Quote:
Originally Posted by NC14trail
So I'm thinking I'd like to take advantage of the Toytec 10% off which ends today. I have the black 2014 trail and I am looking at the following:
BOSS Kit
Radflo Extended Travel
Then my next question is whether it is imperative to install new UCAs with these setups. If the answer is yes, which do you guys think are the best bang for the buck? I would not buy the LR ones after reading many of posts.
Lastly, what size tires would you guys recommend with this setup? I'm trying to get as much ground clearance as possible as I spend a lot of time in deep sand on the beach.
Thanks for any advice!
Brian
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Great meeting you out there yesterday Brian. I'm glad that you could make it out to the run and that we could help fuel the desire to mod lol.
Between the two you're eyeing, I'd go BOSS personally. Main reason being you save $20 on the price of the kit and since the BOSS includes a spanner, that's another $20 that you'd have to spend on the Radflo. Also the fact that the front and rear shocks were spec'd for the application intrigues me.
With the Radflo, you'd be paying a little more for the name and the front shocks are rebuildable if that's a feature you desire. From what I've experienced, Radflo customer service seems to be pretty good if that's important to you, but I've also read multiple accounts of users not satisfied because sometime their suspension "clunks" as well as some people dissatisfied with repeatedly blown shocks. Though that was more the rear 2.0 shocks, with the toytec kit you'd be getting Bilstien 5100's unless you pay the upcharge for Radflos. The Billies are solid.
But depending on what you're planning on doing with it, I'd be inclined to sway you toward a 2.5" shock body. If you looked at mine, Austin's, or Bobby's if it had been there, we all have 2.5" coilovers in the front and they also have 2.5" rear shocks as well. If you plan on running extra weight like bumpers, winch, skids, rack, gear, etc. The extra fluid capacity from bigger shock bodies will help them run cooler longer and guard against shock fade.
Regarding UCA's; are they imperative? No. Will you want them? Yes. Most that advertise "extended travel" like the Radflo kit will tell you they "require" aftermarket UCA's. The reason being is you need the UCA to maximize the travel that the longer shock affords you. Another piece to that puzzle though is that you mentioned maximizing ground clearance, so that essentially means running the most amount of lift possible which takes away your caster on stock arm geometry which is the reason you get aftermarket UCA's to begin with.
And yes, I'd probably would not recommend getting the LR ones, even though I think they're fine and offer more adjustability than anything else on the market, but after moving to a Uniball design from the balljoint design, I very much prefer the uni's. That being said, if I were in the market, knowing what I know, I'd probably buy the
Desert Products UCA's. If I were on a budget and felt like gambling I might roll the dice on these
$250 Ebay UCA's. Though, I may wait and let somebody else be the guinea pig here. I'm cautious because I recently rolled the dice on my current UCA's from Tuff Country because they had a great price and so far they seem to be insufficient in regards to added caster as well as the customer service from both the company and the retailer have been lacking so far.
For tire size for deep sand, you want width which equals floatation. I'd still only recommend probably a 285 at the widest which is my current set-up. 285/70R17 on mine which is a 33 x 11.5. I wouldn't recommend going any higher than a 33" tall tire, and 285 is about as wide as I'd feel comfortable running. And that's coming from somebody that just came down from a 12.8" wide tire. Even with 285, you can expect some clearance issues off road. I'm sure you heard my meats chewing into the plastic yesterday.
Anyway, that's the down and dirty. Hope that helps and answers most of your questions. When you're ready to install, just let me or Austin know. Good luck.
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