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Rough Country Long Arm

3K views 30 replies 11 participants last post by  WJ4me 
#1 ·
Hello everyone,

My question is specifically for those who have the Rough Country Long Arm kit installed on their WJ.

Does the yoke on the front of your transfer case (where the front drive shaft connects) angle upward? If so, how much?

Mine does (see pics) & I’m trying to determine if it’s causing the front double cardan joint to prematurely wear out. I also have a vibration that starts at 65 mph & increases with speed that I’m trying to track down.

Vehicle: 2004 WJ 4.0 with 242 transfer case
Lift: 4” Rough Country Long Arm

Any help will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!
 

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#2 ·
I don't think it should angle upwards. It should be straight & a plate to lower the TC so angles are better (depending on the amount of lift. Over 3.5- 4" a drop plate is better to lesseon the vibrations & keep the U-joints happier, from what I've read). A brand new double cardan? So nice n shiny clean under there. DAMN! lol
Pull the DS & see if the bearings in the cardan have issues is my 1st step. Could be out of balance too.
 
#5 ·
Got the Xmember bass-ackwards? It should lower it equally in my mind. Something isn't right there. Check the things men never check (instructions) & maybe call RC. The rear DS is longer so it should handle angles better. The front is shorter & needs more attention to handle the abrupt angle, hence the plate to lower the TC so it doesn't vibrate & have issues.
 
#6 ·
Drop plates don't uniformly lower the tcase they tilt it backwards. the engine/trans/tcase are held in by 3 mounts. 1 on either side of the engine and one under the trans which is what attaches to the crossmember. By lowering the crossmember you are rotating, not lowering, the entire engine/trans/tcase around the two mounts in the front creating the larger angles on the front yoke.
 
#9 ·
I would really like to hear from people who have the Rough County LA installed on their WJ and find out if their transfer case is tilted upward. If so, does it look similar to the photos I posted? Has is caused any issues? Is there a way to correct the angle?

Basically, I'm trying to find out if that is normal for the RC LA & has it caused any problems for anyone.

Thanks
 
#12 ·
Great, thanks for looking for me. I'm on my 3rd double cardan in less than 3k...all from very reputable companies. The angle at the front diff and drive shaft are exactly the same. The failure is occurring at the cardan joint not on the diff end.

The TC angle seems a little excessive to me, that's why I wanted to hear from someone like yourself who actually has the RC LA.

Thanks again
 
#11 ·
I had a RC short arm 4.5 on my wj and had this same issue so I removed the crossmember spacers. With yours being a long arm that's not the case. I didn't have a problem either way but I did not like the t case hanging down so low. I've seen double cardian joints work great at steeper angles than that I'm sure it will be fine. If your curious that the driveshaft is making the a vibration just remove it and take it for a test drive.


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#14 ·
Yes it would. However, hundreds of people have the RC LA installed on their WJ. If they are not having the same issue I am, then the problem isn't the angle of the TC.

That's why I'm asking for only people who have the same RC LA to reply. I'm trying to track down the problem.

Thank you though for helping.
 
#16 ·
I have the RCLA on 7 in in front (6.5 springs, 3/4 spacer). I didn't like the idea of the t-case drop, so I cobbled together the front LCA mounts with an IRO high clearance crossmember. The LCA mounts are welded and bolted, and sandwiched between the crossmember and frame.
I also used the IRO t-case skid for added protection.
Went with a Tom Woods rear shaft and hack n tap for the 242, and my front shaft is still stock at +200K miles.
 

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#18 ·
Hey teslurch,

Glad you replied! I sent you a PM back in 2015 about using the MetalCloaks instead of the RC joints to eliminate some of the harshness absorbed into the unibody. Work/life got very busy and I never got around to trying them out...Hope they are still holding up well. Now, I have some free time and would like to track down whats causing the the drive shaft failure problem.

I'm not thrilled about the RC crossmember having the t-case drop built in either. I was really hoping you or someone else on this forum could tell me if the angle I have on my WJ is normal for the RC LA kit, but you already took care of the issue...lol I like how your crossmenber can be removed to service the trans without having to remove the lower control arms. In the below pic you can see how I would have to remove everything if I ever needed to replace the transmission.

Hopefully someone on here will be able to report back if that angle is normal for the RC LA and if they ever had any issues with it.

Thanks!
 

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#17 ·
Are you saying your pinion angle is almost 8 degrees? What is your caster? You are going to have to play around with the caster/pinion angles until you find a happy medium between road manners and driveline vibes. You may have to sacrifice a bit of road manners to save yourself on ujoints.
 
#25 ·
I tried to get some pics but it's hard with the IRO skid plate. You can see the yoke on the TC is tilted up though.

View attachment 3266753

Also you can see how far it drops the transfer case by how I had to cut my IRO skid to fit. I already had the IRO skid on prior to the RC kit and it fit fine before.

View attachment 3266761
First, thank you for taking the time to get photos for me.

Are you still using the RC LA crossmember or did you fabricate something like texlurch did? If you are still using the RC have you experienced any drive shaft failures at the double cardan joint or any vibrations above 65 mph?
 
#26 ·
ronwood said:
First, thank you for taking the time to get photos for me. Are you still using the RC LA crossmember or did you fabricate something like texlurch did? If you are still using the RC have you experienced any drive shaft failures at the double cardan joint or any vibrations above 65 mph?
I am still using the RC crossmember as is. I haven't had any driveshaft issues or vibrations. I have a high pinion front axle now, but I had the RC kit before that with the stock axle and had no problems.
 
#27 ·
I had the same concern a year ago when I was installing my RC kit with 4.5" Clayton springs.

I took this pic asking the same question and you can see its just like yours. The RC kit drops the transfer case about 3/4" but I didnt have any vibs so left it alone.

Ive recently gone to 6" Claytons and didnt change a thing except rebuild the front DS.
 

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#28 ·
I had the same concern a year ago when I was installing my RC kit with 4.5" Clayton springs.

I took this pic asking the same question and you can see its just like yours. The RC kit drops the transfer case about 3/4" but I didnt have any vibs so left it alone.

Ive recently gone to 6" Claytons and didnt change a thing except rebuild the front DS.
Yes, the angle looks exactly like mine. At least now I know the issue isn't caused from the TC angle.

A big thanks to everyone who contributed to helping me!
 
#29 ·
I won't be home for a couple of days to post a photo for you but if you put the angle finder on top of the yoke instead of the front you'll see that angle is 0.
Doesn't matter how hard I tried I couldn't get the angle finder to sit flush on the front of it. Mainly because it's not flat. :)

So try to put it on top of the yoke on the TC and the bottom of the front diff yoke.

And then see what the angle difference is between front and the back.
 
#30 ·
Just wanted to give an update to everyone who might have the same concern I had with the RC LA and front drive shaft angle.

Several members on this form and the engineers over at Rough Country have confirmed when using the RC long arm kit, the output yoke on the transfer case (front DS side) will be angled upward toward the floorboard of the WJ. This is due to the RC crossmember having a drop kit built into it.

Thanks again for everyone's help.
 
#31 ·
I've been running the RC 4" long arm kit for around 2 years on a daily driver mild off-roader and I could not be more happy for the money I spent.
As I was warned by RC, I had a bad angle on my front factory CV driveline after installing the RC 4" long arm kit. I bought a new DL from Carolina Drivelines and have not had a problem since. However I recommend the dual double cardon. I got a single and wish should have paid more gotten dual. I know I'll have to do that when I lift it further someday. Carolina already said if I send in the one I bought. They would fixe it up for dual double cardon. Nice people.
 
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