SnakeDoctor
18-12-20, 09:00 AM
General thoughts incase anyone is interested or it proves helpful to anyone who might be hunting down something similar.
I've had AEV Drop Brackets since I had my lift installed 3 or so years ago, had lots of varied driving, touring, bit of rocks etc.
In the past 6 months or so i've noticed some undesired handling traits which i've been trying to get to the bottom of, pulling left, inconsistent steering, high speed instability mid corner, strong reaction to left hand hand camber on the road but not right, minor drivetrain vibrations.
I got out the tape measure and it measured that (lower control arm mount to body mount) my front diff was further forward on the drivers side than the passenger by somewhere between 3-7mm. The AEV brackets whilst they looked mostly fine upon visual inspection (they have taken rock hits) but were both slightly bent in different directions causing bushing bind and the axle thrust angle to be out.
Being concerned about the loss in handling and ride comfort I had never gone down the adjustable control arm route, but I managed to find some Teraflex Alpine arms (front lower/upper) from Amazon.com.au and with free prime shipping I was set to install. (These are out of stock most places)
It took me about 6 hours to install, after the usual office worker trying to do mechanical work relying on youtube for instructions.
I set the arms for identical lengths each side and repeated the testing with the tape, no differences side to side now but the bushes were a bit bound up/pushed over (probably from the previous setup) - I expect this will settle down after some kms.
Initial thoughts from a few days of driving:
* There isn't a noticeable loss of ride comfort at this height, I imagine the control arm angles put more NVH into the chassis/body at higher lifts
* The body roll is slightly worse (you have to be fussy to notice this)
* The overall driving quality is far higher, I must have gotten use to a bit of bracket movement previously but it's much more consistent left/right, much more stable and the vibrations are gone
* Caster is the same before/after according to my angle finder
If the NVH or body roll start to annoy me OR I go much higher in the front end I might end up with a set of Rancho drop brackets (will not use AEV again) which are much stronger and are welded rather than bolted/generally much more meaty.
Side note, USA 4x4 seems to have a secret stash of Rancho gear when everyone else is sold out of it. Thanks Tony.
Summary:
* Adjustable control arms better for on-road than bent/busted/old AEV drop brackets at a modest lift height.
I've had AEV Drop Brackets since I had my lift installed 3 or so years ago, had lots of varied driving, touring, bit of rocks etc.
In the past 6 months or so i've noticed some undesired handling traits which i've been trying to get to the bottom of, pulling left, inconsistent steering, high speed instability mid corner, strong reaction to left hand hand camber on the road but not right, minor drivetrain vibrations.
I got out the tape measure and it measured that (lower control arm mount to body mount) my front diff was further forward on the drivers side than the passenger by somewhere between 3-7mm. The AEV brackets whilst they looked mostly fine upon visual inspection (they have taken rock hits) but were both slightly bent in different directions causing bushing bind and the axle thrust angle to be out.
Being concerned about the loss in handling and ride comfort I had never gone down the adjustable control arm route, but I managed to find some Teraflex Alpine arms (front lower/upper) from Amazon.com.au and with free prime shipping I was set to install. (These are out of stock most places)
It took me about 6 hours to install, after the usual office worker trying to do mechanical work relying on youtube for instructions.
I set the arms for identical lengths each side and repeated the testing with the tape, no differences side to side now but the bushes were a bit bound up/pushed over (probably from the previous setup) - I expect this will settle down after some kms.
Initial thoughts from a few days of driving:
* There isn't a noticeable loss of ride comfort at this height, I imagine the control arm angles put more NVH into the chassis/body at higher lifts
* The body roll is slightly worse (you have to be fussy to notice this)
* The overall driving quality is far higher, I must have gotten use to a bit of bracket movement previously but it's much more consistent left/right, much more stable and the vibrations are gone
* Caster is the same before/after according to my angle finder
If the NVH or body roll start to annoy me OR I go much higher in the front end I might end up with a set of Rancho drop brackets (will not use AEV again) which are much stronger and are welded rather than bolted/generally much more meaty.
Side note, USA 4x4 seems to have a secret stash of Rancho gear when everyone else is sold out of it. Thanks Tony.
Summary:
* Adjustable control arms better for on-road than bent/busted/old AEV drop brackets at a modest lift height.