesn't seem like it should hurt road manners too much, the track bar still has to do its job, right?

I'd be more worried about the angle. If it were mine I'd find a way to cut and turn the stock axle to get things right, corrected arms are going to help and hurt either steering or vibrations.

Shoot, I have no idea, and there are no pics. I'll get more info from Adrenalin. The picture I painted in my head is of the D1 arms (D1's are JJ'ed... I think, right?), so chassis side only.

That does sound smart to fab the axle, maybe someday when I get a welder. Never heard of anyone doing that, though.

 

[lunchbox]

D2 arms do not have bushings like a D1. They already have a bushing that runs perpendicular to the arm. So a JJ is only going to offer more lateral flex at the frame end. So I really don’t know how much they will help. You can realistically get full droop from a 10” shock up front anyway. Then the axle end becomes an issue as well. Tough call. I don’t have a D2. So I don’t know how much the frame end bushings limit flex.

 

[lunchbox]

The JJ goes at the frame end. It is slightly narrower than the factory mount, hence the spacers they mentioned to you. The ball in socket design allows for more lateral flex than a bushing would.

 

[Stocksuspension66]

I have them in the front @ 6 degrees. I have the rear frame mount Johnny joint and the front is a rubber bushing. They fit perfect and drive straight. They are quiet and do not make any noise. These things are tanks. Super heavy duty

 

[Jeff Blake]

I like the idea of the JJs. The poly bushings I have in there now do seem a little cockeyed at the frame end. Price wise it's pretty much a wash with Superpro poly. Just waiting to hear back from Adrenalin... "hey guys I want to spend a grand and change and have some basic questions, how about at least 24 hr response time..."

 

[Stocksuspension66]

True. I emailed them and got nothing done. I called them and they answered every question. Problem is the time difference. The front bushing is an rbx101680 or poly bush. Not a fan of poly bushings. The rear is a Johnny joint. They buy there Johnny joints direct from summit racing. I will say this, I purchased front radius arms and a few other goodies from them and they shipped and arrived faster then some of your favorite Land Rover vendors

 

[Jeff Blake]

OEM rubber isn't a bad idea. Seems like all poly bushings are shit quality... then there is SuperPro with lifetime warranty but they want $250+ *per* arm for the bushes!
I wonder if Adrenalin will put rubber in there for me. Wish I had a press right now, just no space for it, I used to have a 20 tonner next to my fridge in the kitchen...

Word on shipping, I don't order from any USA vendors. I get parts 5-20x cheaper and faster from LRdirect.

 

[K-rover]

Ive been using blue(soft) at the frame and orange (medium) at the axle on some RTE arms for a few years now. The front of my truck flexes pretty well for a radius arm setup. I can dislocate my front springs beyond the cones... The bushings are polybush, they have held up great. No cracking whatsoever. From what I understand most of the binding from radius arms happens at the axle end, but having soft bushings or JJs at the frame, do help free up some travel. I was looking at the Adrenalin rear arms if I dont do a 4 link.

 

[seventyfive]

I modified my rte cranked front arms (D2) to install Balistic Fabrication joints. https://www.ballisticfabrication.co...3-heavy-duty-ballistic-joint?lshst=collection

the only advantage, installing a rod end style joint, is to eliminate axial bind at the mounting bolt. In other words it allows the arm to pivot about that bolt with no external force.

I used 8 of their threaded 2.63 joints in the rear 4 link.

Forged Chromoly 2.63 in Ballistic Joint

100% Machined In the U.S. Using Domestic and Imported Materials 4140 Hardened Chromoly Housing and Spanner Nut Hardened 416 Stainless Steel Ball Polyurethane Races manufactured by Prothane Adjustable Spanner nut to tighten in case of wear LIFETIME WARRANTY* The 2.63" Rebuildable Heavy Duty...

www.ballisticfabrication.com

they are pretty bomb proof. Never had any issues with the poly inserts they sell. Greasing them regularly is mandatory. Use a good synthetic grease not petroleum.

before I modified the cranked arms I ran a set of Justin’s cranked front arms. They had Johnny joints at the frame and axle. They blew out and rebuilding them sucks dick.

 

[Jeff Blake]

I'm going with the JJ arms and OEM rubber bushings. James from Adrenalin had this to say, in case anyone else is considering:

The Johnny jointed arms provide more flex and greater articulation when used in conjunction with long travel shocks. The other benefit is that they can be extended to help with wheel creep on larger lifts. The joints are rebuildable and spares are easily accessible in the states from the likes of summit or 4wdp.



Yes using JJ’s will cut the cost of the bushes but the joints are still $50 each.



If you decided on the JJ versions we could just send you the arms to cut delivery costs and you buy the joints locally (we will give you the required part numbers) front and rear with no joints would be £550 the same price as our non JJ arms.

 

[K-rover]

I'm going with the JJ arms and OEM rubber bushings. James from Adrenalin had this to say, in case anyone else is considering:

So $700 plus shipping and you still need to buy the joints? Sounds a bit pricey

Never mind just realized its for both front and rear!

 

[K-rover]

Any idea what shipping is running on them?

 

[Jeff Blake]

Any idea what shipping is running on them?

Oh boy, the site quoted me 300 pounds, but we'll see he said it would be less w/o joints...