TJ / LJ Lower Control Arm Bolt Hole Relocation
Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2024 10:01 am
No rocket science here, but keeping flatter control arm angles is usually beneficial for a bunch of reasons. In a TJ/LJ, the control arms are so short that it doesn't take much lift at all to make things really funky... Luckily for us, the factory frame mounts have a ton of meat on them below the original hole, and I spent a few minutes with a template and a step bit to relocate my frame side LCA holes 1-1/4" down. Based on some quick ciphering, in my case the net gain here was 5* lesser control arm angle, which is significant. For reference, I've got approximately 3-1/4" of total lift up front, so here is what the math says:
And here's my template and the finished product:
A brief test drive before diving into other alterations revealed a night and day difference in handling and overall behavior over small bumps and road imperfections, which is where steep control arm angles can lead to sketchy handling. I'll make some doubler plates to beef up the mounting bracket in the near future
- LCA Angle Comparison.jpg (134.82 KiB) Viewed 1041 times
And here's my template and the finished product:
- IMG_5421.JPG (1.21 MiB) Viewed 1041 times
- IMG_5422.JPG (1.23 MiB) Viewed 1041 times
- IMG_5424.JPG (1.32 MiB) Viewed 1041 times
A brief test drive before diving into other alterations revealed a night and day difference in handling and overall behavior over small bumps and road imperfections, which is where steep control arm angles can lead to sketchy handling. I'll make some doubler plates to beef up the mounting bracket in the near future