ARTICULINK - Could this be something the new Jeep JL Wrangler will have?

wayoflife

wayoflife

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For those of you who haven't seen it before, the all new 2017 RAM Power Wagon is going to be coming with 9.25 AAM front axle and a rear 11.5 AAM but what's even more interesting is that it will also be coming with an electronic sway bar disconnect up front AND what RAM is calling an Articulink suspension system. From the few shots I've seen so far, it's essentially a radius arm setup and, according to RAM, it will allow the Power Wagon to have a full 26 inches of suspension travel EVEN WITH the sway bar engaged. Again, this is according to RAM and I'm not 100% sure how this would translate or compare to a Wrangler. Apparently, it is this new Articulink suspension system that helped spawn the possibility of an IFS for the new 2018 Jeep JL Wrangler. Here are a couple of shots of the Articulink that I found on Allpar.

Here you can see how the Articulink is designed and mounts to the front axle. Essentially, a radius arm design.
articulink.jpg

Here's a shot of the 2017 RAM Power Wagon flexing on the trail.
front-axle-sway-bar-disconnected.jpg

You can also see a video of how it works here:
http://www.allpar.com/news/2016/02/video-just-how-flexible-is-the-power-wagon-31255


While I'm no fan of radius arms, I could see how it could work pretty well with soft clevite bushings and so long as the travel range is limited to whatever is determined for a stock suspension system. Of course, what I'd like to know is if this is something we might be able to expect on the new 2017 Jeep JL Wrangler. What do you guys think? Would you be game for something like this?
 
The link didn't work for me very well for the video so I had to look it up. The amount of flex was pretty impressive and it looked like they put a decent amount of thought into the rest of the vehicle like dual alternators. It will be interesting how this concept performs and if it trickles down to the new Jeeps.
 
Overall the truck looks sweet. I can't help but wonder what trails would be big enough to take it down.

I assuming that the 26 number is a combination of front and rear travel and not an individual wheel?
 
Id be interested to see this one up close. Very cool!
I also like the hidden winch on the pic posted. I wonder if that's behind a stock bumper?
 
CJW said:
Id be interested to see this one up close. Very cool!
I also like the hidden winch on the pic posted. I wonder if that's behind a stock bumper?
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You are correct on the winch. The Power Wagons have been doing that since at least the first reincarnation back in the early 2000's.
 
Isn't that basically the same setup some suspension companies already use, like Rustys control arms?ImageUploadedByWAYALIFE1455330032.709918.jpg
 
Seems like an interesting design for sure.

I am curious though Eddie, what is it about radius arms that you aren't a fan of? Not at all questioning your opinion, but I'm just wondering what you don't like about them. I'm running a custom radius arm on the front of my WJ and for me it has worked fantastically.
 
OJK12 said:
Isn't that basically the same setup some suspension companies already use, like Rustys control arms?View attachment 187539
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Essentially, yes. Although, the Rusty arms are really short and the ones on the Power Wagon look pretty long as they should be if you're going to do this.

longarmwj said:
Seems like an interesting design for sure.

I am curious though Eddie, what is it about radius arms that you aren't a fan of? Not at all questioning your opinion, but I'm just wondering what you don't like about them. I'm running a custom radius arm on the front of my WJ and for me it has worked fantastically.
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On an older Jeep like a TJ or WJ, radius arms was the best way to run long arms and in many ways, the only way. While it will allow for big parallel vertical travel (great for desert racing) and even help provide a greater amount of articulation, it's far from the ideal setup. By virtue of it's design, radius arms will be in a state of bind the moment you try to articulate your axle. To help illustrate this, if you disconnect your control arm from the frame, it would just remain sticking out like an unmovable trussed diving board. On a 4-link setup, the links will all fall down and/or can be moved around. So long as you have soft enough bushings, you can force your axle to articulate well enough but it will come at the cost of the bushing. Way back in the day, there were companies that made front axles for things like early broncos as they used a radius arm design too and these axles actually had a tube that rotated to keep it from acting like a torsion bar. Of course, there's something to be said about redundancy. If you break a link on a 4-link setup, you can still get off the trail with just 3 and I've done it. If you break one of your two radius arms on the trail, you're dead in the water. Of course, this is all just me.
 
wayoflife said:
Shouldn't be. Radius arms are just like a normal coil suspension system for a solid axle and with a track bar only without upper control arms.
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I remember when I had my 86 Ford Bronco I installed a Superlift with extended radius arms. It was very expensive compared to the solid axle lifts of older.
 
catahoula said:
I remember when I had my 86 Ford Bronco I installed a Superlift with extended radius arms. It was very expensive compared to the solid axle lifts of older.
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LOL!! Allow me to clarify. If you were to just install a set of coil spacers or even taller coils and shocks, it should cost no more to do than what we do with our JK's now. IF you're going to be installing new arms of any kind and for any reason, yeah, it'll cost a bit.

Of course, this is all just speculation as to what the JL will come with :crazyeyes:
 
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