edeslaur

I've decided a SAS is not the way I want to go. Even tho Off Road Underground's was incredibly interesting.

So, that leaves me with 3 choices for IFS (alphabetical order)
- Blazeland
- JD Fabrication
- Total Chaos

Use:
Daily driver
Flat tow behind the motorhome
Hardcore wheeling (35s and lockers. Yes, I know 33s for these without tubbing)
High speed offroad (just dinged a wheel and split a sidewall on Saturday)

I've found on this forum what people think about the Blazeland, and that's awesome.

Total Chaos always gets good press.

Any input on JD Fab's kit? The trucks at/in his shop look phenomenal.

Thanks!

MaK92-4RnR

I dont know of anyone off the top of my head who has the blazeland kit, besides blaze himself.

I know PismoJoe has the total chaos on his tacoma, and he kicks ass with it at pismo. Hes got some pictures of him taking it off some sweet jumps.

Deathrunner owns a JD fab kit. He has a lot of good things to say about it.

Personally? i like the JD fab kit as well, it looks very durable.

waskillywabbit

iTrader: (-1)

Nice write up in 4WDTO couple issues ago on Blazeland kit.

:wabbit2:

edeslaur

I didn't realize Deathrunner's truck ran the JD Fab stuff.

Thanks for the tip, I've been reading through some of his posts.

I can run my trucks pretty hard offroad, I'm trying to find details of ball joint longevity vs uniballs.

Last night I was thinking about the options and realized it's funny the bottom arms are so beefy, but the top arms get the uniballs.

The TC bottom uniball kit eats up a surprising amount of ground clearance.

N2Frodn

Can't go wrong with any of them.

Blazeland is great for budget builds, supposedly holds up pretty well.

Total Chaos is money but a little bit more hardcore oriented. Gen 2 and up are more adjustable due to coilovers.

JD makes great stuff too. Was leaning towards his kit at one point.

In the end I decided on the Total Chaos gen 2 kit. Mostly because I got a lightly used one complete with shock hoops and axles secondhand for a great price. Buddy of mine has been pounding an OG Total Chaos (torsion bar) kit for years now, he beats on his truck like nobody else I know. Only damage so far was a sheered lower balljoint (rolling your truck a couple of times at speed will do that). Truck is back on the road with new sheetmetal, still running the same kit.

edeslaur

Yes, yes it will. LOL

Thanks much for the data point.

I scored a set of Blazeland arms and torsions, so am starting there so I can get tires, gears, etc. under the truck. Depending on how they do, I'll consider an upgrade in the future. Definitely will end up with 2.5s when it's all said and done.

klsmith925

yea i would do ball joints id go with uniballs with hiem i think the gen 2 kit on total choas comes with it im not sure but ball joints i find if you drive hard they dont hols up as well ive busted 5 befor i switched to uniball but i dont have a kit i made mine it cycles 24 inches up front im runnin deavers in the rear eventually it will be set up with 4 link an coil overs

LGcrawler

lets see a build thread with the blazeland!!

edeslaur

You will!
tires are here, need balljoints, axles, and shocks... Still amassing parts!

Numbchux

I'm no english major.....but this needs some punctuation. I have no idea what you said!





I have zero personal experience with any of the kits. But I will be going blazeland here before too long. My reasoning:
1. price, duh.
2. bolt-on (can't find install instructions for the JD setup, so I have no idea how it installs).
3. stock ball-joints (uniballs are stronger, but they will still wear out, and will be much harder/more expensive to replace).

I wheel on the rocks, but I know how to drive gently. I wheeled a lifted '88 subaru with open diffs and stock suspension for 4 years on the rocks here in the northland. So I know how to be gentle on control arms and such. I will push the limit of the rig, but I don't do it with momentum.



I haven't decided if I'm going to drop the money on a Chaos idler arm or not. I think I'll pull my OEM one now and get one of the aftermarket ones for which 4crawler offers brass bushings. That way I have a rebuildable primary, and a decent trail spare. If I have problems with that setup, I'll step up to the Total Chaos one.

edeslaur

24 inches of travel without axles... That's a no-no. Anywhere over 12-13 and the ball joints start to bind anyways I hear.

You broke 5 of which brand and model balljoints? Not all balljoints are equal. While the first BJ the parts store may offer you costs $30-40, the good ones are $80 and up, Toyota over $100 each (online in the $80-90 range).


Uniballs are about the same price as *good* ball joints, maybe less. The $30 BJs? Don't waste your time.
Uniballs eat up a couple of inches of ground clearance when used on the bottom arms. If you run hard, probably well worth it.
JD Fab is pretty straight forward bolt-on too. I almost bought a set of used arms I found, but decided to stick with what I already had in the garage.

I found a good deal on a used Blazeland, and the Toyota mag I've been getting has been doing an LT IFS vs SAS comparison using Blazeland. The LT has done quite well (some would say "better"). But it's way-wide in the mag. Need to reach out to the author/IFS LT owner (he's on here, can't remember his name but he frequently posts on threads Blazeland piles into) and ask why it's so wide. Too wide for me, glass fenders won't cover those tires, which means instance ticket.

But... I'll eventually drive mine like I drove my Class 1700 Cherokee - in the air a lot. So TC or JD Fab will probably work their way onto here at some point.

edeslaur

Ok, ordered all the swag from DAVEZ Performance.

Since I'll be all the way into it, bought some lockers and gears while I was at it. Why do it twice?

Build up thread will start in a couple weeks (this weekend it's timing belt for my daughter's RAV4, and a big yard sale to clear out all the crap I've been accumulating in my garage for this yard sale).

edeslaur

I've started the build thread here: BlaZuk!