Long Travel BS Thread

Any suggestions for sturdier shackles if I go with the Baja Kits version that keeps the stock shackles?

 

You could try getting them from TC. If it was my personal truck I would wait till I had the kit and make my desicion on if anything could be gained by adjusting the shackle design while I was doing the install.

 

I think that TC shock hoop you are thinking of is not bolt on ( see below ) a shock hoop flexes way too much to just be bolted on IMO. The hoop itself is welded to the frame but the cross bar for lateral support inside the bed is bolt on/bolt through.

 

I didn't even see where he mentioned "bolted to the frame". Tc's are definetly welded. They could be bolted on, but would require a much larger footprint on the frame with multiple bolts to distribute the load and counter act twisting forces.

 

TC does a good job with using stock bolts that are on the frame for alignment purposes. So you bolt the kit to the frame with a couple of stock bolts to ensure you mount it in the right spot. Then burn it in.

Why the shock relocation kit for 1st gens is so easy to install

 

Got it. Thanks for clarifying that. It's pretty clever to use the stock holes for aligning the shock hoops.
@JT@Bajakits said they're cadding up some shock hoops at the moment. It will be interesting to see what they come up with and how it compares to what has been mentioned about these from you guys and Glorifiedwelder.

 

Thanks for the info!

 

How much does it usually cost to have your fiberglass fenders painted? I rattled can mine and not holding up to good lol.

 

The shock hoops on the Total Chaos built "Morocco Taco" are bolt on. The mounts that they bolt to are fabricated and welded to the stock frame. If you look directly above the upper limit strap mount in this picture you can see the hoop mount welded to the outside of the frame rail. You will also notice the two cross members that have been added.

 

What issues are you having? What did you use for primer / paint / clear? What did you do to prep them before painting?

 

Yeah that was my bad. I started all that by mistaking the welds on the shock hoops for gussets around where the bolts hold them to the frame. Hadn't seen something like that before - usually I would just see the shock hoops welded to the frame w/o any bolts.

I'm checking out the shackle hangers on that TC truck and they look really beefy. Do you think the stock shackle hangers would be strong enough for moderate use in the desert - I'm not into bashing my truck, but I do want to go faster than I can at this point lol. I was surprised to see that the Baja Kits kit used all of the stock hardware for the springs attaching to the frame. So basically all it is are arched leafs, new axle perches, u-bolts & plate?

 

Did you do much prep to the fiberglass before painting them? I would recommend the normal scuffs and sanding to the fiberglass, then spraying some adhesion promoter on the fenders before priming them. If you know anyone who has a paint gun, I think the results can be improved quite a bit. What did you use for clear?

Coot

 

King vs icon rear bumps...Icons are around $300 cheaper...Are the kings worth the difference?

 

Whats the application? End of the day an air bump is an air bump, I run Icons in the back of my 08 and I'm doing the bolt on Icon kit on my 17. Icons are sold as a complete kit designed for a sprung over leaf pack. King in the same regards will require buying the TC mounting kit and the bumps to go along with it which is why they are more expensive but on a true LT setup its always going to be more cost effective to build your own setup

 

Anyone in here have a stock 05+ headunit? I'm trying to sell my truck but it recently got broken into and they took my double din.

Unless you want to buy my truck for a cheaper price without a headunit...hah
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/fs-caged-long-travel-tacoma.431092/

 

I am considering going sua in the rear because the rear suspension just can't keep up with my front MT. So before I jump into sua, and I figured I would start with rear bumps to see if that takes the edge off enough. The icon site also says their bumps have digressive tuning... Which puzzled me too, since it's just a bump. I currently have all pro springs, wheelers super bumps, and fox remote resi's in the rear, which I eventually would like to upgrade to Kings. I would love to have all King stuff for my rear suspension, but $300 plus to be consistent, and not significantly more performance is hard to justify.

 

I do, located in Corona

forgot you're in texas now

 

Before I even get into suspension, I want to solidify the frame and cab and everything first.
I will make plates to box the rear after the cab and will make some better crossmember with triangulation. I am going to build a shackle flip that will beef the rear up too along with my rear bumper.
For the front, besides a minor engine cage tied into the frame and front bumper, Iam wanting to do different body mounts.
Would you guys suggest poly mounts? If so does anybody make a kit? I also hear people say the engine mounts are weak, is this a problem with the mount design or the bushing. If I solid mount the engine do I solid mount the transmission too, or just poly there as well?
I am back and forth between mid travel or one of the 2+ kits, we have an account at work with total chaos so I will probably lean that way. In the rear I will probably do a custom spring under spring designed to work with the shackle flip. 14" travel bypasses in the rear under the bed and then probably just a 2.5 resi up front. I like playing in the sand and doing a lot of fast trail runs and am tired of the jarring suspension from lack of dampening and travel.

Last jeep had 12" travel 2.0 smooth bodys with progressive spring rates front and rear with 6" up 6" down and a 3" stroke hydro bump. If I can get that similar performance out of the taco I will be a happy camper.

 

Wow... now I definitely understand why they did the support cage too. I would have never guessed in a million years that a shock hoop would be mounted with a single through bolt like that ? Gorgeous fab work as always from them but that just seems like an odd way to go about it. I would think that they would have used a larger frame plate with four bolts like @glorifiedwelder mentioned yesterday.

 

I like looking at that truck. Very unique design. They didn't make it all crazy like how you see guys mounting 16's in their beds typically.