The Lair

If you don’t feel like searching I’ll gladly retype out the info in detail tomorrow for you and give you a breakdown of my thoughts on the LT kit

 

If you feel like you have the time, that’d be great! I’m sure it would help others. But by no means feel obligated- I don’t mind searching through- I need to do more research anyways

 

As a whole, I like my JD 2.25 long travel kit. I currently have the uniball bushings, 934 CV axles, 8" king coilovers with 18"x500 lb coils, tundra steering rack and heim tie rods.

When I first installed the kit, I had a stock tacoma steering rack and their double shear heim tie rod end.

Moving into my experience and the timeline with it. I got everything installed, which includes cutting off the steering stop and went on a shakedown run. At one point, I lost brakes completely, foot to the floor and no stopping power. Come to find out that at full lock and droop, the banjo bolt on the brake caliper (banjo bolt is part of the kit) would come in contact with the secondary shock tab on the LCA, bending it and puking brake fluid. This was due to deflection in the steering rack from rubber bushings.

I cycled the suspension after the shakedown (which I should have done before) and found out I needed to add a 1/2" spacer to my bump stop to keep the upper uniball from maxing out under compression. Not a huge deal, no mention of it in the instructions.

I did a shade tree mechanic fix and limited my steering a little bit, but the issue persisted. For those unaware, heim tie rods/tie rod ends transfer more energy into the steering rack. I could feel it offroad and knew it would kill my rack prematurely. So between that and the brake issue, I decided to install the tundra rack. The tundra rack limits your steering a bit due to its design, so I figure I would kill two birds with one stone. Limit steering for my brakes as well as have a stronger rack that can handle the heim abuse offroad.

I installed the tundra rack and simultaneously installed full heim tie rods. This seemed to have fixed the problems and everything was kosher. Putting a boot on the inner heim proved to be a pain in the butt but I finally came up with a fix, which is nice.

This most recent trip out, I lose brakes again. Even the tundra rack deflected enough to loosen up the banjo bolt, but the fix was easier this time. I tightened the bolt back up and bled the brakes. When I got home, I shaved some material off of the LCA where it was contacting. The next time the steering rack is out of the truck, it will get polyurethane bushings.

The quotes below go into greater detail on the brakes thing.

If I were to do it over, I would have kept the stock steering rack and put polyurethane bushings in it, not cut off the steering stops, and I would have kept the stock tie rod end, no heim. It would have saved money and been a lot less headache. I don't know for sure if it would have removed enough deflection to keep the brakes off of the LCA, but it's a good starting point.

Now, onto the positives. The build quality of the arms is fantastic. I love the pocket for the outer CV joint, which keeps the LCA sucked up high. I love the 934 axles and how it allows for so much droop. I haven't actually measured my travel but the advertised numbers are on par with +3.5 kits. I love that the LCA is 0.875" forward, gaining tire clearance at the firewall. I love the EMF joints, they're not a normal uniball, more on par with the Icon delta joint.

All in all, I didn't really need LT. Between the kit and steering, I'm into it about $10k. I should have just chilled out, stayed mid travel and enjoyed the truck as-is.

 

This is all great information, thank you! You have me rethinking about the steering rack. I think poly bushing will be in order here soon to retain the stock one.

Price wise, I was looking the other day and that’s about what my ideal front end setup would be, but to be honest, I don’t really need a true LT kit with what I use my truck for. My current mid travel setup is great and I love it. Instead now I’m thinking of putting money into a supercharger build instead, which of course, I’d be using it to the full potential way more than a LT kit.

Also really debating going 37s on the truck, which most likely isn’t the best idea, but it would fun with 4.88s I have. Plus I believe it will slightly lower RPMs at highway speeds, maybe 100-300RPM? At least that’s my thought process. Currently getting the following results for MPH and RPMs.


35 1360
40 1550
45 1750
50 1930
55 2120
60 2330
65 2500
70 2700
75 2900

 

It's so easy to get caught up in the building stage, especially when you see everyone else around you on the forum and social media with all these super-built trucks. The building is half the fun for me which is why I didn't give it a second thought to go LT when the opportunity arose. Hindsight being what it is though, mid-travel was just fine and that $10k could have gone somewhere else.

You are right that your RPMs would drop a little bit. Just be prepared to do a bunch of work to fit the 37s, I hear they're a nightmare. I don't even really want 37s, even knowing I could get them to fit properly. For what I use my truck for, it would be a point of diminishing returns. We'll see if I remain logical though when it's time for new tires.

 

@EatSleepTacos because of your lessons learned. We left the steering stops on my truck. So far I haven’t seen an issue.
As far as my experience going “LT”. I’d say the 2.25 kit is a good medium for people that wheel. For me it’s more a true mid travel. Probably because it’s not as wide and I see most other LT kits are +3.5 and greater.
That and the .875 push makes clearing 33s perfectly easy and much easier for 35s.
That and customer service. They way Jesse and Harry will help you. Can’t beat that. I owe them many drinks for the help with my stuff over the past few months.

 

Oh and K kept bending stock stuff.

 

I think steering stops plus poly rack bushings is the best way to go. As far as I know, I was probably in the first dozen trucks to get the kit installed, and even fewer that did the crawly stuff where you'll see locked and dropped which is why I wanted to be so transparent about everything, to help fine tune the kit. I'm glad my lessons learned were able to help you out, that was my ultimate goal.

 

Flexin

 

Not flexin, but still cool.

 

Pretty wild thing happened today. Car merged in front of me and let out a puff of smoke and then I saw flames under it. Pulled over and helped her out of the car because she was a little hysterical and then called 911.

She was on the phone with someone and my buddy and I pieced together that the most likely thing that happened was an oil line blew and puked oil onto the exhaust manifold.

Luckily right after the video cuts off the fire subsided and only the grass next to the car was burning. Fire department showed up 10 min after call, which felt like forever but lucky everything ended up as well as it did.



https://youtu.be/SeWX2PnOjTM

 

It's like Hollywood with those angles and cuts.

 

I bought a three channel camera and dammit I’m gonna use all three channels.

 

I'm submitting this film for an Oscar.

 

Putting the light bar on Betty to use I see.

 

I was excited, this is the exact scenario I had in mind for it too. On the side of the highway for whatever reason and flip it on for better visibility.

 

You're like a tow truck without the boom.

 

Was really hoping for a little more Michael Bay action, but glad everyone's alright.

 

Have my BD chase bar hooked up to a strobe option as well and it's so handy for roadside emergencies.

 

Nice hat Randall