I beams "To j-arm or not to j-arm

[singlehanded]

I was wondering what peoples opinion was about j-arms. They are stronger but is it better for your buck in the long run to just run radius arms and beams that can be replaced separatly. Are they mostly just good on prerunners rather than race trucks.What do you guys think?????I am planning on getting the front of my daily driver j-armed in a few weeks is this a good idea. THANKS

local

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[vwguy]

in my eyes j arm would be to much noney to spend on a daily driver, i would go with a good beam radius arm combo. it would be cheaper and because its a daily driver i would say its sufficient for daily driver and some serious abuse if they are custom built

[singlehanded]

Actually the price isn't to different.I have checked out most options and custom beams from H.B. are $2400 w/no tranny crossmember and brea well I wish I had $2800 to blow on beams but not that fortunate. So I figure $2250 j-armed in orange isnt that bad. Didnt want to start a name war.. I wanted to know what are the drawbacks Ive heard somtimes its difficult to change heims is this true. It is only gonna be a prerunner.

local

[Greg]

I have run both styles on my truck and I broke an I-beam because of the pivoting motion from the rad. arm bolt. But the I-beams I have are a piss-poor design and soon to be thrown away. After the break I made a J-arm set-up and have been really happy. I beat my truck regularly and have never had a problem since. Dan Vance has J-arms and if they hold up to his driving, they should work wonders for anyone else. On the other hand, a freind of mine that runs short-course swears by building a 2 peice system, he claims there is more adjustment (but if they're built right you shouldn't need adjustment) and if you damage something its eaiser to fix only the busted part. My new beams will be a 2 peice design but have the strength of the j-arm. Remember, i dont build trucks for a living and this is just what i know personally.

Greg

[Jerry Zaiden]

If you run a (j-arm) and you bend a radius arm or I beams you are stuck with a bad radius arm and i beam. Now with separate parts ie. radius arm bolted to I beam, if you bend one you are only out that part. Carl Renezeter has a Ranger with equal length I beams. This is one of the nicest fastest rangers ever built. He was in Baja in a prerun for the 2k race last year. He was going around 100mph hit a rock and bent an I beam and radius arm. They brought us the parts and we where able to bend his radius arm back and build him a new I beam. His cost was around $1200. If it was a J arm style he would have spent around $1800.
Now on the other hand here is a problem with getting custom parts from a one off builder for your daily driver. If you bend it you are out until they can get your truck into there shop to fix it. If you bend one of our parts you can come and buy one the same day and bolt it on. Or you can go buy one of the parts from, Donahoe, Baja Concepts, H&M, Solo, SI, Mj motorsorts, etc.. you should really think it through.