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Control Arms - Metalcloak or Teraflex IR

Fire Burns

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No offense to anyone who has Synergy stuff, and many insist they're a top quality premium brand. That's fine if that's how you feel, but man, with this new trackbar and ongoing sector shaft brace gaffe, coupled with poor customer service, I'm really beginning to wonder... Hell, they don't even seem to have a presence on the forums anymore. Hopefully they can get their act together soon. Competition in this market amongst American made brands usually benefits the customer.
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Headbarcode

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No offense to anyone who has Synergy stuff, and many insist they're a top quality premium brand. That's fine if that's how you feel, but man, with this new trackbar and ongoing sector shaft brace gaffe, coupled with poor customer service, I'm really beginning to wonder... Hell, they don't even seem to have a presence on the forums anymore. Hopefully they can get their act together soon. Competition in this market amongst American made brands usually benefits the customer.
I own all 8 of their control arms, rear track bar, rear track bar reinforcement, and rear track bar relocation. I haven't had a single issue and the fit, finish, and quality have been top notch. Having said that, I don't at all take any offense. That would be childish and ridiculous on my part. They definitely shit the bed with that poorly thought out sector shaft brace. I currently have a brand new never installed one on the members market place, if anyone's interested. :like: And that front track bar fiasco. :facepalm:

My plan is to eventually comb the Synergy parts out and replace them with Metalcloak as the bushings wear out. I should've just gone with the gold standard right out of the gate, but what are ya gonna do.
 

mwilk012

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Appreciate it! Your screen shots nailed it, the track bars are solid, the control arms are tube. Both are ridiculously strong!

brett
Hey Brett, I see you use a lot of Metalcloak stuff, I can't tell by the pics on their website but are the track bars adjustable on-vehicle, and if so, how well do they stay at their set position?
 

word302

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I own all 8 of their control arms, rear track bar, rear track bar reinforcement, and rear track bar relocation. I haven't had a single issue and the fit, finish, and quality have been top notch. Having said that, I don't at all take any offense. That would be childish and ridiculous on my part. They definitely shit the bed with that poorly thought out sector shaft brace. I currently have a brand new never installed one on the members market place, if anyone's interested. :like: And that front track bar fiasco. :facepalm:

My plan is to eventually comb the Synergy parts out and replace them with Metalcloak as the bushings wear out. I should've just gone with the gold standard right out of the gate, but what are ya gonna do.
The synergy guys are the only people I’ve ever seen openly trash on other brands online. That and just a general “I know more than you” attitude soured me a long time ago from ever buying their stuff.
 

rustyshakelford

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Hey Brett, I see you use a lot of Metalcloak stuff, I can't tell by the pics on their website but are the track bars adjustable on-vehicle, and if so, how well do they stay at their set position?
They are adjustable on the vehicle in the way that you’ll remove the axle side joint and adjust as needed before reinserting the bolt and torquing down. Very simple and little need to adjust once correctly initially set. The frame side can remain bolted in. Because of their design there is no concern of them becoming out of adjustment

brett
 

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mwilk012

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They are adjustable on the vehicle in the way that you’ll remove the axle side joint and adjust as needed before reinserting the bolt and torquing down. Very simple and little need to adjust once correctly initially set. The frame side can remain bolted in. Because of their design there is no concern of them becoming out of adjustment

brett
Perfect, thank you. Metalcloak should pay you or something.
 

rustyshakelford

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Perfect, thank you. Metalcloak should pay you or something.
Im just happy to work with such a great company and build awesome JLs and JTs!

brett
 

Terminex

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I just pulled the trigger on a set of the Teraflex IR for mine. I spent the last 6 months researching and was set on metalcloak. Evertything i found had their joints as a better solution for my needs that the options that had johnny joints.

that was until i found out about the new new IR joints from Teraflex.

we will see if they live up to my hopes / expectations.

i wanted:
maintenance free
easy install (no modification to mounts & would prefer no jam nuts)
Smooth, quiet, stable road manners
Maximum articulation for off road.

the last item is what really sold me on the IR. I saw the video that MC did on the flex from their joints, and that was one of the things that was selling me on going with metalcloak until i did the research on the IR bushings.

I am sure any of them would work great, just wanted to share my choice, and how I got to that point.

cheers.
 
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Halstem1

Halstem1

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I just pulled the trigger on a set of the Teraflex IR for mine. I spent the last 6 months researching and was set on metalcloak. Evertything i found had their joints as a better solution for my needs that the options that had johnny joints.

that was until i found out about the new new IR joints from Teraflex.

we will see if they live up to my hopes / expectations.

i wanted:
maintenance free
easy install (no modification to mounts & would prefer no jam nuts)
Smooth, quiet, stable road manners
Maximum articulation for off road.

the last item is what really sold me on the IR. I saw the video that MC did on the flex from their joints, and that was one of the things that was selling me on going with metalcloak until i did the research on the IR bushings.

I am sure any of them would work great, just wanted to share my choice, and how I got to that point.

cheers.
Thanks! Curious your feedback after you’ve installed.

so I started the thread but obviously was debating both for a while. Kept going back and forth. I could argue either. I was just struggling to find info or reviews on the IR arms that weren’t published by teraflex. I just last weekend ordered a full set of MC arms... so we’ll see.

My thought process... literally EVERYONE recommends MC. Could not find any bad reviews. Also, every rig I found that I loved the stance or upgrades had a MC lift. I was worried about corrosion resistance. Everyone says the MC will do fine, although I couldn’t find anything bad in the teraflex arms. Last thing ended up being price. The MC set was 500$ less for all 8. I was super torn because I think you get what you pay for. I’ve saved a couple hundred bucks before and regretted it. I’m hoping that’s not the case this time. I guess we’ll see.
 

Terminex

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Will do.

I like to do the installs myself, and I won't lie, the jam nuts on the MC were another big turn off for me. (not a deal breaker though) If I was having a shop do the install, I would not care. It is simply a good bit more work (challenge) when you are doing it in your garage on stands, compared to on a lift in a shop.

I have not heard anything bad (first hand) about either. I have read general comments about Teraflex on this forum, but not nothing specific from anyone who actually has them. (not saying anyone who has shared those general comments are wrong, just hard to judge based upon comments that do not seem to be first hand accounts)

That is why I spend so much time doing my research and evaluation criteria before jmping in. (TOOOOO much time if you ask family & friends:)

I am doing the rancho sport lift, and already have adjustable track bars, so I only needed control arms. If I was doing everything at once, I might have gone with MC to have everything match.

I was set on the rancho lift as I am a huge fan of the RS9000xl shocks, and have used them for multiple applications. I think they are hands down the best value adjustable shocks you can get. (i just cannot justify the cost of the Fox or king adjustable)

Again, my criteria is a little different, I plan to change the damping on the shocks often, as I use my jeep for daily driving, a little fun off roading, camping when doing my climbing trip, and finally, sometimes I need to drop one of my race motorcycles at the shop. While any GOOD shock would work fine, I like being able to simply adjust the damping to suit what I will be doing for the week / weekend to make it a little better.
 

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RubiRob

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I have never had to re-tighten my jam nuts on my MC control ams
I just had to retighten my Track Bar and UCA Jam nuts, the main reason I was looking at this thread for because of that lol. Its too bad the teraflex arms cannot be adjusted without dropping an end, I was expecting they were like the synergy arms.
 

TxJeepers

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I’ve run Synergy, Metalcloak and Teraflex on multiple previous Jeeps. I have parts from all three on my current build, a 19 JLUR. I know people like to hate or join bandwagons but the bottom line is all three make excellent parts. I’ve never had issue with customer service from Teraflex, I did once from Metalcloak but still run their parts and no issue with Synergy.
 

RubiRob

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I’ve run Synergy, Metalcloak and Teraflex on multiple previous Jeeps. I have parts from all three on my current build, a 19 JLUR. I know people like to hate or join bandwagons but the bottom line is all three make excellent parts. I’ve never had issue with customer service from Teraflex, I did once from Metalcloak but still run their parts and no issue with Synergy.
I’m right there with you I basically have an evocloak lift kit. I haven’t had any problems with any of them so far but I haven’t had as much interaction as you.
 

TxJeepers

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I’m right there with you I basically have an evocloak lift kit. I haven’t had any problems with any of them so far but I haven’t had as much interaction as you.
Yes, EVO is another one on previous Jeeps and now on current one. I like their springs.
 

beast40

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