Total Chaos outboard shock mounts

This kit and the Solo kit won't really merit more "flex travel" so to speak. Nor a huge increase in all around droop especially with a SOA setup.

If you want more flex travel, mount the shock inboard the axle away from the wheel. You can get lots of flex travel that way as the shock won't be directly related to the wheel. The further you go out, the more the shock is tied directly to the wheel travel.

What these kits do do however is make for a better go fast ride. Better stability and handling for going fast!

Something to consider..

Im very curious about his ADS shocks though. ADS tends to be 1.5'' or so longer then Foxes or Kings in terms of compressed length. An ADS 10'' shock compressed is as long as a King 12'' shock. So i want to know if he is bottoming out his ADS shocks..or if i can get a 12'' shock in there possibly.

Not that i think my truck can pull 12'' anyways..so might be a mute point.

 

I was thinking of going this route in the rear end with either the Icon/Deaver AAL or if I save up I'll go for the J59 pack fromt Deaver.

Curious who else has run this kit and fit a 12" shock. I think it was that Croth guy who had a double cab with some 12's stuffed in the back.

My plan was to get some Bilstein 5165's stuffed in back, but I'll probably just make my own mounts. (Unless buddy backs out and you wanna still sell those rear mounts, Blackdawg, I'll take em)

 

well before you spend the money on 12s. Cycle your pack. Most SOA setups ive seen are lucky to pull 10''

 

The 12" 5165's I'm looking at are actually 11" stroke, maybe just over. Just checking the part numbers now.

Only 10" of travel? I coulda swore I had more in my old 90 pickup with sacked out leafs but you guys got more experience with this than me. I've just been researching my rear end set up a while but never put anything down to the test yet.

Still trying to figure out my front end, thought the rear would be easier/cheaper but not looking that way so far!

 

Front setup is simple to get. Rear is a pain.

Yea most leaf packs won't cycle over 10'' over travel. From what i've seen most are below that.

That doesnt translate to wheel travel necessarily, just how much the leaf packs can move up and down.

 

My order sheet with measurements is on the previous page. Full droop to full compression is right at 10 inches with custom Deaver Expo springs. Full droop is easy to measure. I had to calculate full compression using some geometry since there is not enough weight to fully compress. I actually need to add a bump under the frame just for safety because the Deaver springs push the axle back about an inch and cause me to miss the OEM frame bumps.

 

You could cycle the leaf pack by taking apart the packs..

 

In for flexy pics and more stuffs to dream about.

 

So i take it you don't have any new photos or updates on this then?

 

No boss nothing to speak of. I'm finishing up some electrical before I get back into the suspension tuning.

 

Sub'd for flex pictures and closeups

 

Here are my chicken scratch calcs on travel.

1. The design length of the shock is about 29.125 to 29.75 inches at full leaf spring hang. ADS ended up putting on aluminum billet rod ends instead of forged steel ends which changed that a bit.
2. I had to calculate full compression since I don't have enough weight in the bed to compress the spring and bumps. The shock length at full compression is between 18.9 and 19.75 inches.
3. The difference between these two numbers is the spring stroke which is about 10 inches.
4. Axle travel is difference between full compression and full hang. Distance between top of axle and underside of frame bump is 17.5" at full hang. Assuming rubber bump compresses 2.25" per manufacturer then this distance at maximum compression is 6". The difference is 11.5" of axle travel.

I am using the recommended wheel 1.25" spacers and the TRD sport rims with 31" tires and I don't foresee any rubbing issues on the shock or frame at full cross compression. I haven't seen full compression yet but I have had one side jacked up. The piggyback and valves are oriented front/rear to minimize the profile. Also the shocks are sloped forward and are not between the frame and tire at the closest approach.



Edit: @Blackdawg

 

Thanks for the .pdf man. They are coming in really handy for my research right now.

 

Bringing up a dead thread, hoping for flexy photos.

I'm considering going this route with TC or Solo Motorsports rear hoop with Fox/King 2.0 resi shocks, looking for photos on how much room the tire is to the shock when flexed out.

 

Almost none.

Depending on your wheel setup you will rub.

Check out @lotsoftoys build as he has some good photos and just did his. @Willbeck did the solo kit but stuffed 2.5'' shocks in there so he rubs.

 

Very little room. My 2.5’s clear the frame, so a 2.0 would be fine. The tires rub on the Shock bodies at full stuff/flex.

A 2.0 would be fine, recommend the TC kit.

Also, as @Blackdawg said, most leaf packs that use stock mounting points won’t cycle more than 10”, so no need to go longer on the shock. My springs and 2.5x10 kings run out of travel right about the same time. The rear is strapped at 10” of travel, the front bottoms out right at 9ish”. It’s a very well balanced setup, and rides fantastic.

 

I'm running the All-Pro standard pack and measured ~6.75" of travel from fully extended to flat spring, thinking about the Chevy 63" swap to increase that. I'm currently running 9" shocks, but they're a just a hair long in the compressed length so I limited uptravel with taller bumpstops

I'm also considering relocating the shocks (inboard) to lean towards the rear and mounted as close to the bed as possible, as this seems to be the least expensive relocation mod.

What do you guys suggest?

This is for a 1st gen double cab, that's a daily driver and weekend wheeling/camping rig (similar to @Blackdawg rig) that will sometimes haul a motorcycle or two in the bed.

 

I would not do the 63s. They are a good mod for crawler guys but if you like going kind of fast they don't work out so go. You won't have a lot of up travel.

That said, all depends on what you want the truck to do. The best handling setup will be out board shocks. But will limit your overall wheel travel. Next would be inboard but vertical, thats kind of the best all around setup. Then you can angle them like you mentioned but this decreases the shocks ability to control the truck and will take work to do revalving to get it to handle well in all situations. Granted. If you're planning on relocation shocks at all you should be open to tuning them to get the best performance out of them.

So really depends on what you want. Most SOA setups won't pull more than 10'' vertical no matter what.

I'm planning on doing outboard shocks still on Igor my double cab.

 

63's are kind of a glamorized polished turd IMO. You're not really "fixing" a problem, you're just spending money on fabrication to fit a longer spring. With the longer spring you gain some droop travel and "flex" but you're sacrificing stability, and you're engineering a new suspension system without understanding the dynamics of how things work. That's kind of an aggressive way to put it, but 99% of the time you will get better performance out of a Deaver J59 and some properly set up and valved shocks.

Outboard shocks will result in the best compromise of wheel travel and handling for your rig imo. In a dedicated crawler, inboard is the way to go. You just get more flex, and most of those guys could care less if they even have shocks at all.

If you want more than 10" out of a leaf setup on a Tacoma, go SUA. Go through the bed with the shocks, and call it a day.

If you're going fast and want maximum performance, dial in the leafs for your loaded weight, install some King/Fox/ADS/SAW/Radflo hydro bumps and tune the shit out of your 10 or 12" shocks and you'd be shocked at what the truck can do.

Travel numbers aren't everything, tuning is.

/rant

 

I'm about to really put mine to the test here in a few weeks... desert time! But yes very little room... my 2.0s fit great but with 285s, I have to run 1.5 wheel spacers to cLear. And @Blackdawg had it exactly correct, mine handles like it's on rails now. Even with it loaded down it feels planted in the corners. I may have sacrificed travel a bit but it's pretty good. If I would have went 2.0s with no residential at all there would be no rubbing at all, could get away with maybe 3/4 or 1.0 inch wheel spacers. Also think about the angle your mounting them, changes how they valves mine. DSM built mine and they are plush