90toyrunner

I was reading up on someone's runner on here that had the Total Chaos long travel kit installed. I was wondering if you can use the 4" IFS lifts that like Superlift and Fabtech make with that setup? I see no reaon why you couldn't, but thought I'd ask. Might be a matter of using different coil-overs since the shock hoop would be higher up in that case. More or less curious about this.

Now for the rear. Rather than swapping to leaf springs.......or putting on insanely tall coil springs that could fall out of their perches on the trail ( unlikely if you're using limiting straps, but still). Why hasn't anyone tried to make some shock hoops in the rear and moutn some coilovers back there like the Total Chaos kit uses in the front? I was thinking that you could weld in a shock hoop, then cut the lower spring perch off.....grind it down. Then you could make a saddle type bracket that had one or two brackets for coil-overs just like the front would have if you were running the Total Chaos kit.

I'm just curious what everyone thought. I'm looking at options so that I can run 35s I figure if this setup would work, I could get about 6" of total suspension lift and bo a 1-2" BL if I had to. This would give the height to run 35s and still have awesome flex (for those that have read about that 4WD 4Runner with the Total Chaos kit). Of course I'd have to run fiberglass fenders, but why not after all of that work and money?

deathrunner

Ok a couple of things. I pondered the thought of a mix between the two suspension kits. It is technically feasable, but a terrible idea. If you beat your truck with a bracket kit, you learn that the lower a arm mounts like to spread apart. Now put the increase leverage of the long travel arms on.....it's a mess. I asked Protrux if this could be done and they told me that they wouldn't but they have worked on a truck that did this. It is a 1st gen pickup painted like spider man. He had my JD kit in conjunction with a trailmaster kit. I actually ran into him when he was parked one day. I asked him how he liked it. He said he was going to take it off. It was too tall and constantly getting tweaked by the extra leverage. Bad idea.

For the rear, there is no room to run coilovers unless you cut holes through the bed and run them into the cab. This has been done before. There is a shock mount bar welded into the cab. You can't do this under the bed because the shock would have to be so short that you would have no extension.

As far as running 35's, your big issue will be the rear fenders. I would do the long travel kit in front and crank in about 3" of lift. Get 3" rear coils for the rear and then do 2" of body lift. That should get the job done. check out www.fiberwerx.com for a rear glass kit for your truck. It looks killer.

Hope that answers your questions. I've pondered alot of these long travel options.

ldivinag

i know of someone who has done that.

scott ellinger of rockstomper.com

his previous ride was a custom built long travel IFS that used drop down brackets from someone.

so he a lift with a super PLUSH front suspension.

IIRC he used torsion bars. ran big tires, i think 35-37 and even competed in the FOUR WHEELER tough truck with it. he did break an inner joint... lol...

90toyrunner

thanks guys. I think that I'm going to see if I can get ahold of the guy from rockstomper.com and get his opion on this set-up. Not that I don't believe the boys at Protrux because I think it was their truck that I was reading about, but I want to get all the infor that I can. I'm just looking at what everyone thinks because I'm going to lift it in stages and get the Superlift part first since it's the cheapest, then go from there. Thanks for the help....I'm going to continue my research. I'm going to look into the rear coil-overs though. I'm willing to cut a remote mout if I need to to make the rig the way I want. Thanks guys.

deathrunner

If you do decide to combine them, I have soem recomendations.

1. Welde the bracket kit to the frame once it is bolted and aligned.


2. Get braces from the bottom rear of the lift kit to the frame (Much like Procomp has.)
3. Stick with the superlift kit. It actually welds alot of the bracketry together already. I believe it to be stronger than Trailmaster/ProComp/Rough County/Tough Country/Buff Country/SnuffCountry/(and any other countries)
This should definitely help. The more bracing you do the better you will be.
Just remember that a bracket kit offers no extra travel, so in effect, it is merely a body lift, under the frame.Even if you run both of these kits, your front axle's height is still dependent on how much lift you crank in and how large your tires are. Best of luck.

90toyrunner

hey, thanks for the advice. I was thinking the same thing after I read your first responce. I figure that if it's all braced up enough that things would be ok. I mean our IFS has problems on its own even without going this extreme.

As far as the IFS lift, I know that it's not going to give any more travel from the suspension.....pretty mush the only thing you can do for that is go with the long travel kit. I've heard that there are other ways, but I'm going to go the whole 9 yards if I go this route.

deathrunner

I would highly recommend the uniball upper arms...whichever kit you decide on.
Compare all the LT kits before you decide. I choose JD and I think you'll see why.

Here are some long travel kits to check:

www.chaosfab.com
www.jdfabrication.com
www.esbfabrications.com

JD and chaos's newest kit allows you to run coilovers with 4WD, ESB doesn't. Stay away from ATS long travel kits.

As for the bracket kit, I think you have chosen wisely with Superlift.
What kind of riding do you plan to do?

90toyrunner

I'm looking into all of the links that you just sent me. And I'm sure that I'll see what you mean when I get done. I liked the idea for the support struts for the bracket lift. Makes alot of sense. I'm going to see what I can do to beef the fram up some too.

The type of riding that I'll be doing is some street (I know what people are thinking, lol, but I have a daily driver too), alot of mud a wooded trails, and the occasional trip to the mountains. I've heard that people around here go out to Tellico (sp?). So I'll try that whenever I get it all done. I'm looking at rethinking the rear lift, not sure yet. I talked to someone at Slee Offroad and they said that I could use Land Cruiser lift springs to lift it up pretty far. I know that some people are using stock Land Cruiser springs to lift 4Runners 2-3". Maybe a 3" Land Cruiser lift spring will raise a 4Runner 5-6".

deathrunner

I could be wrong here, but I think yopu will run into problems if you go any larger than a 2-3" lift with the coils.

I think your stock control arms will not allow for travel. But maybe the Superlift arms can handle the larger spring. I'm very interested to find out.

If you're not afraid to cut through the bed, I would dfinitely go custom in the rear, it will be a lot softer. Get some coilovers and fab up som custom arms. Just a thought.
Keep us posted on your progress.

deathrunner

Here are some pics of what Idivinag was talking about

90toyrunner

alright, I think that I'm going to go with the Total Chaos kit if/when I do this. I think the reason is that they have more info that I can read about on their site over the JD kit.

As far as the rear goes. I think that if the axle was wider to match the track in the front, I could set-up a coil-over design in the rear without cutting into the bed. I could mount a shock hoop in the wheel well like the front does. If I'm wrong and can't get enough travel that way, at least I'll have the clearance from the tires so that I can cut up into the wheel well and not take room out of the cargo area.

I think that I was reading that they were trying to get something worked out on the rear axles to match the track on the front. I guess that I'll see what I can find on that.

pinnacle

On a side note, you can run c/o's with the esb kit.

ESB Fab

90toyrunner

ok, stupid question. Could I use a Tundra/Sequoia rear axle and mount the needed brackets for my 4Runner 4 link rear suspension? Am I reaching here or am I reight in assuming that it would work? The rear track should match the new front track after the long travel kit.

Anyone have a clue if this can be done?

pinnacle

Here are some axle widths:

55" wide, '79-85 trucks/4runners
58" wide, '86-95 trucks/4runners
60.75" wide, '95.5-up Tacomas/4runners
66.75" wide, '93-98 T100 trucks

I think you would be reaching pretty far to adapt a leaf spring axle to a coil/link type axle. I personally would convert it to leaf springs.

90toyrunner

Deathrunner, are this shock hoops on your Runner custom or the ones that come from JD? If they came from JD, then that is the kit that I'm going to go with. They have alot better mounting surface to the frame than the TC kit. They look like they are made a bit better also. I kind of like the lower A-arm on the TC kit better, but the JD kit does look a bit stronger.

What about my last post......have a clue??

pinnacle

You might want to look into a FJ80 rear axle. They use coils/links. Dont know how the brackets and stuff would line up though.

Praufet

you can use the ome cruiser lift springs. You will need to get new upper and lower control arms though. All pro sells them. The lower ones have johnny joints and the uppers have heims.

deathrunner

As far as the rear axle goes. I like your idea. I'm going to run wheel spacers, but that would still put your brakes where you want the coilovers. The T-100 axle seems to be the best fit. It will give you 4.375" over on each side. The front kit takes you 3.5" over on each side. So you will only be off by .875 per side. not too bad. I think that extra width will get the brakes further from the area that you want to mount your coil-over. That way you could only cut through the wells in your truck. I'm pretty sure you'll have to cut through, but this can be sealed off with shock boots, so air and water doesn't go in or out. Cool idea, you'll have to think about that. You're going to have to fab any way so I wouldn't stress the mounting points. You could probably move them from your current axle, or better yet just make new stuff.

As far as the shock hoop. It is custom from Protrux. But you need to make a custom one for Chaos as well. I don't know if you plan on using coilovers up front or not, but the ESB 3rd gen kit looks like an option as well. Jd's kit is cool because you can start with torsions as I did and upgrade to coil-overs pretty easily later if need be. The swayaway racerunner shocks are great because they're already threaded.

JD doesn't explain much on thier site. There are quite a few advantages that have been pointed out to me, as well as some disadvantages about the Chaos kit. I spent quite some time debating, reading, and talking to people about all the options before I decided. I posted quite a bit on this subject here:

http://www.prerunners.net/forum/long...otal_chaos.htm

There are a few different posts that break it down, I have the same screen name there.

Also if you want to see the JD kit in action check out my website:

www.sethmetal.com/deathrunner.htm

It's difficult to find pics and vids of long travel IFS in a flexy scenario rather than simply running.

Pinnacle- You're right, I haven't seen that yet. Pretty cool, like the best of both worlds....chaos's double shocking and JD's lowers. Not bad.

1990Runner

death runner how much did you spend total on you build with parts and labor