Diet Taco... trying to keep things light

This is gonna be good. Real good. Not sure where you are, but let me know if you need a second pair of hands on the install.

 

If I had the money I would have done something very similar to this. This looks like its going to be awesome!

 

If I'm not subd yet, MF'n SUBD!

 

1. Sweet.
2. You are reducing the steep curve on my suspension kit work. I, too, have slight fits of apoplexy each time I try to parse the King/Icon/Fox stuff. The corrosion on the Foxes DoorDing has experienced took those off the list immediately. I'm in no rush, so I hope to see how the OME BP-51s play out.
3. The JBAs do seem to have evolved nicely, and seem to excel in articulation beyond the Light Racing UCAs, and are looking beefier and perhaps less prone the LR UCA raging, ongoing debate about strength/design/failure. I do not want uniballs because I do not live in the desert and have better things to do in my life than increase maintenance. Not a young single adult anymore. Because I will not be going to much larger tires, I am very interested in getting the most of out articulation on this long bed pig with no locker.
4. That needle bearing/bushing has had my attention since this summer when I bought the truck. I've barely been able to get out of town with this truck yet, let alone offroad to really cycle things and see what happens. If I already had the suspension torn apart, I'd tempted to just do that too (refer to end of #4 above). But, because I don't have your logistical constraints, I doubt I will act on that unless the vibe shows up and I can take it in for recall, and as I understand it, you can have them install the bushing. Not sure on this.

Again, kudos for raising the bar on clarity, approach, and communication on the forum. So tired of posts where people slap crappy pics of new tahrs or whatever, are more concerned about looks than function (I bought Kings because they're BLUE!), have more money than sense (or at least more willingness to go into crippling credit card debt) and don't specify what they did, and pics don't it clearly.

 

As you probably already know, JBA also makes an even beefier version of their UCA - though reading between the lines it sounds like that is probably over engineered just to please folks who want gussets just because. Sounds like his "normal" version matches what has run on Jeeps without failure for a long time. It does seem like LR has gone through many iterations and for my needs there was no need to have the additional alignment adjustment, the fixed 2 degree adjustment on the JBA and nearly every other aftermarket UCA should work fine with my lift.

The whole UCA choice and Fox/ICON/King shock choice is extra confusing because of the wildly different use cases it seems. The now deleted old MT BS thread as well as the new slightly less insane MT BS thread have lots of excellent information hidden in them, but I think you really got to think about who is writing in that thread and what they do with their trucks. I'm looking to soak up washboard and rocky roads at 35-45 mph with a full load of camping gear. They are planning on hitting sizable whoops at like 50 mph mostly empty. Those are vastly different circumstances. I completely get why someone doing the later might insist on progressive valving ideally on bypass shocks or with hydraulic bump stops. I suspect someone like me who rarely hits the stops and considers doing so a mistake on my part to probably be well served by digressive valving and a simple improvement over the OEM bump stops (e.g. SuperBumps).

I've seen people report success with getting the dealer to install the EGCS with the TSB repair over in the vibe/ECGS thread. I think it depends on the dealer and how you communicate with them. Like you say, if you don't have my unique logistical constraints then just wait and see is the easiest and cheapest option really.

This build thread takes a lot of time, I can understand why many people want to throw up something quick and just go use their truck instead! But I'm really glad people are enjoying and appreciating mine!

 

Well hurry up and get that shit on and give us the full review. Since we are similar users, this will be much more valuable to the expo types than the hucker racetruck types.

Oh yeah, meant to ask, what other leafpacks did you consider (Deavers? Dakars?), and why did you ultimately pick the All Pros? If you've already opined on this, please just bitchslap me with a link. I haven't had much time to keep up lately.

 

I considered Dakar with add-a-leaf or a custom leaf from Alcan as likely alternates.

I eliminated the Deavers early on (well at least the standard one I could find everywhere, perhaps they make some others) as they didn't seemed designed to handle a heavy load and I saw those who did have heavy loads complaining about sag. They seemed to be meant for off-road use with light load and moderate lift. But again, I may have missed other versions of Deavers in my search.

The Dakar seemed a viable option though I saw more than one expedition build get upgraded to the All Pro Expos with a happier owner the end result. That said, I can't remember how many of those were upgrades from the Dakar without the add-a-leaf which wouldn't be a fair comparison. The impression in my head of the Dakars may have suffered from too many users - it is a very popular leaf spring - which means many more people complaining about them even if the per capita complaint rate might be no higher than for the All Pros. I saw a number of people complaining about Dakar sag while the primary All Pro Expo complaint was too stiff without load. Since I'm running with a pretty hefty load at all times that came out in favor of the All Pro Expo. The Dakar design is also just a bit weird - dual overload leaves and meant to operate with negative arch. People seem to complain about rust on all the various leaf options so I never really sorted out anything between the two on rust. I guess apply fluid film or something if surface rust bugs you.

Given the price of the All Pro Expo it seemed it might be worth just having a custom spring made by Alcan. That seemed to be a relatively common suggestion. In the end that seemed like it might be more hassle than it was worth. The All Pro Expo looks like it will come in just about at the lift height I want with my standard load. If it comes in a little higher than I want I think I'll be fine running a little rake to keep the front lift height reasonable. Sticking with a standard part with a warranty seemed lower risk than having something custom done as well. That said, if I had wanted a heavy load at lower lift height then it seems going custom is the only option that I can find. After all, spring rate and ride height are two different parameters so just running a lower rate spring meant for a higher ride height doesn't seem the ideal solution. Though maybe the typical "progressive" rate design for leaf springs makes that an acceptable trade off?

I guess in a few weeks we will see if my choices work out!

 

Ken,

You may be interested in the below product. This will help organize your gear behind the seats.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/molle-panel-for-2nd-gen-dc-rear-seat-revival.410254/

 

Looks great for someone with OCD. Most of us however, have non conforming bulky boxes, duffels, and tools that don't give a shit as long as there is enough room for them, which BTW, is considerably lessened with the installation of that panel. Several thoughtfully placed bungees can prevent rattles, so what more do you need?

 

You out of the Navy? If so how long?

 

I was released from active in '63.

 

haha very nice! Thank you.

 

I was a SeaBee. You?

 

Gas Turbine Mechanic on ships. Still active. They are working on medically separating me due to my stupid knees. lol

 

Hey, you'll get lifetime disability, and the VA will take care of your knees. Golden.

 

Except they say the are unable to be fixed lol

 

Well that sucks. Get a civilian ortho for a second opinion.

 

Thats on the list once out and the VA lets me. So far asking for a second opinion went about as well as getting told talk to Bob my neighbor and him going well you saw the specialist Im going to back what ever he said even if the cow is purple. lol

 

There is a new directive regarding outside VA medical. If you live 50 (maybe 40) miles from your VA facility, you are able to go to a civilian doctor. There are caveats, but it is something to look into. The VA is limited in what they will do for you unless it is service related, and civilian doctors have no such limitation. They are limited only by your ability to cover what your insurance won't cover, in this case, what the VA won't cover.