LT kits and interchangable parts - Allpro Total Chaos

I live in Canada where polyurethane bushings wear out quickly so this puts heims out of the question. I am looking at the allpro LT kit and am wondering if I could do TC uppers with the kit? The allpro have stainless Teflon lower uniballs but the upper is chrome plated which will chip and wear out regularly. Could I do anything to get a stainless uniball in the upper? perhaps just use a TC uniball? Also if any CANADIANS know where to find cheap allpro or TC +2 kits let me know!

 

the uniballs are interchangeable, a uniball bearing only comes in pretty specific sizes. now interchanging arms is another story. the upper arms were made to work with the counterpart lower, swapping these will most likely screw up the geometry of the kit

 

Go with the TC kit. It's superior in every way.

You can put whatever construction uniballs you want into the control arms. If you buy a used kit, I would recommend changing them out before installing. Just call up All Pro and ask what size they are, or wait until you get them and measure. If you have a shop press it's an easy job.

You can't mix and match control arms. I mean, you can... it's just probably not going to work well. They're build to work with each other.

 

Good answer. I was already foaming over the TC kit, found a used one but I don't have that kind of cash to toss at my truck today. Maybe in a couple months

 

Also looking at either all pro or tc long travel in the near future and wanting to know what examples you have on why tc is supposed to be so superior. I have been running all pro upper control arms for the last 70k miles with no issues what so ever. This was causing me to lean more toward all pro.

 

Well, I've been running all pro long travel for the last 5+ years, in addition to their bumpers, sliders, and skids.

- The design is inferior. No ability to mount a secondary shock, no option for heimed UCAs, and the shock bolt design is prone to seizing up (long, long bolt that has lots of contact with the LCA). TC, and every other manufacturer who uses boxed LCAs, mounts the shock with tabs in a manner that doesn't create a nightmare when it comes time to remove shocks. I've dealt with it several times, it is an absolute pain in the ass to get that seized bolt out - even when it's been coated with anti-seize.

- The powder coating flakes.

- Uses a one-off size shock. A standard 8" coil over is too long and a 6" is too short; so you're stuck with one source for shocks - All Pro.

They are very strong control arms - but so are the other brands.

Buy whatever you want man. Shoot - I'll sell the kit right off my truck for the right price - and I'll go straight to TC.

 

I can see that in the old design but the new design looks like it addressed a lot of those issues. I'm also mainly looking long travel to make it easier to fit bigger than 33s that I have now. Most wheeling I do is slow and in the snow

 

What's the biggest advantage of heimed vs bushing?

 

shouldn't need LT for 35s. Just a little chop here and there and your good to go

 

Hiems offer adjustability if you solid mount the lowers, and Hiemed are more of a bearing pivot over bushings, I just finished making sum Hiemed uppers and they are noticeably smoother, my bushings were shot too

 

My truck would require a lot of cutting and either limiting travel in the front or tubing which is more of a job than I want to tackle right now. Plus my end plan is for 37s

 

When you tweak your coil buckets / frame, you're not completely screwed and can still get decent alignment.

 

Why go with a new design from a company with a hit and miss history on long travel suspension when you can get a better kit at the same price from a company with a lot more experience with IFS?

All pro makes some decent stuff, but they aren't the front runners in IFS suspension.

 

You make a good argument. I still have some time before I buy. I'll keep researching. Who is the best vendor for tc?

 

Depends where you live. In Canada I found a few dealers but the states has not bad pricing on toyteclifts.com. Any registered TC dealer will sell it at a good price. SoCalsupertrucks etc. But in Canada heims seize and are basically trash unless you want to change parts a few times a year. Bushings are the way to go and I won't be putting a secondary on my truck so allpro or TC would work for me. I would even buy your allpro kit if you had a good price

 

Every kit is going to have exposed uniballs, one at the UCA and one at the LCA. A heim is simply a uniball on a rod end.

I got it, more uniballs = more maintenance, but when the alternative is a truck that won't take alignment and drives like shit... I'd rather replace a few extra uniballs every other year or so.

It's not a few times a year though... once a year, max. I am at like every other year on my uniballs. I lived in the rust belt of Missouri for years and now I live in Alaska - if you're replacing uniballs/heims several times a year there is something wrong with the uniballs you are using.

 

I'm just giving you guys an honest opinion. At one point, my suspension, bumpers, skids, sliders, etc. were All Pro front to rear. Much of that is still on the truck, some is not.

The AP kit isn't horrible. It's just not the best of what is available at the price point.

 

I vote Total Chaos over All Pro. The customer service over at Total Chaos is among the best I've experienced in the off-road industry.

I bought my first Total Chaos kit from Downsouth Motorsports and highly recommend them. They are accustomed to shipping parts internationally as well. @Downsouth Motorsports

 

TC has a great crew. Pat is a smart guy when it comes to Toyota suspension. The parts they fab are race proven. They just killed it in the http://chaosfab.com/gazelle-rallye/ in Morocco. That race beats the crap out of a truck. It held up!

 

To one of OP's original concern: Allpro uses 1.25" uniball on UCA. You will NOT be able to find a full stainless 1.25" bore uniball. Only 1" or 1.5"uniball have full stainless version availabe. Benefit of 1.25" uniball is it allows more angle. My TC 2" LT downtravel is limited by the UCA uniball bind.