Shock Travel Question

From what I understand 6" is the current travel on a stock Tacoma correct?

Would I be able to run a 10" travel coilover in the front on an otherwise stock setup and not worry about bottoming the actual shock itself out?

I ask because the particular CO setup I am looking at only has a RR setup as low as 10" of travel.

Extended length of CO: 26.65
Collapsed length of CO: 17.62

 

Anyone? I am talking about the stock front suspension by the way.

 

you can only run a 2.5x6 or 2.0x6...they make a 2.5x6 in a rr

 

Oh shoot. So in all reality the recommended max length to run is the 6" then huh.

Good to know Anthony250f. Sweet looking rig by the way! After I do my hybrid front armor bumper and my coilover fronts I hope it looks similar to yours!

 

Okay then, eliminating the 10" travel shock from the running and moving on. What is the max size I want to go while still running stock UCA's? I read somewhere on the forum the most you should/could go with is a 8" travel front shock.

Another thing to think about is extended and collapsed lengths. I want to make sure I have enough room to keep my 2.5" lift retained still. I'm assuming if I keep the lengths close to the same size as the IFP Fox remote reservoir coilovers I will be okay correct? The ones I am looking at now have an extended length of 1.16" more then the IFP Fox RR CO's, however I would be using a total chaos or camburg adapter plate to mount the shocks for my setup, so I would have to take that extra height it cuts from the shock into factor. Someone please correct me if I am wrong, about both the travel and the extended (not so much collapsed) length dilemma I am having here please.

 

An 8" coil over is what you run the factory shock mounts with a LT kit. You need OEM replacement coilovers if you want to do it right

 

OEM replacement coilovers only allow up to 2" of ride height increase which is not enough. I want to do a custom coil over because A, it'll be way cheaper to go that route and B, I'll get the desired ride height that I want with much more adjustability out of it.

 

Thats what they "recommend" you can go to 3" just fine, plus anything over 2.75"ish and you will be putting additional wear on the cv's.

 

2" LT use 8" travel shocks. So 10" travel shocks wouldn't work for sure, not even close.

 

These will give you 3". Adjustable. The maximum travel possible on stock arms. Cheap? no, but this is the right way to do it. Why are you stuck on a lift? If you trim to fit your tires at full stuff you don't need a lift, and it will ride better.
http://toyteclifts.3dcartstores.com/ICON-Front-Extended-Travel-Remote-Reservoir-Coilovers_p_972.html



Do you see those black shock ends up there underneath the bottom coil cup? You need those to clear your CV's. Off the shelf shocks will not clear.

 

Gotcha, so those will actually allow you MORE then just 2" of lift? I had no idea. I guess they say 2" because if you adjust for higher lift you will put additional preload on the springs, which is what they are trying to avoid? Just thinking out loud here.

I didn't think so, I just had to be sure. There is so much stuff posted on this forum that it is so easy for the best info to get lost along the countless threads created daily.

They may not clear right off the gate, you are right, that is why they make larger "rod ends" for coilovers. I already have a lift, but am currently using Bilstein 5100's (non coilovers) not an optimal setup for a desert hot rodder. I am not looking to break bank and do LT, nor am I looking to do balls out MT either, I just want something nice between stock and mid travel. I will agree with you that I do need to trim SOMETHING in the fenders whether it be the liners or the actual flare material, because something is rubbing the tires on hard hits to where I could see the witness marks being created on the tires.

By the way, it is very doable to put in an off the shelf Coilover which is non Toyota specific into a Toyota without modifying buckets or cutting and hacking metal already on the truck. I had been swinging the idea around for a while but I ultimately got the idea from this guy, who did a lot of research to git'er done:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/su...vers-oem-replacement-use-2nd-gen-tacomas.html

Basically, the main idea behind it all to get it to work is to get a longer rod end and get a Shock adapter plate from a vendor like TC or Camburg to get it to work, all the rest is trivial stuff.

 

Sure. Icon's aren't that expensive though, and you get customer service with those that diy won't have. I once stripped out a bolt in a top hat in Wiesbaden, Germany. Icon sent me two new top hats priority international shipping for free. Find me another company that will do that. Plus, for what you do, they are already dialed in and ready to rock out of the box. Sure, you could mess around with revalving off the shelf shocks and get them tuned, but a nitrogen set up isn't cheap... I'm all about custom stuff, but at your skill level I would highly advise sticking to bolt on stuff to avoid the custom headaches that come along with modding... I don't mean that as a slight, I learned the hard way myself.

 

The only thing I am new to here is the suspension lift scene. There is a lot of geometry and measurement involved to make sure that the up and down travel as well as desired lift achievement is actual. I did automotive for over 10 years so I'm definitely not unskilled in the least bit of way. The only thing that is baffling me, since I don't have the stuff right in front of my face (I am more of a visual person), is the measurements and what the actual physical final heights will be capable of once installed. I don't want to have to re-setup suspension again once I go coilover unless I am rebuilding. I have the majority of it figured out already, and even a little more so after doing some more research up to this point. I was really just trying to figure out what the allowed travel limitations of the stock setup is before you are looking at doing UCA's.

I would much rather spend a little under 1/2 of what a bolt on stock setup would cost and learn a thing or two along the way. I love bolt on stuff just as much as the next guy does believe me. Yet for $1400+ for a straight out remove and replace setup, I find that a price tag to be both ridiculous and a little hard to swallow (that's what she said!).

The setup I am looking at right now puts me at a little under $650 for both shocks (They are a threaded body design, so you can either run them as shock or as coil over), springs and all mounting hardware required to get it setup. I am talking great quality too. Fox. I will be running 2.0's though.

 

Go with 2.0x6....make sure the rod end is 3" extended

 

Dude, you read my mind. I was just PMing you about the setup I am going to go with! The rod ends I picked out are just the ones which you suggested! Lol!

 

if you can't see why or figure out why a 8 or 10 inch travel coilover won't work with oem upper and lower control arms then you should stick with oem replacements.

 

I think stock wheel travel is 8" with a 4" shock... the TRD baja is 9.25", so I would guess that is max travel. I assume that is a 6" stroke shock, but I don't know. It would have been faster to pop your coilover out and measure than dink around with guesses on here. For sure you are going to be limited by the UCA first, then LCA, then CV's... Good luck man, a 2.0 is going to be working pretty hard on a 4200 lb truck if you push it and won't be much of a performance gain over what you have...

 

The thing I am saying is that I was reading somewhere earlier that an 8" travel was ok to run with a otherwise full stock setup.

Like I said the amount of conflicting info out here on the boards vs. the amount of great info is easy to find. Whereas the good info out there gets lost in the countless threads everyone makes on a daily basis. I don't spend everyday and/or countless hours under the front wheels of my truck to be that aware of what it's up and down limitations are. If you want to make an omelet you gotta break a few eggs right?

 

check out this thread

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/su...vers-oem-replacement-use-2nd-gen-tacomas.html


i ran a 2.5x6 btw and it did not over extend the bj