kdogy313

i have been reading a little lately about blazelands LT kit and i was wondering if anyone has custom made one? i know its possible, just wondering if anyone on these forums has tried and succeeded or has just tried and it went completely wrong lol.

kdogy313

anybody?

LGcrawler

blazeland looks dope, i might buy a kit in june

kdogy313

thats what i'm thinkin of doin, but as of now i have no funds lol. so i was wondering if anyone had successfully made a custom LT kit and i could use their design, and if not.... i better start savin'

chalkie

i ve been waiting to get a set of arms built for my truck hope fully by mid next month i ll have lt

kdogy313

is there any way to custom make it? i'm sure im missing something here but couldnt you just cut,add metal and weld it back and it would be longer? im sure its a stupid question but i was just wondering

hunter 4321

Sure there is a way with a mechanical engineering degree and a machine shop and a TIG welding machine. I would not trust my life just welding some home made parts that you just threw together in your garage.

kdogy313

i have access to a machine shop and tig welder, my welding teacher is pretty good with all this stuff and i'm sure he would help. or someone could just make their own uca's and lca's but that sounds a little harder

hunter 4321

I'm sure you could do as good as the Blaze land kit if you are real good at with math, you will need to get your measurements just right if you are going to retain the use of your 4wd, if you have it, and there will be a limit to what stock ball joints will handle as far as travel.

kdogy313

measurements just right concerning the cv axle?

hunter 4321

I'm assuming you would build similar to Total Chaos or Blaze land in that you would upgrade to the longer C/V axles off a t-100, so yeah, measurement to correctly fit your c/v axles

iamsuperbleeder

everything...

CV axles, tie rod angles and their movement, etc

there's a lot more to it then you might think


I'm with the "wouldn't trust it on my truck" crowd... stuff like suspension, especially the front that STEERS the truck and keeps it in control, I would much rather pay money for parts that are proven to work and are good quality rather than just cut and weld some metal together to see if it works


aftermarket suspension manufacturers put a LOT of R&D into their products, and it's never a "1st time's the charm" thing. it takes lots of trial and error, even with fancy degrees and high dollar equipment

kdogy313

haha trial and error right? nah im just kidding. i was just wondering, i have no money and no job so i was trying to brainstorm an idea for a LT kit, and with my limited knowledge let me tell you, its not an easy task. wouldn't three inches on each side be the correct length? thats how many blazeland is adding. please correct me if i'm wrong

kdogy313

yeah i was aiming more towards blazelands kit.

Robert m

iTrader: (2)

if you are low on funds and have no job, the last thing you will want to do is start a project, especially a long travel truck. the general rule that i have learned over the last few years of building my truck is that what ever you think its going to cost to build, times that by 3 and you might be close to the actual cost. now even if you had the money to build a suspension setup, like bleeder said its a lot of r&d and trial an error. now with that, its going to be a lot in material cost and time.
i have said it before in other threads but IMO, the blazeland kit it a deathtrap waiting to happen. if you look at any other LT kit made, the arms are not stockers that were extended and they dont have a bolt on balljoint extender/spacer. everything is built out of good quality mild or chromoly and is going to be much stronger then the factory stuff that wasnt designed to take big hits and jumps. i think the fact that no one has been hurt or worse from those kits is nothing short of a miracle.

kdogy313

im still in highschool, so really more then anything i'm here to learn about this stuff for future references. i'm always curious and wanting to learn more. i think it's awesome the things some of you can do with your trucks and one day (hopefully) i can do it too

LGcrawler

i say go for it man, build the kit

BlazeN8

I have built 40+ Blazeland kits now and I am entering my 5th year of service on the original prototype kit. Still no breakage or complaints. I have had two mechanical engineering students each from different schools voluntarily do stress analysis studies and nothing comes up as deficient. I have had dozens of professionals in the industry commend me on my design after viewing my suspension first hand at various offroad events. Why are you still unconvinced Blazeland has its meritts? Why are you still bashing? Of course eventually something will fail but 0 out of 40 is a fairly good record. If you were in a parking lot surrounded by 40 Blazeland equiped Long Travel Rigs and their owners standing on hand, would you still spout your mouth off like you actually knew something about it. Are you really going to tell 40 people with first hand experience that they are wrong?

VANCE164

iTrader: (1)

Yea from my experience with blaze he is highly educated and knows his stuff about long travel and I see his kit being very strong and would like to get one eventually for my 88 and by the way Nate we need to touch bases I have a few questions.

peow130

Blazen8, tellin it like it is.

Honestly though, its a project to actually build your own long travel control arms.
better off finding a junked out 2wd ranger, putting 4wd coils on it, and havin fun. Search youtube for "ranger danger"