xxxtreme22r

??? So your saying the friction of the tires on the road is enough to break those brackets? I would think you would go into a skid before you actually broke those brackets.

And as far as actually hitting the tire itself on an obstruction/hole, I've done that on stock components and tweaked my steering bracket that bolts to the knuckle, along with bent my pitman. And by tweaked I mean it was enough to throw my steering wheel off a full 1/4 turn after the hit and still drive "straight". It was a hard enough hit to blow a bead. (tire pressure was at 12psi). I'd say a 10-15 mph hit into a hole/wall that was enough to bury my wheel and tweak my bumper. I would think you'd rip the heck out of the tie rods before you broke that extension bracket and/or UCA. And If you hit something hard enough to seperate steering components in that way, you'd most likely break any type of LT suspension, TC, BL, Camburg etc etc.

SCToy

Sliding friction my not break it, but it's definitely weaker than stock and a stress riser with an increased torque arm. If you are in a panic stop and hit a pot hole, that could potentially break it.
My rule is that anything I build must be stronger than stock in every way, it was designed by engineers and to decrease that strength is a major mistake in my mind. I wouldn't sleep at night if I had that kit on the road.

xxxtreme22r

See comment on tie rods. You cannot convince me that that design is weaker then the tie rods or any other rod joint in the steering. More torque, yeah I can agree with that somewhat. Enough to make that joint, both x and y plane, weak enough to make it fragile? I don't think so.

You forget that that control arm, where the flat mounting section is, is "boxed". Actually, part of that boxing is REMOVED when you put our famed ball joint spacers in there. This boxing with his adapters isn't even cut to fit the extension. So using your theory, you would think that the BJ spacers with cut UCA would be just as weak as well since you actually remove part of it's structure. Have you ever seen that area get tweaked for what ever reason on the road with BJ spacers? I haven't.

SCToy

Stock tie rods shouldn't be used either.

xxxtreme22r

Hiems IMO shouldn't be used on DD's that see the road way. Especially in the NE. Those can develop ALOT of slop in them.
Of course that's an entirely different debate.

SCToy

What you're failing to see is that because he's using the same four bolts to mount his bracket is that there is now a torsional load on them over a torque arm. Very bad idea.

SCToy

Use a boot over the heim and they'll last longer.

xxxtreme22r

So your saying the extra leverage is enough to shear those bolts? Before you separate a tie rod? My god if you hit something hard enough to shear those bolts, tweaking the UCA or that extension bracket or completely separate the BJ from the knuckle, that would be the least of your worries.

SCToy

So because the rest of his design is also weak, then it's acceptable to use other weaker components why not tackle fail points instead of add to them?

xxxtreme22r

Your assuming that that joint and the shear strength of those 4 (or 8 in his case) Are a weak point. You need the stength of hiems, tubular a-arms etc etc, then you should either be SASing or running TC stuff.

And if hitting a moderate pothole on the highway at 60mph is enough to break that joint, then you would think that Nate would have many complaints about his kits. Name one, just one thread bashing the quality of his kit.

Wabbit has many more butt hurt people complaining about the quality of his bikini top. Trust me, if Nate has had issues with that kit, we would have heard about it by now.

Especially from this guy: https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f199...thread-223750/






http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHhAiEic4sM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXLGMOAom9M&t=25s

SCToy

I'll be convinced when he runs it at 50 mph. You're problem is you havent done any long travel research or looked at any race trucks. TC is an entry level kit, it's far from top quality, strength or travel. So just the fact that BL is less durable than entry level kit is a red flag.

xxxtreme22r

Do you not see the lic plate on his truck? Are you assuming (again) he avoids the highway or the street altogether?

It's funny because he's running an extension on an extension (which Nate himself questions in that thread), is somewhat active on this forum, people are questioning the BL kit, yet NOONE who is questioning it has even asked questions in that guys build thread. So much for "research" huh?

SCToy

Plenty of street driven trucks that are capable of Hucking and hitting whoops at speed. Beyond uniballs and heims being a wear item, they are generally very streetable. I'm at a VORRA race right now and several trucks drove here.

BMcEL

Find one person that has broken a Blazeland kit or something else because of it. It does what it is designed to do and does it well. If you don't like the design, don't buy it. End of discussion.

SCToy

You're right, if the kit accomplishes what you want out of it, than that's all you really need.

Zpd426

Just put blazeland on my t100 LOVE it so far. And its cheaper than total chaos if your not planning on really really hard jumping and huge woop sections that would require a full sized triple bypass shock I would go with blazeland. That bracket will never fail the upper arm would fold before that happened and you can always reinforce that upper arm. Its all about money, If you can afford $2k in just shocks and the additional $2.8k for the kit total chaos is nice. But after holding the parts in my hands I have confidence in blazeland. I spend 750 on shocks way cheaper if you keep your torsion bars of course. (1k if you go for 2.5s) 1500 for kit plus shock mounts. fox 2.0 RR coilovers 600lb spring 50/60 valving (guessed on springs and valving so far so good) I no longer use my bars, they are a pain. (selling 300m t100 bars)



.

BlazeN8

Its not fair to assume Blazeland has poor customer service from one guy who claims I was unresponsive in his attampts to contact me. I did find his PM here on YT and my response was to write me at the blazelandn8@yahoo e-mail address as YT is limited in the amount of PMs one is allowed. I cannot find any evidence that he wrote me at yahoo. Not saying he didn't but I just can't find it. Maybe I deleted it as span or something. There is no logic that I would single out a potential customer like he is claiming.

BlazeN8

Food for thought......when Ford created the Raptor why didn't they use heims or uniballs? I read in Offroad Magazine it has something to do with the D.O.T. approval. Sealed and greasable joints are the only way to get approval for the longevity.

exist

Food for thought.... Ford also uses blocks under the leafs, and only a 3 leaf pack.. How many prerunners or race trucks (using leafs..) are only running 3 leafs?

Why don't manufacturers use discs all around? cost right? Why would you use a uniball when balljoints are 1/50th the cost...

Also....


I sent the same email from a second email address I have, with a different header..

Zpd426

I don't know how your messages slipped through the cracks but Nate had some of the best customer service I have encountered. Last year we talked for a few hours about the kit and options. When I was ready to buy a few weeks ago he responded to every email within a day or 2 and half the time he called Instead and we had half hour long discussions. What happened with you is unfortunate but I think you should get past it and get yourself a sweet LT kit.