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Evo Pro Long Arm vs Metalcloak 3.5 Game Changer for JLUR

rustyshakelford

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Agreed, I just bought a set of the RK No Limit Sway Bar Links and was kind of shocked they recommend WD40. "WD" is Water Displacement and is a good rust inhibitor, but evaporates quickly and does not lubricate for any considerable length of time. Ever hear someone riding a bicycle with a super squeaky chain? They likely unknowingly rinsed all the oil off their chain with WD40 and were left with a clean, but unlubricated chain for their efforts once the WD40 dried. Tri-Flow is fantastic for Teflon impregnated joints (and bicycle chains)...

The term "mid-arm" as I've seen it develop over the years came from the earlier days of coil sprung Jeeps. A Jeep TJ had "short" arms. You could buy a "long" arm kit for it. When the JK was introduced, the factory arms were so much longer than TJ arms, that some lift manufacturers referred to their factory length replacements as "mid" arms. I mean, who would want to buy a "short-arm" kit for their new JK? Short and Mid both typically refer to arms that bolt into the factory locations.

As for the original question, I think you're on the right track. I have the EVO coilovers, but installed them myself. I'm running them in conjunction with MetalCloak "mid" arms as I wanted to give their joint design a try. Even without the long arm option, I just couldn't justify the cost of having a shop do the coilover install. If I wasn't wrenching on it myself, I'd have gone with a more traditional style of lift that would cost less to have installed. Too many other important parts to spend money on! lol
I completely missed your reply but you nailed it on the mid arm/long arm!

ill have to check out that tri flow. RK seems to be the noisiest lift. It’s always something, I’ll use fluid film which we love. Was told the same thing on the no limits sway bar end links. Wd-40 works good but doesn’t last like you mentioned. We use the wd-40 mostly to spray on our fixture tables to keep them from rusting.

One of our guys just got hired on with Orange County fire authority. Will be a culture shock from how things are in texas!

brett
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maaark

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@SaltyJLUR
If you go with the MC lift, offer up some beer and pizza on this forum for help installing the lift kit because you don't need a shop to install that and I'm sure there are plenty of people like me who just love helping friends lift their rigs on the weekends.

Your profile indicates you live in SoCal which from what I hear has a high concentration of jeepers. You'd save yourself a good chunk of change and could put that towards a new drag link, track bar, and steering stabilizer.

Although, if you're comfortable dishing out the $$$ for the EVO long arm kit and installation costs, you should just do it because that's one of the best suspension setups available, and you won't get that level of capability with the MC lift.

Good luck with your decisions!
 

Xtremetj

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Another testament for MetalCloak. The shop that installed mine kept all the extra bump stops and hardware. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize at the time. After a couple Jeeping trips I had some rubbing issues and was adding bigger tires so I knew I needed another puck in the front and rear. It was about this time that I realized the shop kept all the spare parts they didn’t use when they installed the lift. So, I called the shop asking if they had them. They replied “yeah we usually have some laying around but we must have tossed them”. RIIIGGGHHHTTT! A lot started coming to light regarding this place and some of my suspicions I had all along. Oh well... too late and another story

So... I called MetalCloak and told them I needed an extra bump in the front and rear and asked if I could just buy them individually. John tells me, we’ve been trying to get the message to the shops that they need to give the customers all the left over parts and apologized! I’m like thanks but that’s not your fault. He asked me to send him an email with my address and said he would ship out what I needed. No charge. Wow... what a great company. Low and behold when the packages showed up he didn’t just send me 1 puck for the front and rear, he sent me an entire front and rear bump stop kit including all hardware. Now that is customer service right there. I was willing to pay for it they did not charge me.
 

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I completely missed your reply but you nailed it on the mid arm/long arm!

ill have to check out that tri flow. RK seems to be the noisiest lift. It’s always something, I’ll use fluid film which we love. Was told the same thing on the no limits sway bar end links. Wd-40 works good but doesn’t last like you mentioned. We use the wd-40 mostly to spray on our fixture tables to keep them from rusting.

One of our guys just got hired on with Orange County fire authority. Will be a culture shock from how things are in texas!

brett
Glad we were in agreement on the long/mid/short arm topic. I was merely sharing my observations from casually watching the industry grow over the past 20 years. You really seem to know your stuff, so I feel validated. lol

I worked as a Reserve Firefighter for OCFA at the very beginning of my career. It will definitely be a culture shock for him. Shoot, it was a culture shock for me having grown up in NorCal and then making the move to SoCal for my college/early adulthood days! They cover some beautiful locations though, should be a great department to work for.
 

rustyshakelford

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Glad we were in agreement on the long/mid/short arm topic. I was merely sharing my observations from casually watching the industry grow over the past 20 years. You really seem to know your stuff, so I feel validated. lol

I worked as a Reserve Firefighter for OCFA at the very beginning of my career. It will definitely be a culture shock for him. Shoot, it was a culture shock for me having grown up in NorCal and then making the move to SoCal for my college/early adulthood days! They cover some beautiful locations though, should be a great department to work for.
was told it was a militaristic Dept and will be much more strict than he’s used to. Granted most f/t depts are structured that way but the way it was explained was that he’s in for a surprise. were pretty relaxed on stuff but he’s going to have to go back thru their academy too. I’m to old to start my f/t career over at this point unless I could make what I make in Durango!

brett
 

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tonygiotta

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was told it was a militaristic Dept and will be much more strict than he’s used to. Granted most f/t depts are structured that way but the way it was explained was that he’s in for a surprise. were pretty relaxed on stuff but he’s going to have to go back thru their academy too. I’m to old to start my f/t career over at this point unless I could make what I make in Durango!

brett
Academy will be militaristic for sure. That's pretty much par for the course with any large CA department. Standards are strict and expectations are high. One of our guys went and checked out some TX departments a few years back as he was considering a move out there. We all had a good time hearing his stories about sleeveless t-shirts on duty and the shenanigans taking place at the station. Obviously it varies from department to department, but I definitely got the impression TX departments (in general) were a lot more lax.

Edit: Sorry about the hijack OP, at least being from So Cal you're likely familiar with the OCFA. lol
 

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Hnestly I would recommend against RK and terra. They are kinda entry level. If you are dropping the cash u say, And are keeping for a decade go with EVo or MC. Long arm “kit” is a complete redesign of the suspension geometry. You may think you need that capability but you may actually not. I believe you should really think that through. As me tiond before. 2” lift and 37’s on stock rubi axles And a winch will likely shock you with how far you get on most of the trails you talk about. Yr gonna need new driveshafts also with the long arm kit as they will be the limiting factor for down travel.
I would love to hear your insight on how RK is “entry level”.
 
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I pulled the trigger yesterday on the lift. I decided to go with the Metalcloak 3.5 Game Changer, 6-pack shocks, 37" BFG KM3's on 17" Black Rhino Fury wheels, Adams 1350 front drive shaft. I will be doing the front and rear bumper, winch, diff skids, and undercloak armor myself.

Metalcloak referred me to one of their "Gold" level installers that was about 1.5 hours from me. They also happened to give me the lowest quote of the 3 shops I got bids from to buy the lift, wheels, tires, and drive shaft and have it all installed, bump stops correctly adjusted and vehicle aligned.

It seems like most of the shops are charging between $1k-$1500 to install these lifts, which I think is a bit steep. But I dont have the time to do it myself. I thought about taking it to my dads place since he has a lift in his garage (he restores classics) and have him help me, but he's getting old and my job is super busy right now. So I bit the bullet and gave them the funds to order up all the goods. I'll be taking the Jeep in as soon as the stuff arrives.
 

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Well I’m definitely going to want to hit the Rubicon and Fordyce Creek Trails. Moab and Sand Hollow are also on my list. There are a lot of local trails near me like Big Bear, Ca John Bull Trail, and a few others. Then there the Sledge Hammer and Jack Hammer in Johnson Valley, Ca, also not too far from me.
To answer your question, I’m not sure that a long arm would benefit me significantly on any of these trails, but maybe I’m wrong. I just know that articulation is important and the more I can get, the better my Jeep will be and the less damage I’m likely to sustain.
Pro-Rocks are definitely on my build sheet, I just don’t halve the funds to do them with the lift. I will definitely have them by next summer though. I’ve thought about RCV chromoly axles for now. That I can do myself.
I am on a 3inch lift and 37s and have done fordyce, slickrock, and surrounding trails. I could see why you would want the Evo long arm, but wheeling with others who have 3.5 metalcloak it really seems that all you would need with that price point. But I guess it depends on how hard you want to wheel and lots of other reasons as well.
 

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I pulled the trigger yesterday on the lift. I decided to go with the Metalcloak 3.5 Game Changer, 6-pack shocks, 37" BFG KM3's on 17" Black Rhino Fury wheels, Adams 1350 front drive shaft. I will be doing the front and rear bumper, winch, diff skids, and undercloak armor myself.

Metalcloak referred me to one of their "Gold" level installers that was about 1.5 hours from me. They also happened to give me the lowest quote of the 3 shops I got bids from to buy the lift, wheels, tires, and drive shaft and have it all installed, bump stops correctly adjusted and vehicle aligned.

It seems like most of the shops are charging between $1k-$1500 to install these lifts, which I think is a bit steep. But I dont have the time to do it myself. I thought about taking it to my dads place since he has a lift in his garage (he restores classics) and have him help me, but he's getting old and my job is super busy right now. So I bit the bullet and gave them the funds to order up all the goods. I'll be taking the Jeep in as soon as the stuff arrives.
You’ll be good with all that. Keep all your stock so in the future if you want to yank and switch over to another jeep or just sell you can. Mc allows you to buy and rejoint all their arms so all that stuff is worth money should you decide in a couple years you are out driving your suspension set up. You can sell and do your long arm. Its likely more options will come along and also will become cheaper over time. You will have a solid rig when this is done.
 

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You’ll be good with all that. Keep all your stock so in the future if you want to yank and switch over to another jeep or just sell you can. Mc allows you to buy and rejoint all their arms so all that stuff is worth money should you decide in a couple years you are out driving your suspension set up. You can sell and do your long arm. Its likely more options will come along and also will become cheaper over time. You will have a solid rig when this is done.
For reference it takes me roughly about 6-8 hours to install that lift and bleed the brakes with new lines.
 

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I pulled the trigger yesterday on the lift. I decided to go with the Metalcloak 3.5 Game Changer, 6-pack shocks, 37" BFG KM3's on 17" Black Rhino Fury wheels, Adams 1350 front drive shaft. I will be doing the front and rear bumper, winch, diff skids, and undercloak armor myself.

Metalcloak referred me to one of their "Gold" level installers that was about 1.5 hours from me. They also happened to give me the lowest quote of the 3 shops I got bids from to buy the lift, wheels, tires, and drive shaft and have it all installed, bump stops correctly adjusted and vehicle aligned.

It seems like most of the shops are charging between $1k-$1500 to install these lifts, which I think is a bit steep. But I dont have the time to do it myself. I thought about taking it to my dads place since he has a lift in his garage (he restores classics) and have him help me, but he's getting old and my job is super busy right now. So I bit the bullet and gave them the funds to order up all the goods. I'll be taking the Jeep in as soon as the stuff arrives.
Congratulations!!! You made a great choice!
 

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I would love to hear your insight on how RK is “entry level”.
Well lets see here...

triple rate springs? Comon’ breh.... not fooling anyone with that.

in addition to that, their valving on their shocks matched with their coils make for a pretty rough ride over a linear set up. their shocks are nice dont get me wrong but how are you supposed to valve properly when your spring isnt linear rate??? Not to mention when you up at that price point , i would rather go to King or Fox for shocks.

Lastly , their krawler joints make little provisions for NVH. And if you dont grease them frequntly your 50k jeep turns into a squeak box.

just my opinion, backed up by 2 of my friends that I helped install kits on 1 jk 1 JL.
 

word302

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Well lets see here...

triple rate springs? Comon’ breh.... not fooling anyone with that.

in addition to that, their valving on their shocks matched with their coils make for a pretty rough ride over a linear set up. their shocks are nice dont get me wrong but how are you supposed to valve properly when your spring isnt linear rate??? Not to mention when you up at that price point , i would rather go to King or Fox for shocks.

Lastly , their krawler joints make little provisions for NVH. And if you dont grease them frequntly your 50k jeep turns into a squeak box.

just my opinion, backed up by 2 of my friends that I helped install kits on 1 jk 1 JL.
Yeah no thanks on the linear springs. I have mine setup for maximum flex and would easily unseat them. My ride is fantastic and whisper quiet. Try again man.
 

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Super happy w my RK LongArm setup. I keep 000 stocked in my garage. I do grease the zerks every tire rotation and they have been squeak free.
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