Rough Country Flex Joint & Bushing Woes

RC flex joints shot….again?

Rough Country is a hugely popular brand, largely in part due to price point. It’s a price point we don’t even try to compete with due to our superior product line and premium parts.  The old addage “buy once, cry once” also applies to how much time you spend under your rig fixing broken, subpar, shit. Our mentality is thus…

Build it well enough, with high quality parts, the first time…  so you can spend your time on the trails enjoying your rig, and not all your time on jackstands nickel-and-diming your way into replacement parts every six months.

Having said that, not everyone starts with a pristine, unmodified rig and builds it to it’s supreme level of performance right out of the gate. So you ended up with RC parts under your rig, and they just don’t last…. what now?

Now is the time to upgrade:

For customers with RC short or long arms, you can direct swap to genuine RockJock (Formerly Currie Enterprises) Johnny Joints by simply unthreading your old parts and threading the new ones right in. RockJock (formerly Currie) is THE golden standard, the benchmark, upon which all other flex joints are measured. They will outlast, outperform, and outflex every other joint on the market. It’s why they are the only joint we use for all our short and long arm applications.

For customers with taller lifts who have lower control arms threaded pretty far out, we now have a longer shank option Enduro Joint by Barnes 4WD that fits your lower control arms.

NEW!!! We now also have direct replacements for your press in bushings! We have a Trail Forged Better Bushing ™  option that presses right in and gives you far more performance and longevity.

Part numbers by location

Lower Control Arms, all: CE-9114

Lower Control Arms if you need long shanks: TFBJR16-9

Front Upper Control Arms: CE-9112SP

Rear Upper Control Arms (verified on TJ/LJ and ZJ): CE-9112SP

Upper Control Arms, for those wanting to upgrade to 1/2″ hardware: CE-9112SP-12

WJ Grand Cherokee only: Rear Upper A Arm: CE-9114

ZJ, TL/LJ, and WJ Track Bar: CE-9112N75-17 or CE-9112N75-13 (we suggest the -13 and upgraded bolt kit)

Press in bushings in lower control arms, and upper rear control arms on TJ/LJ, and ZJ: TFBB-05

WJ Grand Cherokee:

(5) CE-9114 or TFBJR16-9 for tall lifts

(2) CE-9112SP or SP-12 if you want to upgrade hardware

(1) CE-9112N75-17 or CE-9112N75-13 for TrackBar

(4) TFBB-05 Bushings

XJ Cherokee

(2) CE-9114 or TFBJR16-9 for tall lifts

(2) CE-9112SP or SP-12 if you want to upgrade hardware

(1) CE-9112N75-17 or CE-9112N75-13 for TrackBar

(2) TFBB-05 Bushings

TJ/LJ, or ZJ

(4) CE-9114 or TFBJR16-9 for tall lifts

(4) CE-9112SP or SP-12 if you want to upgrade hardware

(1) CE-9112N75-17 or CE-9112N75-13 for TrackBar

(6) TFBB-05 Bushings

Now… some important notes:

• The Johnny Joints have regular length shanks, which are shorter than most RC joints. If your joints are threaded way way out, you may not have enough threaded shank on the Johnny Joint to safely use it. This is normally only on lower control arms on rigs lifted very high.
• The press in bushings are a direct replacement for the proprietary RC bushing, but you will have to cut the flanged shoulder on your old RC bushing off in order to press them out. We use a cutoff disc to do this, then you have access to press the old bushing out.
• WJ control arm brackets are a unique, wide width. The Johnny Joints are the standard 2.625″ wide, which means spacers should be used for flex joints being mounted in stock WJ brackets (does not apply to joints mounted in RC long arm brackets that are 2.625″ wide) … 2 at the axle end and 1 at the chassis end, depending on which end your adjustable joint is installed at. If your rig does not have spacers with flex joints in stock WJ brackets, you will need to get some here. Verify width to confirm