Long Travel BS Thread

Almost seems like there two categories for LT kit people. There desert lt people and trial lt people haha.

 

I’m unfortunately one who did mid travel several times. Now in the process of going LT.

 

Damn man. I'm trying to get my first Lt kit on my 2nd gen. All I have done to it is install an old man emu kit. There just so much to lt kit that I think I'm just going to do engine mods first and figure out all that later haha.

 

Dang... I hadn't noticed the cutout on the short bed until now. I've only owned DCLB tacomas lol...

Edit: I do recognize that the bed would probably still need to be cut though. IDK, this is all stuff I'll have to figure out after I get the front sorted. I still need to order some 934s from Harry

 

@Slashaar has a DCLB and has the JD kit. He hasn't installed yet, but I'm sure once its installed, you'll have a definite answer.

 

I'm just waiting on shop time. Life threw me and my buddy a curveball so we've just been doing smaller projects, like mounting Maxtrax to a Gator.
Bone spurs aren't fun.

 

Is there uptravel to be gained from putting the archive mounts up higher? Would it cause the shock body to run into the frame at all? I have that kit ready to be installed with a 14in shock and was also planning on doing without that little block if it worked with the shock stroke

 

Cycle, cycle, and re-cycle your suspension before fully burning things in.

 

I’ll have some 3”x16”x700lb king coils up for grab in a few days if anyone wants them for free. Less than 100 miles on them.

There was a mixup when I was sent my coilovers and JD doesn’t want them back, said I could do what I want with them. So I’ll pass them along if anyone wants them.

 

Depending on how mine sits with the 600/650s on, I may take you up on that.

 

The AG kit runs the shock as close to the frame as possible for tire clearance, but you can’t run it much higher or you’ll have a gap where it welds too the frame. I like the archive kit, but a 14” is too big if you’re going SUA with a bypass on it. If you’re SOA, you can set the lower mount with 6” up and 7” down which isn’t so bad as long as you can get the leaf to cycle it (granted your truck would be super tall at ride height), but with SUA your lower mounts would have to be stupid low. I didn’t set mine up right so don’t be like me.

@snowsk8air2 is as always, right on the money. Because getting everything to work together goes down differently in reality than on paper.

 

That's the only reason i haven't done it yet. Waiting for a nice 4day weekend with nice weather so i can take my time and cycle it.
There is that little gap if they get pushed all the way up but it'd be easy to fill and just tig welding the sides alone would be strong enough. Was just curious if anyone that already cycled theirs had figured out whether there is more uptravel to be had there.
I only have the 14s cause i got a sweet deal, woulda gone 12s if not. Just smoothies not bypasses so no worries there

 

I’m not always right, nor will I ever say that I am. But I’ve learned a lot working on my share of different trucks with different products over the years. And unless you are Tim at DMZ (for example) that only installs his kit using the exact same setup every time, you’re gonna get varying answers and results. Different brand shocks, shock diameters, lengths for the archive kit (again for example) are all going to have slightly different ideal builds also different for what you want out of the truck. Best advice is cycle everyrhing with your parts and figure out what works best with them. Otherwise you’re going to figure out who was right on the internet between 10 different people with all slightly different setups and get 10 different answers.

 

How would you recommend cycling HH and relocate with 12” shocks and wheelers bumps? Do I need to cycle one tire at a time to account for any extra bit or both at the same time? Keep all the leafs in or remove all but one and shim the thickness removed? Remove the bump or account an inch or so for its compression? Sorry for a million questions…the front is easy haha

 

Yeah I agree with you. Experience is a great teacher, though an expensive one. I got taught a good lesson going with a 14" bypass in my current configuration, but you're also correct because each shock manufacturer has a different tube style and collapsed/extended lengths. Mine for example are on the longer side collapsed, so anyone can take that for what it's worth when they cycle their own setups.

 

Cycle the axle straight with both wheels at the same time. Remove all but the main leaf so you can actually cycle it. If you are spring over then yes you need to account for the total leaf pack height since it affects your bump stop height. The wheelers bumps will compress almost totally flat to the “base” puck of them. Then for your lower shock mounts, for high speed desert you want 60/40 up/ down travel, rock crawling you want 40/60, and then interpolate in between for what you actually use your truck for. At least those were the guidelines I have learned and use today.

And doing the AG HH and shock relocation for a buddy here soon enough so I’ll let ya know how it goes when I do it

 

Awesome. I think I’m going to sit the tractor bucket down in the bed and floor jack the diff straight up to keep from pulling the leafs if it can be done safely while maintaining a certain amount of redneck flair which is essential.

SOA and all slow crawling and highway here. I’ve never looked at the bumps at full stuff crawling, do you think they compress that far only in a dynamic scenario? I should test that out. I’ll have a better idea when I get the parts in front of me, but if I’m full stuffed and there’s no more bump to be had- should I mount the lower shock tab as high as possible (maybe leave a half inch of shaft for safety) so that I can get as much droop as possible from the pack without the shock limiting first? The Dakars will probably be the limiting factor anyways, but just in case another leaf pack can offer a little more droop in the future.

 

You know. I told myself I'd never go LT, but I guess here I am. @WormSquirts Now I'm thinking I need the +2 kit from JD. Maybe someday.

 

Spend a full day tacking in your upper and lower mounts and cycling it a few times if you have to under whatever scenarios you want. But you’re almost never going to have a violent event that takes you to full bump at full articulation. Hence the setting everything with the axle straight.

And I like the redneck enginuity and sketchiness but I’d be careful. You’re gonna need to have the truck on jack stands from the frame to get the rear in the air and with that much force behind the jack stands I’d worry about things getting unbalanced and something violent happening

 

I second this. It adds maybe an extra hour, hour and a half to break the pack down and reassemble it, redo u bolts, etc. and it’s a lot less sketchy.