Long Travel BS Thread

I feel like such an ass doing this. It took me all day to say I’m gonna do it.

It’s not the money. It’s the fact that the most loved person in my life was with me, all the time in this thing. I drove it at 65mph on the highway, we drove it hard in the woods. So many things piss me off in this situation. Honestly having a hard time wrapping my head around any of it.

Just an upsetting place to be.

 

Remind me again but did you ever talk to Jesse or Dave about any of that or show them any of it or did you just talk to Harry ?


That shop has been building very reliable high end trucks for 25 years that are raced & driven far beyond anything you are doing not to mention the qty of guys driving JD kits every single weekend in the desert and you are literally the only one we know of with a failure like that.

Not disagreeing with your concerns just pointing out that it is important to keep things in perspective and deal with the correct people.

 

Ehh i'm taking his side this time and also not sure what you're protecting. There's 4 cut and etches there and none of them are more than 30% fused. For suspension parts thats pretty horrible, straight up dangerous, even criminal if all their welds from that time are like that and not one test piece got randomly selected for xray or cut and etch during or at least after they fired the guy. With the intended use we're talking lives on the line here dude

 

Hey folks, dialing in my rear LT plan rn on a '21 DCSB 4x4. Already have DRT hangers and DRT shock relo and Icon RXT lvl 3 in the garage. Need some advice with shocks, straps, and bumps. I primarily off-road on deep rutted roads and rock crawling, and mud, but rarely high speed, if that helps. Heres the dilemma:

First shocks. I love a bilstien for price/reliability, and looking at the 5165 with reservoir. But the valving is like reading chinese to me- any ideas on what fits my application? Also, as I am more slow speed, I figure uptravel may be more important, so I've considered a 12" over a 14" shock, however with research I'm thinking that the shock may not end up being the limiting factor and instead the lead pack, so does anyone have experience with this and think a 14" would be better? I also could have the slower/more uptravel combo totally backwards.

Additionally, straps and tabs. I am planning on an archive garage ubolt flip kit, but not sure what bump to pair it with to prevent shock damage and better performance, but a full adjustable hydrobump and all that stuff is beyond my price range. Similarly, for straps, I dont know where to order from, what are good, etc. The DRT kit includes tabs so that's taken care of, and I can figure out how to measure and attach them, but I'm just unsure of where to get good ones from. Primarily however Im worried about the bumps and what shock/bump combo to run.

If anyone has experience with any of these, or just advice, or similar setups that I could mirror parts of, I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'm an ametuer mechanic but not a suspension geometry wizard, so hopeful y'all can help

 

@palmertacoma what's going to happen up front?

Sounds like you want the most flex possible to articulate the obstacles. SAS the front is #1, LT #2.

I can't give exact advice on your year/setup but my 1st gen LT does decent. Typical stuff 3.5" front LT, Deaver F67 Sua with 16" bypass. Not a crawler by any means. Just all around weekend usage.

Usually rock crawl likes lots of droop. Don't forget a locker or two.

 

I have this on my truck, and I’ve taken some hard hits and am going to continue taking hard hits. I wonder what mine will look like. Honestly not jazzed about the whole exposed steering rack ends thing, but so far everything’s been good with my steering.

 

Again what are you protecting/defending them for? You're talking about reputation and the other guy has cut and etches of failed welds for the given application. This absolutely represents their shop as a whole. They let those parts through the door. Their QC and weld processes are in question now. Especially if there's no way of knowing what parts he did and didn't touch through serial numbers or the like. That's all standard stuff for a place with multiple welders on staff; all things a reputable shop should have if they care about their reputation. Without any of that it could be a lawyer with an easy win that ends up calling them

Not sure what i'd do if it was me but a post here with those findings is probably the least that should be done about it

 

Where’s the video

 

Jesse absolutely knew I had a steering failure.

Harry was the face of JD fabrication to all of us on TW. He was the guy we talked to when we had questions concerns etc. Jesse knew he was that guy. Clearly, it was a poor decision.

These parts are ALL welded in the Tack and go style, which under no circumstances is considered kosher in the world of welding. You’re going to tell me Jesse or Dave had no idea this was going on when a MiG gun is pulsing 100x a minute? Bullshit.

They knew this was happening, they knew this was going out the door, they knew Harry was the face of their business to us Tacoma world guys. That ALL falls on JD fabrication. Period. End of discussion.

 

Video is on my personal FB. I’ll happily email it to anybody that wants to see it.

 

@Evenflow

I suggest taking a closer look at this part. You can see this weld was nothing more than a series of tack welds. The breaks can be seen the entire length of the part.

My control arms, shackles, shackle hangers, slide rack and more were all done with their signature stack of dimes weld style.

Another JD LT truck I worked on, same thing.

I am going to reiterate this. It’s not kosher, literally ever.

There is a 0% chance the owners didn’t know this was going on. Absolutely zero. Unless they had virtually no presence. Or know nothing about welding.

Scary part, it’s super highly unlikely that my parts are isolated. I’m just the first one to cut shit apart to check the workmanship.

Shitty welds can seem strong for a long time. Until they are fatigued enough and the part splits at every seam.

 

Time to make your own?

Theres a 10/10 Model of 2nd/3rd gen/FJC Front sus + front frame out there, part of why everyone and their instagram buddies offer an LT kit these days.

 

It’s been in the plans for a while now. But I was intending to wait until after the engine swap as I had planned on a full change up.

I’m meeting with the local industrial arts welding instructor this afternoon to make plans for him to take everything I have and use it as a demonstration for different forms of weldment testing. Apparently they have some pretty cool tech that they didn’t have when I went through the program. Depending on the results I get back, I may be forced to toss something like a Dirtking kit on for now.

Literally did not sleep last night.

 

I keep looking at camburg kits, is there something I’m missing there? Slapper bumps is probably the best way to bump a kit in the front, unless you have an engine cage, which you do. I keep thinking if I could do it over again I’d do camburg

 

Knowing what I know now, I would have dumped 4wd and jumped into something like LSK that has a spindle.

 

SAS may be a future mod, but for now it's also a daily and for that I like the IFS for that purpose. Comfortable and reliable on road, and also SAS is pricey and something I'd like to tackle myself once I get better at fab work. Same for SUA, I like my ground clearance and that may be a bit overkill for my needs.

Trying to keep it daily-able is the goal while also being a badass rig. Leaning towards a 14" bilstien 5165 as I want to keep my bed untouched (no cage, etc) and thats the max the DRT shock relocation will allow for, and a standard leaf setup with flip kit. Then just find a good rubber bump on that flip kit that fits that shock once I cycle it to test it. Thanks for the words of advice though, always open ears to folks who have gone down this road already

 

Slapper is gimmicky IMO. Not sure what brand LT kit you have now but you’ll gain nothing moving to Camburg. LT with a stock spindle is pretty much the same across the board as far as travel goes. The biggest upgrade to a stock spindle LT setup is a well tuned triple bypass shock plus properly cycled bump droop setup. Pretty much 14 in the best you’ll get from any kit because the limiting factor is the outer tie rod at droop and the upper uniball at stuff.

Best move I’ve made is getting the LSK 2wd race kit. Only company that I’ve seen that under estimates their travel numbers on their website descriptions. I’ll be willing to bet their 4wd kit may cycle more than they say depending on your cv axles.

A fabricated spindle that corrects steering geometry and also with a vertical upper uniball is a must for any travel over 14.
Desert Toy Fab makes a phenomenal 2wd kit also.

All this is just my opinion. So please flame away if needed.

 

My old setup was I feel the best a mid travel rear tacoma could be.

Icon RXT
2.5x14 shocks with adjusters barely through the bed.
Hammer hangers.

14s were pointless as the leafs could only cycle 12 inches.

Pick a leaf pack and whatever color 12 inch shock you like with an adjuster and an archive relocation kit. That's the best you can get with a rear mid travel.

I was limited by speed and terrain with a my setup but it was waaay better than any stock shock location tacoma

Made the switch to dmz sua and should've just done this from the jump. And now I get to jump the truck.

 

What stage/level did you run on the RXTs as that's the leafs I currently have? Knowing they only cycle 12" is super useful but I'm wondering whether or not that will change between levels. I'm planning on level 3 (standard pack PLUS the additional leaf between original leaf 2 and 3). With that setup, did you need bumps/straps or did the spring not cycling fully prevent shock bottoming out?

 

Having done a lot of RXT and Deaver leaf packs, the deavers are better. If you do the Hammer Hangers with their shackles and the deavers, you can cycle nearly 13". Not that it would make any noticeable difference, but I've used 14's and used more than 12" of shaft. That said I mostly recommend 12's anyway just to get the lower shock mount higher up out of the rocks.