Spohn Rear Control Arms?

[gmartin1215]

Anyone running the Spohn adjustable rear upper and lower control arms on their lifted vehicle?
Any regrets?
I read comments on Ram forums where they said these are junk, and the joints are prone to breakage.

 

[Dustin Jackson]

Anyone running the Spohn adjustable rear upper and lower control arms on their lifted vehicle?
Any regrets?
I read comments on Ram forums where they said these are junk, and the joints are prone to breakage.

@gmartin1215 I have heard that about their poly bushings, I am using their del Sphere "johnny joints" in my spohn panhard/track bar and I really like the joint style.

 

[87chels]

We got them in our Suburban so far no issues. Only been in since April. Definitely alot more suspension travel with them. A little more rear body roll during fast corners or lane changes but not terrible. I got poly bushings wherever it was a option.

 

[FrankU]

Those bad comments about Spohn adjustable's from what I recall are about the bars fatiguing under very high powered vehicles.

 

[gmartin1215]

Thanks, guys. I want to replace the rear control arms on my 09 Tahoe as I am rebuilding the entire suspension. One of my lower control arms is bent, so it's definitely time to replace, and might as well do an upgrade, too. @Tozan suggested using the Spohn off-road set when I first started looking into rebuilding my Tahoe. The Spohn set looks very nice and I like the attribute that they are adjustable since I am planning to do a lift, too.

I started reading about the del-sphere joint that Spohn uses and that's when I noticed a lot of complaints, especially from the guys that drive Ram trucks. They mentioned the joints were banging a lot and wear was showing in the joint. One remedy some suggested was adding a rubber bushing where the del-sphere connects to minimize the banging sound. Maybe it's more a problem with Ram trucks where these guys are complaining. Some were saying they were glad to take the Spohn's off! Anyway, I thought I would ask here to see if Tahoe/Yukon owners were having similar problems.

The guy in this video has a lot of negative points about Spohns, but he has a Ram truck.

 

[gmartin1215]

I saw these arms from Apoc, but can't find any opinions about them. They don't have a panhard bar, though. Cost of getting into these is cheaper than Spohn and they don't have the del-spehre joint.

1999-2014 Chevy Tahoe / Suburban Rear Adjustable Trailing Arms

It fits stock to 6" lifts. Apoc Chevrolet Tahoe's suburban rear adjustable controls arms are a significant upgrade from stock. Factory trailing arms work great with factory-sized tires and suspension, but you need more substantial and longer controls arms to maintain the correct Pinion angle...

apocindustries.com

 

[63Blackseries]

I saw these arms from Apoc, but can't find any opinions about them. They don't have a panhard bar, though. Cost of getting into these is cheaper than Spohn and they don't have the del-spehre joint.

1999-2014 Chevy Tahoe / Suburban Rear Adjustable Trailing Arms

It fits stock to 6" lifts. Apoc Chevrolet Tahoe's suburban rear adjustable controls arms are a significant upgrade from stock. Factory trailing arms work great with factory-sized tires and suspension, but you need more substantial and longer controls arms to maintain the correct Pinion angle...

apocindustries.com

curious would these aftermarket arms would give you suspension travel? i need some more travel for off roading

 

[Dustin Jackson]

@gmartin1215 I have the Spohn panhard bar with the Delsphere joints. For the first few months I had a lot of clunks and noise from them and It was my fault, I went and tightened the joints pretty tight and now the bar is perfect. I suspect that those people were not tightening the joint enough. I have been running the bar without problems for 3 months now.

 

[gmartin1215]

@gmartin1215 I have the Spohn panhard bar with the Delsphere joints. For the first few months I had a lot of clunks and noise from them and It was my fault, I went and tightened the joints pretty tight and now the bar is perfect. I suspect that those people were not tightening the joint enough. I have been running the bar without problems for 3 months now.View attachment 305148

Thanks for the info!

 

[randeez]

ive had the full set of uppers/lowers/panhard on for about 3 years. but i dont drive that ******* them

 

[jeremiahm]

I have about 1500 miles on my set, great so far. I second tightening the joints up, once you put the truck on them they move! I tightened with a breaker bar until they stopped and then backed them to the nearest set screw indent (dont forget that set screw, its tiny, but holds tight!). I just snugged them, didnt crank. I did a few hundred miles on them as they are set up from Spohn and it was real clunky, after tightening it is smooth as butter.

jeremiah

 

[gmartin1215]

I have about 1500 miles on my set, great so far. I second tightening the joints up, once you put the truck on them they move! I tightened with a breaker bar until they stopped and then backed them to the nearest set screw indent (dont forget that set screw, its tiny, but holds tight!). I just snugged them, didnt crank. I did a few hundred miles on them as they are set up from Spohn and it was real clunky, after tightening it is smooth as butter.

jeremiah

Thanks! This helps!

 

[87chels]

curious would these aftermarket arms would give you suspension travel? i need some more travel for off roading

Idk about those apoc control arms but spohn control arms definitely do have alot more travel. With stock control arms in i barely had enough down travel to squeeze 2.5 inch lift springs in. With the spohn control arms in I have enough travel to easily get the 5 inch lift springs in. Haven't measured travel yet but offroad can definitely tell theres alot more than we used to have. Rear shocks are what is limiting our down travel and if it was able to go any further down my springs would be able to pop out. One of the things on my list of plans is making spring retaining brackets to hold top and bottom coils so that can't be a issue

 

[Rocket Man]

ive had the full set of uppers/lowers/panhard on for about 3 years. but i dont drive that ******* them

Yeah right…

 

[jeremiahm]

Also, give them a good greasing before you crank them down. Learned as I went! Here is my initial post on the process. Had to do it a second time to tighten everything up. I did a 1" spacer at the same time and I am still running my air shocks.

Spohn upgrade and mini-lift

As I get older the concrete in my driveway becomes less forgiving... Updated the rear end with 1" spacers and all the shiny red from Spohn, what a huge difference. No bounce, clanking, clunking, the new shocks actually feel much smoother. Factory parts were tired at 150k! If you go this route...

www.tahoeyukonforum.com

 

[gmartin1215]

Thanks for all the great feedback, guys! I took the plunge and bought Spohn's off-road set.

 

[gmartin1215]

Also, give them a good greasing before you crank them down. Learned as I went! Here is my initial post on the process. Had to do it a second time to tighten everything up. I did a 1" spacer at the same time and I am still running my air shocks.

Spohn upgrade and mini-lift

As I get older the concrete in my driveway becomes less forgiving... Updated the rear end with 1" spacers and all the shiny red from Spohn, what a huge difference. No bounce, clanking, clunking, the new shocks actually feel much smoother. Factory parts were tired at 150k! If you go this route...

www.tahoeyukonforum.com

Are you still using the spacers?

 

[Dustin Jackson]

@gmartin1215 not that you asked me but I'm running 2.5 inch spacers in the rear

 

[jeremiahm]

yes, still using the spacers, I wanted to level out my 1.5 lift up front. Sits perfect for me.

 

[gmartin1215]

I got my Spohn arms and trackbar installed!

The brake line used to attach to the OEM track bar with clips that kept it up and not hanging near the ground. I used zip-ties to hold the brake line up on the Spohn track bar, but it is still too low for my comfort.

For those of you who have the Spohn trackbar, how are you holding up the brake line to where it's out of the way and not hanging down where it can get snatched?