Long Travel BS Thread

Holy shit man. Fuckin killed it on that front kit... looks so good.

 

Thanks... still need to adjust some things but she gettin there

 

My truck currently has a Total Chaos SUA kit in rear, I just ordered a BAMF shock relocation on a whim because of the 25% off sale they are having (and I knew I wanted to do a shock relocation sooner or later)

This will allow me to run a 12'' shock, but I just saw archive offers a kit that would allow a 14'' shock. Would I be better off with the archive kit for SUA?

Also will my single piece driveshaft cause me any issues with a shock relocation kit?

 

14” shock would be better.

Driveline needs to have a slip yoke of some sort

 

I currently have the sua mid travel rear with the bamf relocated 12s. I vote for the archive set up as it bolts on for perfect alignment and more travel as others have said.

 

Ok, thats what Im leaning towards for now, reading through the SUA specs it reads:

" With custom shock mounts and longer shocks the system is capable of providing 12" inches of travel."

Will I still benefit from a 14'' shock?

And do you know if archive is the only ones who offer a 14'' under bed relocation?



Thank you for the input, it really helps when Im trying to figure out how all of this stuff works together.

 

I know im new to this and maybe a dumb
Question. But why do sua with only stock location for shocks, seems like a waste of time. Even 12" relocate with sua seems point less. Why not just stay soa. The travel numbers dont seem to be worth sua unless your going to do bed cage and longer shocks.
Again im new to this.

 

Long story short I bought a truck for its suspension, swapped all of these parts onto my truck and sold other truck. This was what the other guy was running. I know not an answer to your question, and I don't know enough about this stuff to give you a good answer, but Im hoping there will be a benefit with SUA and 12'' shock relocation. Downfall to just buying all of this stuff the way I did is I didn't do the individual research for each component I would have if I was buying new.


FWIW the truck rides 10x better with this setup in it than my old fox shocks on TSB springs and add a leaf

 

Question is more for the OGs on the subject.
But after seeing the nubers jberry pulled on a SOA set up your set seems like waste of ground clearance for little gain in travel. If it rides better then there is a reason for it and is justified.

 

Wouldn't a 14" shock tucked under the bed severely limit up travel while keeping ride height reasonable? If so, seems like a bad compromise if you're setting up a truck for go-fast stuff.

 

The travel numbers are the same but a Sua setup puts the travel on the bump side not the droop side... better for taking hits at speed

 

Not a yoter but LT none the less. I'm almost done designing a 99-06 Silverado 1500 kit

 

The Archive shock relocate isn't bolt-on. It welds on just like all the other shock relocates.

 

Here is what Eric at archive had to say when I asked what the benefit of his 14'' kit was :

"This kit can do both 12" and 14", but the 14" on the SUA setup and trying to basically touch whatever axle bump plate you have on the frame rail requires a new lower/longer axle tab I made and offer.
I just converted my truck to SUA with the Deaver U539/540 HD springs (same as TC). With my new Hammer hangers with 4.9" shackles, I'm getting potential for 13" vertical non-articulated axle travel, that is full droop to axle bump plate contacting factory bump bracket. I really haven't had time to measure it all out yet, and I need to weld in those new lower shock tabs I mentioned.

So the answer to your question is 12" shocks will likely be limiting factor by a little bit, 14" is a better match to the springs/Hammer hangers, but 14" it is definitely a tight squeeze in the SUA configuration and getting big uptravel numbers (which also will probably require trimming stock fenders/fiberglass)

It will also depend on your bump setup, this determines your travel potential. Full droop with the Hammer hangers is right before my stock 4wd driveshaft slip is fully compressed. What I'm saying is droop is maxed out at a measurement of approximately 15" from top of axle tube to bottom of frame rail.

Eric"

 

Anyone reccomend a rear bumpstop solution for a 1st gen SUA.? Besides hydro bumps @Blackdawg @jberry813

 

True it needs to be welded, but the placement for it is pretty much self explanatory due to the reference on the frame for it.

 

Wheelers super bumps. Custom mount them.

Might as well save for hydro though for the rear.

 

Hey guys this is Dustin with Dirt King Fabrication and I'm here to clear things up. First of all I really appreciate MojaveMadman and snowsk8air2 stating facts instead of bad-mouthing us. If I was in their position I would be unhappy too. The problem is something we should have caught especially before shipping out any products. This issue arouse after redesigning the suspension system to get more droop. Our main concerns were over articulating the CV's or tie rods which would cause premature wear or failure. Since this was a revision on an already tested and proved kit we failed to notice as the suspension gets more droop the lower arm gets closer to the boot causing contact. A majority of the kits sold were 2WD so we didn't catch it until MojaveMadman and snowsk8air2 brought it to our attention. We quickly came up with a temporary fix (a simple plasma cut washer) so they could get their suspension installed. Afterwards we pulled up the suspension in CAD to come up with a solution. We first made the spacer change to see how it effected the geometry and to make sure it wouldn't cause them any other problems. To our surprise we found several major improvements. After testing several positions we found that moving the spindle adapter down .25" decreased bump steer on average of 76% throughout the suspension cycle. The other result was an increase in camber at full compression (also know as bump) and decrease in camber at droop. In this case trying to fix our mistake led to perfecting our geometry beyond what we originally thought was possible with the factory platform. Our findings are below.




When it comes to product development and overall durability we understand why there's skeptics out there, we are a fairly new company compared to the competition. We've been dealing with this since day one meaning we always have to be at or above the industry standard for anyone to take notice. This lead to Dirt King working along side Ram Engineering last year to develop the suspension for the Ram Rebel TRX concept truck. The opportunity alone was amazing but impressing their engineers with the finished product was an indescribable accomplishment. All of our products are 100% made in the USA using some of the best materials. Our misalignment spacers are machined in house from 17-4 stainless steel. We only use american made FK bearings and preassemble a majority of the suspension components before shipping unlike most companies. All of our products are designed to achieve the most amount of travel without compromising other components. In addition we claim real travel numbers. With the being said I have to address something tubbsisland stated: "my Camburg 3.5 kit is strapped at 14.5 with zero axle bind, no diff drop, no machined axles and my CV boots don't touch at droop". Suspension geometry isn't magic, it all comes down to numbers. For our suspension system to get 13.5" of travel with 4WD it requires a diff drop and axle machining, to get 14" it requires fender well modifications and a king coilover with a top overcap eyelet or another method to shorten the overall collapsed length. There's no way around it since the coilovers need to be above the axle on the Tacomas, FJ's, and 4Runners. Below I attached a picture showing before and after axle machining. You can see the difference in articulation. The CV housings look different on the exterior because one is a Tacoma CV housing and one is an FJ Cruiser CV housing. Other than the appearance I assure you the two parts are identical making the machined and not machined numbers an accurate comparison. They were measured off of a precision ground and level table with a digital angle finder.


Another mistake we made was thinking the 05-15 Tacoma frame was the same as the 16+ Tacoma frame. We thought that since the suspension pick up points were the same the rest of the features would be the same or very similar. That wasn't the case and caused our upper arm double shear kit and bypass shock hoop kit not to fit properly. We developed the shock hoop kit off of a 2015 Tacoma CAD file. It requires you to cut off the factory bump stop mount for bypass clearance. We made sure there is enough room for 2.0 x 2.0 bump stops to fit along with the bypasses. Everything is designed with a purpose and we try to accommodate everyone's needs. I attached a few photos of our suspension system and available options.


I hope I answered most of your questions and will try to say up to date on this thread. Dirt King Fabrication has been rapidly growing over the years and I appreciate hearing your feedback. Everyone here at Dirt King were off road enthusiasts first and fortunately able to make it a career. Were always happy to help with anything we can. Thanks to the supporters we hope everyone has a great thanksgiving!

 

Thank you for taking the time to formulate a thought out response! I will let the others bedate it, but I for one can see that you guys are dedicated to the long road ahead and not the quick buck today. I know as I have designed and sold products, even simple products like light mounts, that no amount of testing can prepare you for the full market and what people will do with your stuff. A+ response in my book!

 

Sooooo ughhh......when you going to do 2nd gen 5 lug stuff