long travel for crawling... suggestions

Well long story short I live in georgia and there are very few places im going to really put a full on long travel kit to use. I was curious if anybody had any suggestions for a squishy setup to increase front end travel while retaining ifs and factory mounting points. Im kinda dead set on this because I absolutely love my high centerline in the front for the trails. Right now I have every bit of 8"-9" of travel in the front and would at least like to get into the 12"-14" range. I have considered a set of uca's but for $600 why not throw down some more and just go ahead and get the best. I dont want to go sas for the amount of modifications to everything in the front end and would like to try something different.
More would always be alright with me. My truck is an 2004 ext cab 4wd.
And if possible keep the trolling to a minimum as I am unable to use the search function on my phone.
Thanks guys

 

u have 9 inches of travel in the front? with what setup r u running now?

 

i thought 8-9 was stock travel numbers?



and OP i 4 wheel with my LT 4wd taco all the time. i crawl more than i prerun with it. its amazing, the flex is great. it takes alot to get a wheel off the ground.

rear LT will really help with crawling too. a shit ton of up travel and you get 18 inches of travel in the back with leaf springs if set up right.

 

yeah you r right^ 9 inches just sounds like alot, i should measure mine....

 

Im already near 18 inches in the rear prolly about 16"-17" now. Got on rti ramp the other day and got 24" height wise before I began to float a tire. Ill post a few pics of it getting flexible. But what setup should I look into for the front end?

 

im running ome shocks with the trim packer and the heavy duty springs. took a while for them to break in and get flexy as they are a bit oversprung for my 4 banger but i wanted something that could suck up giving it some love over rocks.

 

i can pretty much gaurantee you that you dont have 16-17 inches of travel without being spring under and not having a 1 foot lift in the back.

but anyways, a basic 3.5 over long travel kit is good. if you can find one with uniball lowers that is even better. might require you getting a spindle too. it really depends on how much money you want to throw into it. 5 grand or 10 grand?

 

i dunno just a wild guess. probably not. any recomendations for kits? is there any availible where i could maintain a narrower track width like the allpro kit for the 2nd gens? and will haveing spring under drop the rear end or do i need to get custom leafs made?

 

any name brand kit will do good, total chaos, camburg. built right im pretty sire has a kit out now as well as a ton of other smaller shops.
i am not sure about a narrower track width..... the thing about going narrower than 3.5 is you got to pay bucks for CV axels. if your at 3.5 you can make your own CV axels with tundra axels and save a grand.
when you go spring under the axle you have to do a whole bunch of stuff. move front hangars forward, cut off rear hangars and use 12 inch shackles mounted to the top of the frame. also requires new leaf springs, which ones depend on how much weight you will have in the back.
to get the most travel out of a spring under set up you will need some shock hoops through the bed.
the only down fall is your springs go under the axle so you lose some clearance. i drag mine over so much crap that if i ever have to take off my u bolts i have to replace them every time.
but you can get bash plates to protect the u bolts. hope that helps. you can read the the stickies at the top of the long travel section for a ton of information.

 

Yup Built Right has a kit out also:

 

heck yeah! so that kit still keeps it pretty narrow as well huh?

 

It can be done

 

Forget the narrower then 3.5" or you are going to add 1.5k to your price after you buy three axles.

I went long travel also with articulation in mind and yes you can get it nice and flexy. Shock shaft speed is so slow crawling that I'd guess almost any compression valving will allow uninhibited flex. Just make sure to pick the right spring rates for your weight. The truck in the above pic probably has heavy springs up front and soft out back for high speed fun. Thats why he's not flexing hardly in the front.

Also when you go test it out dont be alarmed if it dosnt flex right off. My springs settled alot and took 3-4 good wheeling trips to loosen up like I wanted them.

Attached is what over 13" looks like on the MCM kit. I think its about 13.5 and I'd guess you'd end up with 14" travel with the better ADS shocks.

 

ok cool so i have quite a few options. are you running glass fenders with your mcm kit? i have a bit of a dillema with the glass fenders as i do have a snorkel and would definitely like to keep it considering there has been a time or two where i had water half way up my windsheild on accident.

 

lots of options. MCM was the kit I went with since it was high end stuff at reasonable prices. I would recommend the ADS shocks over the FOA, but plenty of people run FOA without issue (I just was unlucky). I didnt want to run glass fenders either since I tag them on rocks so often. I just cut mine up about 4-5 inches. The tires still stick way out but my area isnt too picky. I think this would work for you and the snorkel. Below is how the fender are cut.

 

idk if your ppl are still following this thread but iv been using my L/t 4runner for mild rock crawling and of course pre running my truck works great with 33" plus is very street able just now finishing a triangulated 4 link w/ 16" coil overs for the rear if you ever wondered how L/t is in the rocks i love it

 

Im thinking of doing the same thing, but what would be the advantages of doing a SUA? Besides reduction of axle wrap?

Im planning on doing either solo motorsports kit or MCM in the front and chevy 63 rear with a bed cage and king 16" shocks but keeping it SOA.

Does any one see any problems with this setup?

 

do you have any more pictures of the 4runner? would love to see a full side shot to get the full effect of that fender mod.

 

Just got home from a small trip with all my solid axle buddies so this is fresh in my mind. I have a full Camburg kit up front with spring under Deaver in the rear. small body lift with coilers and bypass up front with bypass in the rear. I have the front strapped at 10" down travel so I an run un-modified tundra cv axles. I know I can prob get another 3" out of it but it functions super well in the rocks as it is.

I am on 33 10.5 so I can tuck tire extremely well. Biggest difference again its just spring rates. My truck was originally set up for more desert running so I can playing around with spring rates and such. Big one coming from many IFS Toyotas is the strength I know I am getting out of this set up compared to stock components. Start small then work into what you actually need.