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FT 5" Stretch Kit???

1178 Views 7 Replies 8 Participants Last post by  seapahn
Has anyone tired out the new Full Traction TJ/Rubi 5.0" Wheelbase Super Stretch Upgrade Kit? From the pics at their website, it looks like the upper rear ca is adjustable (big plus!). It also mentions that you need to do a gast tank mod (Gen-Right maybe?).

Anyone running it or seen it in person?
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I haven't seen it in person. Before I drop the coin on it I would suggest doing a search on ROF for stretches. We have several members who have done it and they might save you some hassle, money and headaches..
Haven't seen or heard of it, but at one time they were known for poor customer service. I think in my opinion there are better ways of doing it. Good luck
call David @ Northridge4x4.com he can answer your questions and give you a great price
Do a ton of research and put your own stretch together with proven components. like sleeps said customer service goes a long way. i don't really think FT gives a @#$ based on what I have seen some of my friends go though with them. source your own stuff its only brackets, tabs, and tubing
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After my experience with the FT Long-Arm kit, I would not use their stretch.

My experience proved (to me and another local guy who had the exact same failure) that the FT kit has a weakness in the design. Weaknes is the Plate that connects the axle bracket (Truss) to the Diff Housing. The weakness is the design DOES NOT allow for compression of both sides of the rear at the same time. If you low speed rock crawl and never drop off ledges, the design works quite well and has excellent road manners.

However, If you drop ledges where both rear tires compress at once (like White Knuckle hill in Moab), or if you get antsy in the desert and decide to drive like Ivan Stewart for short bursts, you WILL compress both sides. Since there is no allowance in the geometry for double compression in the rear with their design, you will break the bracket (weakest link) in half and you will have no upper control arms to hold your axle in place and keep your axle bracket/truss from bending.


Broken Bracket.

If you don't catch the broken bracket in time, the axle bracket/truss will bend.

That is the "replacement" bracket on the left.

Total cost will be about $400 to replace these two parts (ask me how I know).

The 5 " Stretch kit simply lengthens thee upper V-Link and lower control arms but re-uses the two parts pictured above so no fix is in place for the design flaw that fails to allow compression of both the left and right side of the rear at the same time. That all said, with the stretch, it APPEARS TO ME that you will now have more leverage on the two weak parts.

I have not tried the Full Traction 5" stretch so take my comments for what they are - Experience with the Long Arm Kit of similar design.
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The long arm stretch upgrade looks like a pretty simple design. If you already have the long arm kit, that actually looks like a pretty good way to go. There are still of course issues to work out with the exhaust and gas tank but you have to do that with any stretching anyway.
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