Extended Wristed Arm??

[OffRoadObsession]

ive heard alot about the wristed arms and the extended arm... and the goods and bads of both... im wondering if some has put the two together and got an extended wristed radius arm? or could this be posible? any information on this would be great thanks!!<br>Swisher

 

[ac23]

I have built a few and you can see a picture of them on my website. www.odysseyoffroad.com They work great when you put a bearing at the frame end.

 

[Newt]

Rockpilot

You need to work on your website. The links on the left do not work!

 

[howiebilt]

[quote author=RockPilot link=board=5;threadid=12072;start=0#89257 date=1039273027]<br>I have built a few and you can see a picture of them on my website. www.odysseyoffroad.com They work great when you put a bearing at the frame end.<br>[/quote]<br><br>Did you try it before and after the joint on the frame end ? How much longer did you make them ? 11,12..??

 

[Guest]

I've talked to people that have tried this as an experiment. The wristed arm does what the long arm does, but in a stock length. The long arm does what the writed arm does, but it requires moving the mounts. Since both are methods of reducing bind during extreme flex, they seem to be redundent when combined.

 

[howiebilt]

[quote author=Gabe link=board=5;threadid=12072;start=0#89349 date=1039306032]<br>I've talked to people that have tried this as an experiment. The wristed arm does what the long arm does, but in a stock length. The long arm does what the writed arm does, but it requires moving the mounts. Since both are methods of reducing bind during extreme flex, they seem to be redundent when combined. <br>[/quote]<br>I agree with you Gabe . that is why I was wondering how much difference it really would make by simply adding the spherical end on the frame section . I hope that they tried it before and after so that we can see what a differnce it does make . I prefer the stock length wristed arm simply because it doesn't interfere with my ground clearance . If i were to extend the radius arm , it would have to be raised up so it would attach to the side of the frame . This gets into close proximity of the front body mount and I am really not that certain that it has it's benefits over the wristed stock arm. Cmon Rockpilot ... winter is coming and I need to know how much more work I need to do if your deal makes a big difference . ?:?

 

[SteveL]

I have the extended arms and they work good. I agree to have wristed and extended would be redundant, except you would have the bad traits of both. What about the axle coupler from bc?<br>

 

[Guest]

My rig, along with most of the rigs that came into WH, had either regular arms or extended arms. I've driven a couple of "slinky rigs" and think that there is a notable difference between a "regular" EB and a "slinky" EB. Personally, unless someone wants articulation more than any other factor, then wrist it, pivot it, heim it, do whatever. On my EB, I chose long arms with rubber bushings at the frame (poly at the axle). The difference in articulation wasn't more than 1-2 inches compared to the slinky-mobile when lifted my a fork lift. And the ride seems much tighter on the street. As for performance, Gary at WH has driven his EB almost everywhere and he doesn't have crazy slinky-tech going on: Long arms, front and rear hoops (WH system 12). It's a daily driver for him and I doubt many people would be able out wheel him. I basically copied his set up on my EB. Of course he'd still stick me 'cause he's a better driver.

 

[DJM75]

Now don't the wristed and pivot arms pin that way they ride just like a stock Bronco? So why are they slinky mobile's. Thanks for the WH's commercial though.<br> Don

 

[Guest]

Sorry if I sound like a WH commercial. It's just that I know the WH products and how they perform better than some of the others out there. I've owned my rig since '97, and have bought from several manufactures in that time. That's why and how I got my job at WH in the first time--I came from the BroncoNut crowd, just like most everyone on this board. However, after working at WH for 40+ hours/wk for 14 months, this may tend to skew some of my knowledge--I won't pretend otherwise. But should I pretend to have not seen what I've seen because I used to work there?<br><br>That said, getting back to wristed and long arms, I think that wristed arms are cool--they look awsome! I've seen them work really well. I have nothing against them at all. However, I've also seen that long arms will work just about as well as the wristed ones. The long arms are also simpler in design and construction than the wristed arms. And they've been under EBs for over 30 years and have been working just fine. Either way you're going to get some crazy articulation, it's just a matter of how you want to get there.

 

[tonto]

I only know of one person who runs the extended radius arms and he has told me it feels like he needs triple shocks to control the additional body roll now.<br>And from running radius arm lowering brackets at one time it seems like extended radius arms would be in the same position as normal length arms with the lowering brackets and I can remember high centering my radius arms often with the lowering brackets.<br>Before I wristed one of my radius arms they were just extended 2” to compensate for moving my front end forward 2”, I don’t know how much this added to improve flex, but I can tell you from checking articulation out on my garage floor with the frame supported and a floor jack and a bottle jack with the coils removed and stock rubber c-bushings and rubber radius arm bushings, at max. articulation points I could see the rubber c-bushings be forced to allow the front axle to twist in side the c-bushing mounts(something you will never see with urethane) it didn’t take much movement to gain 2"s or so.<br>On average when I’ve checked my wristed arm to see how much it has moved when twisted up, the hole the pin goes in has only misaligned approx. 3/8” just enough to block the pin hole, that minimum amount of movement gives a lot of additional flex, basically what I’m saying is it seems like you can gain almost the same amount additional flex with going to all rubber in the front end as you can with a wristed arm, the negatives issues of this are you loose any castor adjustment the urethane c-bushings give.<br>Another word of warning, I have a friend with a Heep than just linked up his front end with Coilovers and rod ends / heim joints, the reports I’ve gotten back are connecting to the frame with rod ends / heim joints gives an increased feel of road vibration and some say it’s not for a D.D., any reports on similar results from the folks running the James Duff extended arms with the rod ends / heim joints connecting to the frame?<br>Sorry if I got a little off the specific topic, Francois.<br>

 

[Guest]

Good point Tonto, sometimes small changes make a big difference. You mentioned asked about the road feel of heim jointed radius arms. From what I've heard, there is a a "harsher" feel to the heims because you have two hard points connected together. Whereas a bushing acts a bit like a shock absorber. Is it a huge trade off? It depends on how sensitive one's butt-o-meter is, I suppose. <br><br>Surely there are people running heimed radius arms on this board. What do you guys think?

 

[Madgyver]

Hey Gabe,<br> Register here so you could highlight your name and give input to all the thrashing and praise that WH gets on this forum being an ex-employee.

 

[DPM77]

[quote author=Gabe link=board=5;threadid=12072;start=0#89609 date=1039388165]<br>Sorry if I sound like a WH commercial. It's just that I know the WH products and how they perform better than some of the others out there. I've owned my rig since '97, and have bought from several manufactures in that time. That's why and how I got my job at WH in the first time--I came from the BroncoNut crowd, just like most everyone on this board. However, after working at WH for 40+ hours/wk for 14 months, this may tend to skew some of my knowledge--I won't pretend otherwise. But should I pretend to have not seen what I've seen because I used to work there?<br><br>That said, getting back to wristed and long arms, I think that wristed arms are cool--they look awsome! I've seen them work really well. I have nothing against them at all. However, I've also seen that long arms will work just about as well as the wristed ones. The long arms are also simpler in design and construction than the wristed arms. And they've been under EBs for over 30 years and have been working just fine. Either way you're going to get some crazy articulation, it's just a matter of how you want to get there.<br>[/quote]<br><br>Thanks for the perspective. What those of us who have stock rigs that are considering radical AM mods need is real world experience like yours. It doesn't matter who you worked for, or if you have your own shop, or what. I welcome all knowledge, and if it is technical knowledge, I want to read about it. <br><br>One of the things I have wanted to do is to 'wheel my EB stock and see what he can do. If I don't do that, I won't know what mods are an improvement, and which ones do nothing for me. I do not want to spend 2-3,000.00 on a suspension, and then realize that I have something that doesn't fit my personal specs. So, for me, what I learned here is that for a little extry flex, I will replace my R arm bushings with rubber, rather than poly and see what that feels like. <br><br>Gabe, gonna join the membership? Its free!<br><br>dpm