A-Arm FAQ

Different A-arms utilize different materials, and we do extensive testing to ensure that we have the right combination of materials and design that yield the most strength for each application.

That being said, our adjustable pivot blocks and ball joint housings are always made with 4130 chromoly steel.

Tubed A-Arms

The rest of the construction on our tubed A-arms (tubes, shock mounts, etc.) is made with carbon steel with a few exceptions on certain A-arms.

For example, on some applications, our mounting tabs will be made with chromoly or an even stronger steel alloy that we also use in our portal backing plates.

And finally, you can choose all 4130 chromoly steel A-arms for a few side-by-sides like the RZR 1000 and RZR Turbo. Everything on these arms is made of chromoly steel, including the tubing and mounting tabs. All of our tubed A-arms are considerably stronger than stock, but our chromoly A-arms are even stronger.

Boxed A-Arms

Every plate metal part on our boxed A-arms are made with a high-strength steel alloy that’s stronger than chromoly.

The pivot blocks and ball joint housings are made with 4130 chromoly steel.

If there are any tubed components like on our boxed Teryx A-arms, those will typically be made with carbon steel.

The wall thickness on our tubed A-arms is always .120 inches or about 1/8 of an inch. That makes them up to 2.5 times thicker than stock.

Different A-arms weigh different amounts. A single Polaris OEM lower A-arm weighs between 4 and 6 pounds. A single tubed SuperATV A-arm designed for Polaris vehicles weighs between 9 and 12 pounds. In total, a full set of our tubed A-arms weigh in between 45 and 50 pounds.

A full set of our boxed A-arms weighs about 10 pounds more than a full set of our tubed arms.

We can only speak for SuperATV A-arms when we say that boxed A-arms are significantly stronger.

Our boxed A-arms are made with a special high-strength steel alloy that’s stronger than chromoly. Combine that with robust internal gusseting and there’s no stronger A-arm.

M6 x 1.0

The primary purpose of adjustable A-arms is to allow you to adjust your camber. Camber is the inward or outward tilt of the top of the tires. Generally you want your tires straight up and down or up to 2° inward.

Your camber is primarily affected by your lift, your machines overall weight, and the age of your shocks. If you change any of those elements, your camber will change too. You can only adjust your camber with aftermarket adjustable A-arms.

Adjustable A-arms also let you adjust your caster, but caster is best left alone except for in specific circumstances like racing or huge builds with monster tires.

Every A-arm we sell has adjustability built in, or has the option for it, with the exception of Ranger models that utilize struts for their front suspension.

On Ranger models with struts, the upper and lower ball joints are much farther apart. That makes adjusting camber with a lower A-arm useless because fully adjusting the pivot blocks in or out would only change it by a fraction of a degree.

Adding a lift kit gives you positive camber (the tops of your tires leaning outward). You don’t want positive camber.

The solution is to push the bottoms of your tires out using adjustable pivot blocks.

Thread your pivot blocks out about 2 full turns per 1° until you have 1 or 2 degrees of negative camber.

All of our A-arms come preadjusted to factory camber and caster right out of the box, but you can check out this article on how to adjust your camber, caster, and toe if you want to make your own adjustments.

To quickly make adjustments to camber, adjust your lower pivot blocks and check your camber with a carpenters T-square then make more adjustments while the machine is still lifted. Keep in mind that your machine will have approximately 2 degrees more positive camber when it’s in the air than when it is sitting on the ground.

To quickly adjust toe, keep your machine on the ground and loosen the inner and outer jam nuts on your tie rods. Get in a position where you can easily tell if your front tires are in line with your rear tires. If they are not, turn your tie rods (by hand or with a wrench if they’re tight) until your front tires are perfectly in line with the rear. From there, you can add a degree of toe in or out as needed.

There are a number of things that can affect your camber. If you’ve added more weight to your machine in the form of windshields, bumpers, doors, or cargo, you will get more negative camber.

The other biggest reason your camber is off is because your shocks sage as they age. Old shocks will give you negative camber.

Of course, we’re all human and sometimes we make mistakes. If you’ve checked those things and still don’t have an answer, maybe we goofed on our adjustments. You can either follow the instructions provided with your A-arms to set them specifically for your side-by-side, follow this guide, or give us a call at 855-743-3427 and we’ll help you out.

Offset A-arms move your front wheels 1.5 to 2 inches forward. Some vehicles also have rear offset A-arms that move the rear wheels backward.

Moving the wheels forward or backward gives you a longer wheelbase, more stability, and room for bigger tires. It does these things without drastically changing your suspension geometry so you can continue to use stock axles and tie rods in most instances.

The main reason people get offset A-arms is to get larger tires without installing a lift kit.

No, offset A-arms do not lift your machine.

The high clearance arches provide extra ground clearance and adding larger tires will get you even more.

Tire size varies from vehicle to vehicle. We do our best to provide you with accurate tire sizes on each offset A-arm product page (tire size info for offset A-arms is in the features or in a table at the bottom of the page).

The tire sizes we list are measured at full compression and full turn and will not rub when installed with offset A-arms.

The only four offset A-arm kits that require upgraded axles are our rear offset A-arms for the Polaris RZR S 1000, the Polaris RZR 4 900, the Polaris RZR S 900, and the Polaris General.

All the rest of our offset A-arms are designed to work with stock axles. Some come with steering stop kits to make sure you don’t bind your axles in certain situations. If you add other suspension modifications, we recommend upgrading to Rhino or Rhino 2.0 Axles.

No, offset A-arms do not make your vehicle wider in the front. We go to painstaking lengths to preserve your suspension geometry as much as possible while still creating the offset.