Long Travel BS Thread

Definitely not a hoopty. Actually a clean truck that was barely used. Yea it was hit by a lady backing out of a drive way. The front kit is all tig welded has bypasses, coilovers and bumps. Full engine cage. I'm on vacation right now but pm if you want the original owners contact.

 

Need some advice guys, I recently rebuilt my entire suspension from mid travel front and rear to a 3 link rear and a +2 Solo kit in the front. The day the truck was done I drove it to True Line got it aligned and...got just a few blocks away and got hit by a car at an intersection, folded the tie rod, blew out the steering rack, crunched the fender etc...so I only got to drive it a few laps around the airport with the guy at True Line and a few blocks away from the shop "perfect " before it was hit. In that short time the front end felt solid.

I just got it out of the body shop last week and quickly realized the shop sucks, they didn't even make sure the steering wheel was centered before they had it aligned. When they gave me the truck the wheel was easily 20 degrees to the right when driving straight and the cheap Chinese fender they put on looked like shit too so it is going back to them next week.

The problem I am having is that no matter how I try to center the wheel I just can't get it straight and the truck does not track straight. The steering feels light and needs constant slight correction and follows or falls off the crown of a road far worse than anything I have ever experienced before. I have also noticed that it feels like it pulls a bit to the left off the line.

Here's what I have tried :

1. Turning the wheel full lock to lock to measure how far the wheel turns each way to assess a starting point to center the steering shaft at the rack.
2. Disconnected the steering shaft from the rack at least ten times and adjusted it a spline or two left or right each time trying to get it straight.
3. Checked my alignment specs and followed up with the shop that did the alignment for the body shop. I got a print out of my alignment specs. Everything appears green ( except caster of course ) and I do not see anything that would indicate why the truck is behaving the way it is ? I do have a bit of positive camber so I know I need to lower the truck just a bit from where it was set when I installed the kit to fix that but two questions :

1. do you see anything else in these specs that would explain what I am describing ?

2. What camber # would you shoot for ? Any other #'s too big or too little even though they are in the green ?

The body shop swears that there was zero frame damage etc.

 

Bummer man. Sorry to hear about that. Heim UCAs may be in your future to give you some adjustment.

 

Your caster isn't even bad so I'm not really sure why

 

Only looking at yotas? cause this f150 is pretty nice

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/ant/cto/5267897581.html

 

Thats a badass truck!

 

Yeah if I could sell my tacoma I would buy that thing in a heartbeat

 

Went to go check the truck out today, looks a little rough but I'm looking for a weekend beater and for the price I can deal with the TLC. Took some pics of the suspension since that's not somthing I'm too knowledgeable about with it being an off brand kit. I also used an editing app to brighten the pics up which chaged the colors so everything looks more yellowish.

 

That is a sweet truck but full size trucks require big $$ parts.

 

The tie rod looks bent but it may just be the picture. What does it have rear suspension wise?

 

They are bent. Sometimes it's done to clear frame rails at bump, not sure if that's the case here or not.

 

That's not bent for clearance. No idea why it's bent but that's an easy fix. Atomic kits are hit or miss. The S10 kits were horrible and all broke. From what I've seen of the tundra kits they are fine. That was a long time ago but from what I remember the tundra kits were built by Matt and he is a great fabricator

 

What are big money parts?

 

Not much more expensive than a mid size truck if at all. Especially if it has a decent head start. Caging it isn't that much more expensive, same goes for suspension components, aside from hubs and axles/housing. That's where you should spend a little coin.

 

Seeing bent tierods leads me to believe this truck might have been rode hard and put away wet. It's a sign that it need to be gone over with a fine tooth comb, especially if the guy hasnt cared enough to fix something as easy as that. What else is compromised? If you're in love with the truck then it might be worth it to get into it a bit deeper. If not, I'd pass.

 

Pic from one of Atomic's videos showing another 1st gen tundra shows the tie rod looking a lot similar which is why I over looked it. This ones bumping off the lower tho

 

Bigger axles, bigger shocks, bigger tires, stronger wheels. A full size truck requires more motor to keep it moving, more motor =more money. I love full size trucks I just don't have the coin to build one to the standard that I would be happy with.

 

Anyone want 9 oil filters for a 2nd gen v6? Trading in the Taco for a Tundra this week. I'll be posting them in the F/S section soon. Figured I'd give you guys first crack.

 

Trying to find some square bungs. 1.75" square, 3" long, 1.25" rh heim. NON-pinch style. Any ideas? All the online retailers are pinch style.

 

Ruffstuffspecialties, barnes4wd?