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Question about long travel bed cages

Discussion in 'Suspension' started by rzimm001, Apr 19, 2010.

  1. Apr 19, 2010 at 4:16 PM
    #1
    rzimm001

    rzimm001 [OP] Tearmytaco

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    Bobby
    Wildomar
    Vehicle:
    08 PreRunner SR5 Long-Travel
    King 10" coilovers w/ resi. 3.5" over long travel kit. Factory spindles w/ ALLPRO gussets. Total Chaos tower gussets. Energy Poly cab mounts and steering rack mounts. Glassworks fenders and bedsides. Home fabbed bed cage. King 2.5x16 bypass shocks in the rear. DMZ long travel rear end. Race radio (2meter). Removed secondary carbon air filter. Exhaust dumped before the axle / no muffler. Phram fresh air cabin filter. K&N replacement filter, After market stereo, Grillcraft grill, custom fabled roof rack with 7" HID's, PRP race seats.
    Found a used 05+ Pre-runner DMZ bedcage on dezertrangers for a great price. The cage he is selling is for shocks mounted inside the bed rail. Can somebody comment as to the pros and cons of this setup? What spring under kits will work. What would I be getting myself into. I'm totally mid travel right now and on somewhat of a budget. Thanks
     
  2. Apr 19, 2010 at 4:41 PM
    #2
    mikesdoublecab

    mikesdoublecab LT Chase Truck

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    Mohawk Mike
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    Engage Offroad long travel front and rear with some fat tires.
    with most bed cages being welded to the frame, you are going to have to re-fabricate and weld your mounting points on your frame... gussets will need to be done, plating, etc....

    by the time you figure out the geometry you need, get it fabricated and welded, you could be close to the cost of building the cage from scratch...

    then figure used 2.5x16" smooth body shocks will run you $450 to $600 a pair then the cost of the bedsides...

    what's your budget?
     
  3. Apr 19, 2010 at 4:50 PM
    #3
    rzimm001

    rzimm001 [OP] Tearmytaco

    Joined:
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    Bobby
    Wildomar
    Vehicle:
    08 PreRunner SR5 Long-Travel
    King 10" coilovers w/ resi. 3.5" over long travel kit. Factory spindles w/ ALLPRO gussets. Total Chaos tower gussets. Energy Poly cab mounts and steering rack mounts. Glassworks fenders and bedsides. Home fabbed bed cage. King 2.5x16 bypass shocks in the rear. DMZ long travel rear end. Race radio (2meter). Removed secondary carbon air filter. Exhaust dumped before the axle / no muffler. Phram fresh air cabin filter. K&N replacement filter, After market stereo, Grillcraft grill, custom fabled roof rack with 7" HID's, PRP race seats.
    If this whole project runs me more than a couple thousand I'm probably going to hold off till I have more funds. I have friends than can weld and give me a hand but I also need my truck almost everyday. How much down time would a project like this require?
     
  4. Apr 19, 2010 at 4:52 PM
    #4
    rzimm001

    rzimm001 [OP] Tearmytaco

    Joined:
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    Gender:
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    First Name:
    Bobby
    Wildomar
    Vehicle:
    08 PreRunner SR5 Long-Travel
    King 10" coilovers w/ resi. 3.5" over long travel kit. Factory spindles w/ ALLPRO gussets. Total Chaos tower gussets. Energy Poly cab mounts and steering rack mounts. Glassworks fenders and bedsides. Home fabbed bed cage. King 2.5x16 bypass shocks in the rear. DMZ long travel rear end. Race radio (2meter). Removed secondary carbon air filter. Exhaust dumped before the axle / no muffler. Phram fresh air cabin filter. K&N replacement filter, After market stereo, Grillcraft grill, custom fabled roof rack with 7" HID's, PRP race seats.
    Oh, can I run rear long travel without fiberglass bed sides?

    What if I don't want to change the spring OVER geometry just yet. Is it a waste or can I build this a little at a time?
     
  5. Apr 19, 2010 at 4:59 PM
    #5
    mikesdoublecab

    mikesdoublecab LT Chase Truck

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    Engage Offroad long travel front and rear with some fat tires.
    its hard to say... gotta figure, while your friends can weld, they may not be available on a daily basis for 8 hours of welding, so building it up on your own can take months...

    if this is your daily driver, you may want to think twice before taking on a project that is a first for you... there will be a whole learning curve to it and it would suck to have something go wrong and you end up making your monthly payments on a truck that is stuck in your garage...

    if this was your second toy with another vehicle as primary transportation, then i would say go for it, but i dunno...

    as for the bedsides, you really do need them if LT in the rear...

    im on extended mid travel on mine, and my stock bedsides are all messed up...
     
  6. Apr 19, 2010 at 5:01 PM
    #6
    mikesdoublecab

    mikesdoublecab LT Chase Truck

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    01 Tacoma DoubleCab V6 Prerunner
    Engage Offroad long travel front and rear with some fat tires.
    with the reverse shackle set up, you can't get enough travel out of a spring over leaf pack.. ur still better off doing the rear all at once...
     
  7. Apr 19, 2010 at 5:04 PM
    #7
    rzimm001

    rzimm001 [OP] Tearmytaco

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    Bobby
    Wildomar
    Vehicle:
    08 PreRunner SR5 Long-Travel
    King 10" coilovers w/ resi. 3.5" over long travel kit. Factory spindles w/ ALLPRO gussets. Total Chaos tower gussets. Energy Poly cab mounts and steering rack mounts. Glassworks fenders and bedsides. Home fabbed bed cage. King 2.5x16 bypass shocks in the rear. DMZ long travel rear end. Race radio (2meter). Removed secondary carbon air filter. Exhaust dumped before the axle / no muffler. Phram fresh air cabin filter. K&N replacement filter, After market stereo, Grillcraft grill, custom fabled roof rack with 7" HID's, PRP race seats.
    Thanks Mike. I think you're talking sense. I'll give this some more thought. Probably not the time for such a project.
     
  8. Apr 19, 2010 at 5:17 PM
    #8
    mikesdoublecab

    mikesdoublecab LT Chase Truck

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    Engage Offroad long travel front and rear with some fat tires.
    but if its a smoking deal, you could always store it until you have the time to work on it....
     
  9. Apr 19, 2010 at 5:37 PM
    #9
    rzimm001

    rzimm001 [OP] Tearmytaco

    Joined:
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    Gender:
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    First Name:
    Bobby
    Wildomar
    Vehicle:
    08 PreRunner SR5 Long-Travel
    King 10" coilovers w/ resi. 3.5" over long travel kit. Factory spindles w/ ALLPRO gussets. Total Chaos tower gussets. Energy Poly cab mounts and steering rack mounts. Glassworks fenders and bedsides. Home fabbed bed cage. King 2.5x16 bypass shocks in the rear. DMZ long travel rear end. Race radio (2meter). Removed secondary carbon air filter. Exhaust dumped before the axle / no muffler. Phram fresh air cabin filter. K&N replacement filter, After market stereo, Grillcraft grill, custom fabled roof rack with 7" HID's, PRP race seats.
    Exactly : )
     
  10. Apr 20, 2010 at 7:10 AM
    #10
    nelson18matt

    nelson18matt Well-Known Member

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    *SOLD*
    i saw it on DR too. for the price the dude is selling it i'd pick it up, and it's DMZ built so you know it's good work. try to make it work, if it does sweet. if it's too much work turn around and sell it.
     
  11. Apr 20, 2010 at 8:29 AM
    #11
    rzimm001

    rzimm001 [OP] Tearmytaco

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2009
    Member:
    #14812
    Messages:
    1,086
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Bobby
    Wildomar
    Vehicle:
    08 PreRunner SR5 Long-Travel
    King 10" coilovers w/ resi. 3.5" over long travel kit. Factory spindles w/ ALLPRO gussets. Total Chaos tower gussets. Energy Poly cab mounts and steering rack mounts. Glassworks fenders and bedsides. Home fabbed bed cage. King 2.5x16 bypass shocks in the rear. DMZ long travel rear end. Race radio (2meter). Removed secondary carbon air filter. Exhaust dumped before the axle / no muffler. Phram fresh air cabin filter. K&N replacement filter, After market stereo, Grillcraft grill, custom fabled roof rack with 7" HID's, PRP race seats.

    That's what I'll do. I was thinking about maybe installing the cage, 14" inch stroke resi shocks, all pro 3" leafs and than adding some lift spindles to my front one day. That would be a sweet extended mid travel. If I go spring under I'm guaranteed to need glass and the cost of the spring under kit which may set me back a little too far. Plus I would really need to have the frame strengthened by Tim or a local shop. That's easily approaching 4K
     
  12. May 18, 2010 at 9:05 PM
    #12
    rzimm001

    rzimm001 [OP] Tearmytaco

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2009
    Member:
    #14812
    Messages:
    1,086
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Bobby
    Wildomar
    Vehicle:
    08 PreRunner SR5 Long-Travel
    King 10" coilovers w/ resi. 3.5" over long travel kit. Factory spindles w/ ALLPRO gussets. Total Chaos tower gussets. Energy Poly cab mounts and steering rack mounts. Glassworks fenders and bedsides. Home fabbed bed cage. King 2.5x16 bypass shocks in the rear. DMZ long travel rear end. Race radio (2meter). Removed secondary carbon air filter. Exhaust dumped before the axle / no muffler. Phram fresh air cabin filter. K&N replacement filter, After market stereo, Grillcraft grill, custom fabled roof rack with 7" HID's, PRP race seats.
    Well I decided to bite the bullet and install a DMZ long travel bed cage. Only in my case this will be an extended mid travel rear end for the time being. Here is one picture of the cage half way through the build. I will post more in the build section soon. This is just my attempt to use photobucket and see if I know what I'm doing :D

    Oh and a big shout out in appreciation to Dellosa89 for helping out in a big way. Thanks bro!

    P1030547_7611ea64bfc968f6cfba68f66f1e3537a0125328.jpg

    Hopefull this photobucket thing works for me.
     
  13. May 18, 2010 at 9:12 PM
    #13
    nelson18matt

    nelson18matt Well-Known Member

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    *SOLD*
    oh hell yeah dude. thats gonna be sick

    your going a very smart route. building the rear first and having mid travel up front is better than going the other way which is what most people do (including me)

    what shocks you gonna run? 16" stroke?

    once you get spring under on their you're gonna be able to mob it pretty hard.

    cant wait to see how it turns out
     
  14. May 18, 2010 at 10:23 PM
    #14
    rzimm001

    rzimm001 [OP] Tearmytaco

    Joined:
    Mar 16, 2009
    Member:
    #14812
    Messages:
    1,086
    Gender:
    Male
    First Name:
    Bobby
    Wildomar
    Vehicle:
    08 PreRunner SR5 Long-Travel
    King 10" coilovers w/ resi. 3.5" over long travel kit. Factory spindles w/ ALLPRO gussets. Total Chaos tower gussets. Energy Poly cab mounts and steering rack mounts. Glassworks fenders and bedsides. Home fabbed bed cage. King 2.5x16 bypass shocks in the rear. DMZ long travel rear end. Race radio (2meter). Removed secondary carbon air filter. Exhaust dumped before the axle / no muffler. Phram fresh air cabin filter. K&N replacement filter, After market stereo, Grillcraft grill, custom fabled roof rack with 7" HID's, PRP race seats.

    Thanks! I've heard a lot of people say building the rear first is a good call, you included. After a few trips to Ocotillo I can see what you mean. The rear falls short every time but the front hangs in there solid. I'll be running 14"s for right now. I went FOA on account of money but I got the upgraded viton seals and billet end caps. Basically every upgraded part I could get. I think the setup will be solid. Can't wait to go spring under, but I know that with spring under comes new bed sides. One day....:)
     

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