{"product_id":"ram-carli-extended-control-arms-3rd-gen-mild-steel-2003-09","title":"Ram Carli Extended Control Arms, 3rd Gen, Mild Steel, 2003-09","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe 1994-2012 Ram 2500\/3500 utilizes a 5-Link front suspension.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis link system comprises upper and lower control arms to hold the axle fore\/aft while the track bar serves as the lateral link to minimize lateral shift.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen lifting the front end of a straight axle truck, you’re essentially pushing the axle further away from the frame at ride-height.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs the travel is not perfectly linear, the new ride height will set the front axle off-center unless the proper linkages are addressed.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe systems we design for these trucks range from 2.5″-3″ of front lift.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThree inches of front lift equates to an axle shifted toward the driver’s side ¾” and back toward the cab ½”.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlthough this is perfectly operable when the factory control arms and track bar are in good condition, we recommend purchasing an adjustable track bar to shift the axle back toward the passenger side and provide a stronger link with less deflection for the lifted application, and a set of extended control arms to shift the axle forward to its new center of travel.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe construction of these arms starts with 0.120″ Box Steel mated to in-house machined joint-cups.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe mild-steel center sections are welded inboard of center to offset the link as far from the tire as possible for optimal tire clearance.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe pride ourselves on our joints.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a market abundant with hat-bushing and crush sleeve equipped arms, our spherical bearing arms are leaps ahead of the competition.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAs described above, the travel of the ram’s front axle is non-linear.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt travels up and down and back and forth.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is a non-issue for a standard 3-piece hat bushing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe problem is in the substantial lateral shift of the axle thanks to the track-bar design.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis side-to-side movement falls outside the operating range of hat bushings meant for a linear load effectively hot-spotting and egging out the bushing hole as they bind when the axle articulates.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe answer?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA spherical joint design allowing far more lateral misalignment in addition to the up and down\/fore \u0026amp; aft movement.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAt the heart of the joint assembly, you’ll find our in-house machined a 17-4 Stainless ball center.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is surrounded by our Proprietary Bushings \u0026amp; Joint Washers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe assembly is preloaded into the cup and retained with a snap-ring.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLast but certainly not least, a zerk fitting is added for ease of servicing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOver the years, we learned a LOT about bushings.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOriginally, we started with Currie Johnny Joints.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eAlthough they were high-quality joints and better than anything on the market (at the time), there was room for improvement.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWe machine all the Ball Centers in-house from 17-4 Stainless bar-stock.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThis is a much more corrosion-resistant material in addition to being higher strength.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhere we saw some stress fractures in the Currie joints at the Ram torque specs, our Stainless ball center took without issue!\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhile designing them, we took the opportunity to oversize the mating surfaces for the most contact area to the control arm frame\/axle mounts.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThey’re substantially larger than the Currie and 0.050″ oversized from even a factory control arm!\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eNext up, we went to work on a project with Energy Suspension designing new bushings for our ball centers.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThe Currie were great quality but often difficult to get grease into.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIt wasn’t uncommon to need to articulate the truck to line the zerk fitting port with the split in the bushings.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eOur new, RED bushings have grease channels engineered into all surfaces to ensure easy greasing and proper grease migration.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFurther, they’re not interlocked like the old bushings allowing more room for grease and easier joint articulation.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Carli Suspension","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51722027991322,"sku":"CLICS-CA-MS-03","price":923.21,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0975\/8942\/8506\/files\/51zZX1OGeiL.jpg?v=1771614889","url":"https:\/\/trybeepbeep.com\/products\/ram-carli-extended-control-arms-3rd-gen-mild-steel-2003-09","provider":"TryBeepbeep","version":"1.0","type":"link"}