Long Travel Poll

I'll post in a bit. Gimme time to write this up.

 

As with all modifications, the "best" option is dependent on how you'll use your truck, the region of the country you're in, your budget, relationships with vendors, personal technical expertise, etc. What's below is generally specific to the 05+ 6-lug Tacomas.


Generalities:
- Any long travel that works with 4wd will work with 2wd, but the inverse is not always the case
- Your coilovers will need to be replaced. Most LT kits are designed to work with 8" travel shocks.
- You'll want to reinforce your stock spindles on 4wd rigs. 2wd are well served upgrading to aftermarket spindles
- Self-installation of longer front 4wd axles in the stock CVs is possible but a major PITA. Save yourself the time and hassle and drop a couple of bucks to have a shop do it.
- All rigs should have their alignment cam tabs reinforced. You'll flatten them after 1 decent trip offroad
- Consider reinforcing your lower control arm frame mounts if you're gonna bash hard
- Pre-07 trucks must reinforce the engine mounts. All trucks should
- Don't bother getting a differential drop on an 05+ Tacoma (LT or mid-travel)
- Going front long-travel will get you pushing your truck. Expect the rear end to bounce up and come around on you if you don't be careful and/or upgrade it to something equally supple.
- Your already-upgraded upper control arms on your mid-travel setup will not work with a long-travel kit. All kits come with required new UCAs.
- If you're running big tires you'll want to trim and reinforce your body mounts to avoid rubbing


Popular front long travel options:
All Pro Offroad's kit uses 2" extended tube-style upper and lower arms on each side. Travel around 12" or so.
Pros: Maintain 4x4 with extended front axles, does not require front fiberglass fenders, narrower track width for crawling and tight trails, comes with a heavy-duty steering upgrade
Cons: No way of mounting a secondary shock Total Chaos's kit widens the truck 3.5" on each side and pulls 13" of usable wheel travel.
Pros: Maintain 4x4 with extended front axles, secondary shock mount with optional shock hoop, option for heim joint UCAs, proven and popular kit with many installation shop options
Cons: Requires fiberglass fenders
I'm not sure if anybody races the TC kit so I won't say definitively one way or the other.
http://www.chaosfab.com/86000.html

Camburg Engineering's kit also widens the truck 3.5" on each side and pulls 14" of wheel travel on 4wd and 15" of travel on 2wd rigs. Offers a full-race 2wd kit for pre-2005 Tacomas pulling 19" of travel.
Pros: Maintain 4x4 with extended front axles, secondary shock mount with optional shock hoop, use of 1.25" uniballs to increase travel without binding, heavy gusseting around all joints, race-proven (Team Shark Attack), travel numbers, allows use of air bumps on 2wd vehicles
Cons: Requires fiberglass fenders
http://www.camburg.com/tacomaP05.html
*Disclaimer: I run Camburg's kit and am a bit biased. I went with them after going a lot of research. The breakage I suffered was my own fault as I installed the lower uniball housing upside down. It's easy to do so feel free to contact me if you have questions.

Engage Offroad has a race-proven kit that's recent been adopted by a lot of late-model Tacoma owners. Their kit for previous generation Tacoma is highly respected.
Pros: Price, maintain 4x4 with extended front axles, options for race upgrades, secondary shock mount with optional shock hoop
Cons: Requires fiberglass fenders
http://www.framtidgames.com/main.html

Richer Racing's kit widen's the truck by 4.5" on each side, is 2wd only, and pulls 16+" of wheel travel.
Pros: Big travel numbers, race proven, extremely strong design, allows for secondary shock and air bump
Cons: 2wd only, requires fiberglass fenders, wide track width
http://www.richerracing.com/Pages/Products/04F150/LongTravelKit.html


Popular rear long travel options:
While the front long travel kits are mostly bolt-on and can be done in a garage with basic hand tools, rear long travel requires extensive fabrication, cutting, grinding, welding, etc. All rear long travel kits will require use of fiberglass bedsides, alterations to the driveshaft, shocks, and custom shock hoops. Expect to run wheel spacers or a wider rear axle to clear big shocks outside the framerails.

DMZ Fabrication 62" complete spring-under conversion kit. Race-proven and designed specifically for the 05+ Tacoma.
http://dmzfab.com/products.html

Giant Motorsports 64" complete spring-under conversion kit. Race-proven and seen primarily on Ford Rangers.
http://giantmotorsports.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=41&Itemid=51
*Disclaimer: The Giant kit is my personal choice due to the shackle design and travel numbers. I'm running it with 18" travel, 3" 4-tube bypass Fox shocks with excellent results.

Engage Offroad cantilever kit. Shocks are mounted horizontally and maintains full use of the bed.
http://www.framtidgames.com/main.html

All-Pro Baja Leafs. Requires custom hangers, shackles, fabrication, etc. These springs have recently been introduced at a strong price point and have been tested with excellent reviews. There are always more options but that should be enough to get the discussion started.

 

Thanks guys. I figure I'd help someone else avoid the trial-and-error I went through. That stuff gets expensive quick.