Need advice on drag link flip

C

Carsons

New member
I bought a JKU Rubicon recently and I'm building it into a rock crawler. It will not be my daily driver, but it needs to be street legal to get me to trails such as the Rubicon. I'm new to Jeeps and I'm still learning and researching.
The Jeep is lifted 3.5" already on just coils with stock control arms. I will be staying at 3.5" lift but I intend to get EVO high clearance long arms. The previous owner had a cracked weld on the front track bar bracket and they welded on an Artec raised track bar bracket as a replacement. However, they did not do a drag link flip. I was looking into lift kits and spoke with someone from Metalcloak and they told me that at 3.5", a drag link flip does more harm than good by limiting flex because you have to run more bumpstop.
That got me thinking on whether I should complete the drag link flip or if I should cut off the track bar bracket and weld on a standard height bracket.

Because they never flipped the drag link, there are some clearance issue with running a steering stabilizer. Right now, I have the stabilizer attached to the tie rod on one end and the diff cover on the other. However, when the wheels are turned, the tie rod is too close to the tabs on the diff cover. If the tie rod rotates when the wheels are turned, it will contact the mounting bolt for the steering stabilizer. I tried connecting the steering stabilizer to the track bar bracket as Artec intended, but then it contacts the drag link.

Current angles hole to hole:
Drag link 7.3 degrees
Track bar 4.1 degrees

What I'm having trouble with is deciding whether I should complete the drag link flip. How much travel would I be losing if I complete the drag link flip? Is it minimal and am I over thinking it?

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On a JK, any lift over 3” will benefit from a draglink flip and in your case, you should have it as your trac bar bracket on the axle is already raised. It will not “do more harm” and will improve steering geometry and help prevent bump steer. It also will not limit “flex”. Running a 3.5” lift means you should have 3.5” bump stops which will bottom out before the draglink hits the frame. You can certainly cycle your suspension and fine tune the exact amount of bump stop you need to allow maximum up travel.
 
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Wow, I can't believe how bad the information you got really was.

Please do yourself a favor and listen to what Disciple said. The information he's giving comes from experience and not sales pitching.
 
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Carsons said:
Metalcloak told me that at 3.5", a drag link flip does more harm than good by limiting flex because you have to run more bumpstop.
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Nonsense like this should disqualify anyone from looking at these guys for anything. That's flat out horrible advice and it sounds like someone retarded said it.
 
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Thanks for the sanity check. I'll complete the drag link flip and ignore metalcloak.

On an unrelated note, I currently have Fox 2.0 shocks (the model for 4"-6" of lift). If I want to do coilovers (such as the EVO bolt on coilover kit) in the future, does that justify going with an EVO high clearance long arm kit vs a short control arms? I know long arms on their own aren't going to provide any extra flex.
 
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Carsons said:
Thanks for the sanity check. I'll complete the drag link flip and ignore metalcloak.

On an unrelated note, I currently have Fox 2.0 shocks (the model for 4"-6" of lift). If I want to do coilovers (such as the EVO bolt on coilover kit) in the future, does that justify going with an EVO high clearance long arm kit vs a short control arms? I know long arms on their own aren't going to provide any extra flex.
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There is no need to run long arms just because you install coilovers. However, with 4"-6" of lift, you REALLY should be running long arms to help correct your suspension geometry. They will help provide a much nicer ride ON PAVEMENT.
 
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As others have mentioned, it will only make things better on road and, will have zero effect on trail performance. I have my front bump stops fine tuned so that at full stuff on the passenger side, there is about 1/8th of an inch to spare between the drag link and the frame.

To expand on what Eddie mentioned about long arms correcting geometry, you may notice that with a lot of droop, short arms will start to bind and, will cause the axle to start getting pulled under the jeep and, in some instances to the side as well. Im running adjustable short arms and some pretty long shocks that have roughly 12.5 inches of travel. I get full use out of their travel but it comes at a cost and things start to behave strangely. I would recommend long arms if you're cycling anything over 12" of travel just to keep things from binding.
 
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I was poking around and realized the track bar contacted the sector shaft at some point. Looks like I need to find a flatter track bar. Any idea which ones could work with a raised track bar bracket? I'd hate to guess incorrectly based on a picture.

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