Interest List: SPC Extended Lower Control Arms

[dhalsey]

Dual Shock Mid Travel

FYI a Dual Shock Mid Travel kit already exists for stock lower control arms. Its made by Total Chaos. I'm contemplating adding this to my extended length icons and my hydraulic bump-stops. Check it out.

A hoop with a secondary shock and a bump-stop would be all anyone would ever need I bet. I know just extended travel and a bump-stop take me faster then I feel comfortable without a roll cage.
I'm not sure "budget friendly" and long travel go together.. Just a thought.

 

[MojaveMadMan]

Please don't do one of those arm extender kits!!!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!!! Those things are super scary in my opinion. You are adding a substantial amount of force to stock control arms that are not designed to take that kind of leverage. Our stock control arms are made of thin material, have no internal plating and are made from made from mild steel.

The kits made from Camburg or Total Chaos are made from Chromoly tubing and plate, which itself is more than $300 in material. It's all laser cut which is probably $100 a kit. Welding material and wear and tear on machines. Then you have all the machining, yes they have machining on uni-ball cups, or bushing pivots. The slugs so that your ball joints can bolt right in. Spacers for upper control arms and outer pivot machined from stainless steal so they don't rust. I guarantee they have closer to $900 in cost into those kits. If you tried to make a kit that was as quality and thought out as those ones were, I bet you would spend well over $1500 by the time you purchased all the correct stuff you would get from them. Especially because you are not paying cost on materials like they are.

I can assure you these things are priced correctly and I wouldn't ever dare to make one if I wasn't working in a professional shop. Yes it can be done and many people do it themselves but the quality is either lacking, or they spend more money than they save. I would only do it myself if I wanted to do something special or different and I would know that I was going into a costly venture!

Also just FYI the kits use Tundra axles, not T100. T100 is for 2nd gen 4runners and Toyota pickups. If you designed a kit that was say 1.5" wider than stock vs. the 3" that others sell you would actually lose money in buying custom built axles than you would save.... In my opinion it is not worth it.

My suggestion is to do what [MENTION=88058]dhalsey[/MENTION] posted. That would be a great direction to go where you would get about 8" of wheel travel, which with duel shocks would easily handle moderate to difficult high speed situations. Then if you are having trouble with the stock lower, then you could look into a stock length replacement lower control arm. They already offer them for the 4th gen and ups. That is the way to go. Mid travel with stock length, or dive all the way in and go long travel and expect do a lot more modification beyond the suspension.

 

[Bandit Runner]

I like the idea of a beefy mid travel set up that doesn't increase the track width more than an inch or two. Something that wouldn't require glass fenders, and eliminates the weak LBJ. A complete kit with quality bolt-on components that doesn't cost a fortune.

I bet this would sell like crazy.

 

[MojaveMadMan]

Oh and one more thing. If you run the 2nd 2.5" shock you need a wheel spacer or wheels with an off set which will increase your width by 1" to 1.25" on each side already. So there you go!

 

[JayRolla]

Fast. Faster.

Jokes aside, I've come to realize over a few years of offroading that I'd much rather be going fast. Or at least at a brisk pace. Crawling doesn't hold a huge amount of interest for me, though I can certainly understand it's appeal. I'd like my truck to be more composed over rough spots, big hits, washboards, etc. I know, I know ... the 4runner is hardly the best platform for long travel. That's ok! I still believe these trucks will benefit from a mild, well sorted mid-travel kit. Nothing extreme, and nothing requiring fiberglass fender flares. It'd be ideal if the wheels extended no further than if the driver had Spidertrax installed.

For those hoping to visualize what I'm looking for, please click on the below link. This is a complete long travel kit for the 2nd generation 4runner. It's very simple, using modified new OEM control arms. It's also very stout and well made per the reviews. All the homework concerning supporting mods has been done. Most importantly, it's doesn't cost as much as my ****ing truck (ahem -- TC or Camburg). The entire kit, less the required new axles, is $1,195. I don't see why we should be forced to pay $3,000 for $350 worth of materials. Now, admittedly, Blazeland is lacking on presentation. It's obvious they don't have a big webpage budget from years of charging huge amounts for LT kits.

2nd Generation Long Travel Kit​

Thats the thing, it all depends where you live. You cant got a brisk pace over boulders. Even with long travel setup. Here in CO its 90% rock, climbing. NTM over years of hauling ass and damaging my rides, I like to crawl. Just the IFS I have now is enough to haul ass on the regular forest roads and good enough to crawl without major issues like broken ball joints, tie rod ends and cv shafts. LC is all fun until stuff breaks over and over.

 

[4-Ripcord]

Want a good mid travel setup? Get some poly bushings for the LCA and an aftermarket UCA with a uniball.

If you want a full width long travel, don't spend any less than what the Total chaos kit costs. As mentioned before, that cost includes all of the R&D that went into those arms. Not an amount to take lightly.

In the end of the day, its the dampers that are by far the #1 factor in the performance of a suspension setup like this. Total wheel travel is a distant second. All of you people wanting full LT, have you even tried a nice pair of remote resi equipped coilovers?


Lastly, and arguably most important of my notes.. Don't expect to be able to come anywhere near maxing out the ability of a mid travel front until you have similarly equipped the rear suspension. Until then, forget about full width LT.