People with Defined Engineering SUA kits

I'm not sure if i ended up replying to your PM or not but I'm still running stock rear lines. I believe SickNick either made longer brackets or just bent the stock ones so theres more slack, either way I still have some slack at full droop.

 

any extended brake like kit is fine . i space the bracket on the housing and use the stock lines for most installs.

as long as the x-brace was installed correctly the shackle should never hit the frame. the bushings on the leafspring will rub the frame under hard side loading, maybe that is what you are seeing? if the shackle is touching the frame it could be quite a few things. worn bushings, ovaled frame holes from not tightening the bolts properly, possibility of impact damage and of course not having the x-brace installed right. what are you seeing that is making you concerned?

 

I saw some pretty gnarly grooves/gashes caused by stock hanger flex on a frame that was being fill welded.

 

thats new news to me, i would believe it if my x-brace was not installed . id like to see some pics if you got them. or have the customer contact me. if theres a problem with any of my products id like to know about them.

 

I ask because I will be deciding on rear LT in the next couple days. Just weighing the options here and I'm a little hesitant to run stock hangers after seeing that, especially if I can get a proven DMZ kit with stronger, fabricated hangers at the same price.

 

It was on Long Beach Racers' Tacoma. I'm pretty sure they did everything properly, with new wear parts and full race prep. This was before last year's 500 and 1000 Baja races as well. I totally forgot about this until I was talking to a friend about pros/cons of current rear LT kits.

 

the dmz hangers arent necessarily stronger. we have bent them on our race truck multiple times and have the shackle contact the brackets and frame all the time. the springs that Tim has provided us never lasted long either. i would put my kit against the dmz kit any day.
if my shackles hit the frame with my crossbrace and the cause wasent due to lack of prep or bushing failure, its the first ive seen of this problem. id like it if you could put me in touch with the customer so i can see what the issue is.

my sua kit is baja championship winning kit , if thats not a proven product i dont know what is. Can dmz say the same?

 

they dont have my x-brace and a crucial portion of the frame was removed from their truck. i made recommendations for them to gusset and strengthen the area and they felt it was unnecessary. they also had the bolts loosen up and oblong the holes in the frame. im aware of that issue and it was due to the reasons i have listed in above posts.they only had the springs and shackles inspected once in the past year , not what i would consider proper prep.

 

DMZ hasn't pushed their parts with any such claims, that's for sure.

I've narrowed my decision to either yours or DMZ's. Are your kits ready to go, or are you still requiring customers to front the money until you assemble them?

 

stock, with like a 1" spacer under the mount.

 

Hmm...I guess that explains it then... Although, I'm not sure that I agree with you on the point that they don't properly prep their Tacoma.

 

im glad i got the x-brace

 

That truck has chains for limit straps and no rear bumps.. how is that not having a properly prepped truck lol

 

Wait chains are bad?

 

Chains wouldn't be my first choice either, but they've been run safely for years and years on all sorts of racing vehicles. They are significantly more durable and cheaper.

I'm pretty sure they have their custom made Bilstein bypasses properly set up for bump... They did have Tom Morris tune their suspension after all.

 

wasn't the frame severely dented from the axle slamming into it??

 

Blackhawke88 has pictures of the mangled frame..obvious the damage is from not running bump stops

 

the bypasses were not custom made for the truck and they are not the proper stroke. metal to metal contact is bad and chains dont absorb energy.
just because it was tuned by tom morris dosent mean it is a properly equipped truck
i can tell you havent been around LBR for very many years....

 

I heard it was "OFF THE CHAIN"

In all seriousness, go with Defined. It's been well proven by many members here to take the abuse and Mike stands by his work!

 

is there any downside to removing the 2 bottom smallest leafs?? i recently removed 3 per side.