THIS IS NOT A STEP-BY-STEP INSTALLATION GUIDE. YOU CAN GET THAT FOR FREE BY VISITING Rubicon Express.

I knew that I would eventually have to do it. A little voice in the back of my mind kept nagging at me... giving me a warning.... that I would HAVE to install a long arm suspension.
Let me set the stage. I had installed the Rubicon Express XJ drop brackets on the front of the ZJ in order to get the most out of a 5.5" lift on short arms. I was happy with the way it worked out front. The rear still had issues, but none that I couldn't deal with. So if I was happy, why change it? 2 words: GOLDEN SPIKE. Moab, Utah, Sept 9, 2006. A friend had said that Golden Spike was the type of trail, that if there was a weakness, it would be exploited in that trail.

So, on Golden Spike, I found a couple problems. Right before Golden Crack, BOTH of the left side crossmember bolts stripped from the blind nuts inside the frame and cast themselves onto the trail in some sort of ritualistic sacrafice of Jeep parts. I was lucky enough to find another person on the trail with a Ready Welder 2, and they were gracious enough to loan it to me.... and the fella in front of me in a Rubicon (name escapes me) pulled his battery for me to use. Nice guy. I then welded my crossmember to the frame.

Onward!
about 2 hours later, I noticed an increasing frequency in the lugs of my 33's chewing on something. It often happened when the ZJ got sick and twisted... but never on nearly flat ground! When I turned right, the tire started chewing on something. That "something" turned out to be the rocker skids. Half of the outter side lugs had literally been torn from the tire. When I looked under, I found the the axle was twised, rising the diff way past lined up with the driveshaft. It was ugly. At first, I set to trying to adjust my caster out and compensate. It helped, but when it progressed, I crawled under and took another look. The right control arm mount was torn from the frame.... all welds but 2 were torn. I strapped the axle to the bumper and put the ZJ in 2wd. I only put it in 4wd 3 times on the Gold Bar trail heading to the roadway.

So. There you have it. I also found the right axle shaft u-joint had spit the cap off and half the needle bearings... and I believe this was caused partly by the mount failure. I thought back and believe I also remember when it happed. Sliding down a sheer face with the brakes locked and an almost 12" drop from that at the bottom. Ouch. I had chosen not to make support braces for the drop brackets.. I knew it was risky... and this was the demise.

Still... check the flex of short arms on drop brackets!

The ZJ remained parked from that point.
Once home, I confirmed how bad this was. I figured up my options. Long Arms were in the future anyway. It was among the last things I could do to the ZJ. The next choice was whose kit. Claytons Offroad is rumored to be the top of the food chain when it comes to ZJ long arms. I had followed the kits as they progressed several years ago. I liked it alot. Also, 3 link upper or triangulated upper links are the way to go with tall lifts... but I wasn't ready to weld onto my axle just yet.

Next up. Kevin's Long Arms. Again, research. I liked it.... but it is true that I liked Clayton's better. Both had a substatial amount of welding. How about Rock Crawler? Nope. GenI kits were rumored to be horrible. I had also seen a "GenII" kit and I didn't like it. Looked more like backyard-fab-work rather than a commercial lift kit. Rubicon Express, though... lots of extra steel. Structural support for the frame. Bolts AND welds to frame. Hmmmm. With a few phone calls, I ordered the Rubicon Express Long Arm Upgrade kit.

Once I got the kit, I set up the install date and received help from two friends. Trusty Jake and a new Jeeper and semi-coworker, Adam. All of the hard work was done on day 1. Jake and Adam helped in removing the exhaust, installing the front crossmember assembly and installing the front arms. I had already removed the tranny crossmember. I had to cut the welds out to get it off. I knew that the two bolts were required in order to set the front frame sections up... so I had to find a way to secure them. I didnt trust the OEM nuts in the frame. They had already stripped out once. So, I cut an access hole and installed a new nut. This caused MAJOR controversy on a Jeep Forum.... As a newb to that particular forum, I got the BB version of a beat-down over just how to patch that hole up. I never went into great detail about how it... I felt that it was pointless to go into detail about, because I knew what I was going to do.. but weeeellllllll.... "you should do this... you should do that".... blah, blah... seems everyone in the world knows more than I do. I am far from a know-it-all. There was no convincing them otherwise, so I left my post alone on that forum. I felt I had nothing left to add. A majority of them seem to have the inclination that if you are not running a Claytons suspension with a triangulated rear, you aint got crap anyway. Whatever.
Back to the meat of the matter.

Help was arranged in the form of my trusty buddy Jake and another friend, Adam. Jake, a hardened offroad enthusiast, and Adam being a new Jeep owner. Also, my 16yr old son was on hand to help out. For most of the morning, Stephen was mostly chasing tools and parts. Jake spent a good deal of time on the right front assembly. All but one hole was drilled out and the passenger side mount secured in place. Due to the way the frame was tweaked, We were unable to secure the front bolt.

As Jake handled the right mount, I worked with the left one. Adam removed the rear trackbar and lent a hand in removing the exhaust. Some time after this, we all took a break for lunch. With solid lumps in our guts, we had a little bit of trouble clambering back under the ZJ to attack the job. Jake took the front arms and preset them to the lengths stated in the instructions. Turns out, it was too short. In my Jeep, with the 33's and the ARB, the front axle was too far to the rear. We extended the LCAs just over an inch farther. This resulted in a good position. We left the right UCA connected as I fit the UCA link on the left arm. I used this to estimate my caster.

I contemplated at that time, whether or not to install the right UCA link. After some deliberation, I opted not to install it. For the life of me, I have the hardest time understanding how using the upper links allows for free flex. I can't explain it here... not now anyway.
...anyway... about the time we got the front end in place, and the bolts set, but not tight... it was time for both Jake and Adam to go. THANKS GUYS!! the help was appreciated.

Stephen and I then set up the work lights and started on the rear. We had to remove the insulation on the frame in order to fit the frame mount sections. This is another point where you get a clue as to just how beefy this stuff is. Stephen drilled out the holes on one side.... then we had to go back and wallow them a little. The bit I was using was tight on the bolts anyway, so it wasn't too bad. The instructions call for a 1-1/8" hole bit to drill out the middle hole for the nut strip. All I had was a 1" hole bit... so I used it, then used the torch to widen it up a bit. Ok.. I'm cheap. The holes ended up being more squareish, but they worked really well.

The instructions suggest using something to hold the nut strip in place while you start the bolts. I used a hanger. Worked great. After sinching down all 5 bolts on each side, we got the center section. With two tubes bent to clear the driveshaft, it serves two purposes. It carries the mounts for the UCAs and it braces the two frame sections, and braces the frame. With 5"-or-so lift, all we had to do was slip the assembly over the driveshaft just in front of the axle and slide it up the driveshaft. This is when we ran into the only issue of the install. The front tube was contacting the floor pan on the driver's side at the bottom of the tunnel. It was preventing the center section from mounting to the frame sections. With only one thing to do, we let the center section slide down the driveshaft, and out of the way. I then located the trusty hammer, and laid in a nice dent. The center section then mounted up just fine.

I waited a week before I went back and installed the rear control arms.

Installation of which is straight forward. Again, measureing the UCAs to the recommended lengths as per the instructions led to them being about an inch too short. All but one of them. One of the UCAs, while screwed in all the way was exactly the length I needed. This is with the pinion tilted up the driveshaft. Too close. Once they were all in, I went around the Jeep and retorqued all the bolts.

So. Another week passes. I finally went down to a local muffler shop. I trust the guy's work. His work is strong. The toughest part is trying to trust someone to do some work on your ride when you are accustomed to doing all the work yourself. I explained what I needed, left the ZJ, and went home. About 4 hours later, I get the phone call that the ZJ is done. When I arrive, the ZJ is outside. He meets me outside, and tells me to drive is up on the rack. I fire it up. Nice note. Throaty. Not loud. I stab the throttle and give is a couple of good revs. Nice burble as the RPMs drop. The note is definitely different from my Flowmaster that I had. I loved the tone of that Flowmaster behind the 4.0 ... boy I'll miss it. (pics will follow at some point)

Once under the ZJ. I'm not sure the gauge of the tubing, but it is thick. The muffler is an Imco Race muffler. Same physical dimensions of the Flowmaster Race muffler. All welded construction. I had looked at the Imco mufflers online before this, and it was an option I had considered. They use a wedge shaped baffle... of sorts... inside the muffler. Not exactly the same design as the Flowmaster. In this install, he saw the need for a support jut in front of the axle. He had seen the one I installed under the Jeep before. This was because the weight of the exhaust was causing the muffler and tail pipe to twist under it's own offset weight. The exhaust was tucked up to clear anything that got in the way, but leaves plenty of room for airflow around it and prevent transfer of heat into the floor.

So. How is it now? Let's put it this way. Out of laziness, I have yet to reconnect the front swaybar. Combined with the Teraflex steering and the longarms, this Jeep is handling very nice. Smooth. I like it alot. I have put it in the ditch near the house and twisted it up. One thing is for certain. Now that I have changed the geometry of the rear suspension, it is time to change the rear brake line. Also, gonna have to reconsider the ABS sensor wires. The rear suspension is far from maxing out. The shocks limit the dropout. The YJ lines I got from Mike and T way back in 2002 still have room, but not much. Again, the shocks limit the dropout. I'll be considering the additions of longer stainless lines front and rear... and ofcourse, some longer shocks. ;-)

The reason why I was never worried about the hole in the frame? The "frame" of the ZJ model Jeep Grand Cherokee is actually a unibody (unit-body) construction. The Rubicon Express Long Arm kits all use the same basic setup. The Long Arm Upgrade featured here is the basic setup. The front control arm mounts integrate into the frame. They dont just weld in on one little spot... they weld and bolt to a pretty sizeable portion. They are shaped perfectly. They also have a portion that runs UP the outside of the frame rail. I planned to (and later actually did) lay a couple of welds on the upper lip to the frame. Between this, and the lower section's coverage, I have no worries that this system will hold strongly, the ZJ's frame is solid and the future is good. The pics below show just how much coverage there is.

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