Considering long travel? Read here first.

Excellent write up! Wasn't really sure if LT was for me but this certainly helped!

 

Very nice write up

 

Question for the guys with LT. Any of you have it in colder climates? For does it fair with snow and colder weather? More noise?

Thanks.

 

@BaysicRyan some LT info

 

I generally do technical trails but I really love hauling ass down the dirt roads to access the trails. I have a mid travel front and AP standard leafs, fox 2.0 rear shocks and wheelers super bumps. I want to smooth out the rear suspension because that seems to be what is limiting me.
So the options are:
1.Bolt on rear hydro bumps
2.Bolt on rear hydro bumps, shock hoops and longer rear shocms
3. Sua, hydro bumps, longer shocks.

Because I won't go long travel on the front, I'm really leary of committing to sua, and I'm not sure how badly the lower leafs will drag in ruts etc.

I'm hoping just adding rear hydro bumps will be a significant improvement but I am not sure how big of a difference it will be if that is all I add.

Opinions?

 

It all depends on your wallet size, man. If you want to have fun bombing down the roads, go with a fully built SUA rear end and start tuning all shocks on your truck. A front MT/rear LT truck can do really well. If thats gonna break the bank, try option 2. Just adding hydro bumps isn't going to address the problem of you going faster than your rear suspension can handle. Its just going to make your axle slam into the frame a little less harder.

 

Will sua really hurt clearance on tighter trails with ruts? I don't have u bolt flip, so they stick down a bit as is anyways. I just don't know how big of an impact it will make on me clearing things, or if I think it's a bigger issue than it really is. It's not like I'm blasting 60+ in the desert, where clearance isn't as critical.

 

I dont have personal experience yet on that, but I'm sure there are plenty of LT guys that can speak up about it, I know @jberry813 rock crawls his truck just fine.

 

OK good to know!

So how about king vs icon bumps? I figure I will need them either way, so I could get those first, then if need be go full rear LT.

 

I have no issue with SUA and clearance. I've drug them a few times, but it's rare. The increased articulation has helped more than the limited rut issue.

 

OK good to know. In addition to more articulation and travel, is it significantly smoother than before? I take it if you're in Alaska, then snow hasn't been an issue for sua as well?

 

It's a lot better ride overall. Allows the rear end to keep up with the front. Snow doesn't affect SUA any more than it affects SOA or any other component of the truck. Alaska doesn't salt roads, so winter doesn't destroy vehicles here like some of the colder states in the lower 48 that do salt roads.

 

Ah OK thanks! I didn't mean salt, I just mean driving through deep snow, etc. I don't see many guys with LT or sua up here in the Pacific Northwest, so I'm just trying to make sure the pros will completely outweigh any of the cons.

 

Never had an issue with that. Most of the time when I get stuck in the snow, it's because the skid plates / frame is resting on packed snow.

 

I saw a link somewhere about installing 6" travel coilovers on the front of a first gen using a mounting plate from Total Chaos. Trying to find more info but I list the link.

Ring any bells?

 

I'd call TC on that one.

AP did something similar for me when I first went LT. I bent a spindle and lower control arm and decided to upgrade rather than repair. It was an impromptu decision, I was younger/dumber, and didn't have the coin for the new coil overs at the same time. They made up a spacer that let me ride on my 6" travel C/O's for a few months before swapping in the proper coil over.

 

Very helpful post Mxpatriot! Would you recommend a 4wd LT as a DD? I'm selling my Tundra and looking into buying a tacoma for a LT setup mostly for driving on a sand dune but with the occasional (open) trail ride. Do you know of any front and rear kits that have been tried and tested for 4wd? I've just started researching a few weeks ago and mostly all I can find is 2wd.

 

Well the All Pro kit is pretty tried and true for the 4x4 kit, but if you're looking to go have some fun in the dunes you'll probably want dual shocks at some point so there are many kits out there that are tried and true. Total Chaos and Camburg would be the front runners, Dirt Designs and Dirt King are late comers but I haven't seen anything bad about their kits yet. But as stated, upgrade your rear before you do the front or you're just going to be bucking around like crazy and not able to utilize the front at all. Look in to the DMZ Spring under kit or Total chaos and Camburg have some behind the scenes kits you can track down as well.

 

Can the All Pro kits not run bypass shocks? And i plan on doing the front and rear at the same time. I've looked into Camburg a lot when I was going to LT my tundra and so far I've heard better things about them versus Total Chaos but I don't want to rule anything out yet. I most likely won't be jumping it and if I do it's not going to be anything crazy I just want something that'll let me haul ass comfortably on the dunes and on a dirt trail but not terribly rough terrain.