Long Travel BS Thread

@jberry813

 

Hes only +2 in the front with 12 inches in the rear. Lol

 

Esp when i'm behind him

 

If solo requires a “cap over” top cap they will cost a good deal more to configure. After looking at the shocks better the other night I edited my post to reflect that.

 

Their prices really aren’t that high. If you’re local to SoCal and can pick up in Santa Clarita or Victorville pm me and I’ll get you a quote on shocks.

Also if you haven’t already bought the solo kit you may want to think about going tc race or dirt king. Solo’s 3.5 kit is a little clunky with the lower uniball adapters, their xlt kit is the shit though.

 

Yeah that's why I said I wasn't sure about 2nd gen kits... it's easier for first gens with the simple coil bucket adapter. SAW's are easy to find for cheap and are all cap over afaik so doing a budget first gen is a lot easier than a 2nd gen.

 

@Caboose117
I would have actually still cut removed the coil buckets on this build anyways. The amount of anti-dive built in to the factory mounts can actually make your caster gain go negative at full droop when you have a lt kit added to the factory geometry (I did not specifically measure what the caster numbers of the solo XLT kit are at droop, this is a general statement). I am personally a big fan of caster and how it effects handling when I am behind the wheel. I prefer a static caster number and do not want a caster gain at all.

@Arcticelf
After discussing with a few people, all smarter than myself, I will be trying a different approach than the norm. I will be "twisting" the upper control arm mounts inward 5 degrees to have some anti-dive that does not significantly affect caster throughout the suspension travel. By twisting, I mean that I will be pigeon toe'ing the upper arm inward at the front mount.

 

I’ll for sure keep that in mind, gotta save right now for them shocks! And I got solo just because a couple of my buddies love their 3.5 kit and another with his xlt. I also got a kit at an incredible price so that was a pretty big factor haha

 

Hit up @Iggy
He might be able to set you up

 

Sent him a PM

 

You really should not be running any LT kits without a engine cage, or at least a hoop over the engine connecting both sides. If you've ever seen video of a truck in the rough then you've seen how much the Toyota frames twist from the height of the coil buckets creating leverage on the frame. Without the additional support you are asking to twist your frame.

 

So you'll have variable camber to get the anti-dive?

I'm considering takeing most or all of the anti-dive out to simplify design, and make the bump steer/camber/caster changes easier to set up.

 

Genuinely it’s all Greek to me
I don’t have the fabrication skills or understanding of suspension geometry to cut mine off clean and start from scratch.

I’m just trying to make sure the install goes smoothly and that I have at least a moderate idea of what I’m doing so I don’t have to pay someone to do everything for me.

I can’t weld, so I have someone welding for me. But anything else I could figure out myself...? I was going to at least try to do. Lol

 

What happened to the fabricator you had lined up?

 

It will still cycle with a static pattern, goal is to have minimal anti-dive to not affect caster/camber too much. i like lots of caster and from ride height to full bump a good amount of negative camber

Removing the anti-dive will give a more positive and less "sloppy" feedback while in the rough, I think this is a good idea. Caster gain can make the vehicle feel different than a static caster. Some of this is driver preference, same as any geometry input.

Were it a quick build, or I was in your shoes, I would just bolt it up to the factory mounts and run upper arm gussets and be done with it. You will love it. What we are discussing is the next level up and could even be considered nit picky. All I can recommend as an absolute is from my previous post, make sure you have tubing structure from one coil bucket/coilover mount to the other. Preferably an engine cage.

 

What does that have to do with the ease of buying inexpensive coilovers?

FWIW I've heard the opposite about needing a cross bar from guys building pretty nice purpose built trucks and that run a race truck. More support will never hurt but it's the first time anyone's ever said a cage and / or crossbar are the only possible solution.

Not much luck fitting a cross bar on a first gen 3.4 with the amount of clearance under the hood. You are effectively saying the only way to build a first gen is to cut a good sized slot out of the stock hood or cage the engine and I don't think the overwhelming majority of people on here with first gens over the years have caged their engines bays. Are you saying they all twisted their frames from running lt kits?

I have heard on the other hand that a better front cross member than the skimpy skid hanger improves how tight the front feels. I will be adding a bumper that has one and someone helped me make beefy shock hoops.

Again not sure why this was mentioned in response to my post.

 

You got my number nerd.
You could just text me