Thanks for the reassurance. Awesome info. I didn't think a JK would be so much heavier than our old iron.

I ended up with some 1.75 OD, .25" wall DOM. Would this be adequate for rear four link? Ruffstuff kits come with 2" x .25 wall. I figure the 1.75 is ok, but wanted to make sure.

You'll be fine. My rear link setup is 1.75" x .120".

If I wanted to seriously crunch numbers, I could likely get away with 1.25" x .090" or 1.25" x .083".

The straight-line force along the axis of the tube is not what usually kills it. It would be from taking a rock hit near the middle of the tube. Here is a picture of the stresses in a 1.25" x .070" DOM tube supporting 10,000lbs. As you can see, the maximum stress is less than 38,000 psi and the tube will not yield until about 60,000 psi. (Ignore what the picture says yield is)


I had a tube bumper made from 1.75" x .083". I dropped the truck off a large rock (~2ft) and hit the bumper. It put a dime-sized dent in the tube barely deep enough to notice it, but didn't buckle it. I painted over it and kept going.

x2. The guys who are destroying .25 wall links are running them on buggies and dragging or dropping rigs on them.

I've bent a .25 wall tie rod once. It wasn't a hard bend but it was definitely bowed. That was after about a year and a half of hard wheeling every weekend. Even though I tend to hit the harder trails out there I do not beat on my bronco. Once I saw the bent tie rod I sleeved the new one I built with some .120 wall DOM to make the tie rod .370 wall 1.75od. I went ahead and sleeved my rear lower links while I was at it just for peace of mind. The only issue I have now is I'm worried I moved the weak point to something more difficult to repair on the trail, like a knuckle.

I guess what I'm saying is; for my uses I'll not run anything thinner than .25 wall on anything that will see consistent rocks. For most people thinner wall stuff will work for their uses. But one drop on a rock with the thin wall stuff and it is very likely to bend.

Digger, we need to take a look at my bumpers and see why the .120 wall tubing gets dented so much. Maybe I'm just harder on my bronco than most but my bumpers tend to get dented a lot.

Thanks guys, I'll stash it and hopefully use it when I link the rear in a couple years.