JBA control arms and travel

So Im kinda looking at the JBA control arms for my 5th gen with a Dobs IMS 3 in lift.

JBA have the ball joints that allow for more travel. Does anybody know if the upper control arms are what actually limit total travel distance on the front suspension on a 5th gen. Or would I have to do something with lower control arms too in order to use the JBAs ball joint increased range of motion ?

If the JBAs alone can increase travel, would I need to worry about other suspension parts crashing into each other due to increased travel?

 

All suspension parts relate to how much travel you can achieve. If you have a lift, you’ll get more travel due to the longer shocks. Most come with standard travel, so keeping OEM arms should be okay. When you get extended travel shocks, that’s when the upper control arm can become the stopping factor as it’s not allowing the full extension of the shock. On most long travel rigs you’ll see aftermarket lower and upper control arms to allow maximum compression and extension of the shocks.
In short, no the JBA UCAs alone with no other suspension upgrade can increase travel. With your setup, you’ll want to verify if you have standard travel, or extended travel. If you have extended travel coilovers, you’ll benefit from aftermarket UCA’s that’ll allow more articulation than OEM arms. Another thing to keep in mind is extended brake lines, that’s dependent on how much travel you’ll be wanting to have.
Keep in mind, not an expert just my level of understanding.

 

Thanks for your thoughts. I am precisely worried about hurting my shocks by extending them too far out. I sent crikeymike a question already to get his thoughts to see if he’s seen anybody run the JBAs and the IMS shocks together, and whether the JBAs alone have the potential to over extend the standard travel IMS shocks I have.

It would be cool to have upper control arms that allow some extra extension, but not if it’s at the expense of my coilovers

 

You can put longer 'bump stops' on your lower control arms to limit excessive travel (Duro Stops) , can be found on forum under the Plastic Guys website. On the left side of the forum home page under- 'Vendors'. The thing that is going to get hurt are your CV joints and axles during too much travel, there are ways to combat this, but the most economical is longer bump stops.

Stock shocks here.

 

With stock suspension (stock shocks and UCA's), I believe the shocks themselves are the limiting factor.

When you add aftermarket offroad shocks, they typically have longer shafts that allow more travel. As a result, the UCA's (stock or aftermarket) become your limiting factor as they begin to hitting your coils on the down travel.

For long travel set-ups, people usually get extended upper AND lower control arms (as well as extended travel shocks) to allow the control arms to articulate further and increase wheel travel.

 

If you have standard travel shocks they will stock themselves, I don’t think you’d be hurting anything but we’ll let the experts determine that. If you have extended travel, you’ll get use out of the UCA’s. Extended travel and long travel are two different things just keep that in mind. Most coilovers can become extended travel by removing a “spacer” from the internals of the shock.

 

I'd like to know the answer to this question too. Mostly just to learn more about suspensions. It seems down travel could be limited by the stock piston bottoming out because it's only got the weight of wheel/hub on it. But up travel needs to be limited by a bump stop because it could have the whole weight of the truck on it. Is this correct? So a longer stock can provide more down travel? But what is the next thing that limits travel, is it the UCA or the LCA. I'd like to know the sequence of things that limit travel as you upgrade each of them, and how much you get with each upgrade.

 

interesting, so if Im going down some stepped terrain on stock shocks, and the wheel extends to it’s limits, it’s the shock taking the whole weight of the drooping suspension?

 

Yes, I think so.

 

That’s most likely the case, as with long travel setups you often see limit straps on the lower control arms to stop the shocks from over extending.

 

Mtbpsych is right! If you don’t want to over extend your shocks add some limiting straps.