Last week I started working on putting a total chaos long travel kit on my 93 pickup. Over the past semester I collected all the parts I needed, shocks a-arms and a few other odds and ends.
I decided to go with total chaos because they have such an excellent reputation. I bought FOA 10in coil overs because they're less expensive than Fox and King but ought to perform well for my needs.

I started out with this.

Ball joint spacers and ProComp ES9000 shocks

First step the tires off and hubs apart.


Pulled the knuckles off


No more LCA


After a lot of PB and a 2ft breaker bar I got the T Bars off.


No more UCA


Stock suspension gone


Collection of goodies


Getting those damn bolts off the UCA required a bit of leverage


UCA mounts removed, all those new bushings look mighty pretty.


New UCA put together


LCA put together and mounted up


I then took saturday off and went to the track with some friends, there were some pretty awesome cars there.



Got back to work on sunday drilled out the knuckles to a straight 3/4in


They look pretty sweet all mounted


Bending tube for shock hoops


Springs finally showed up on monday


Notching the shock hoops


welded up


Tacked to the frame


Making Shock tabs


Whole thing tacked together and mocked up


I discovered that welding near brake fluid soaked rags isn't really a good idea.


Welded up and ready to roll


ROLLING!!!


CV shafts are still on order, should be here sometime at the end of next week. So then I'll have to weld on the new droop stops and take it for a real test drive.

 

Looks good man, thats sweet !!!

 

Nice work looks good!

 

agreed, looks good....
... but you should've said at least "Uniball" somewhere in your subject line since the ball-joint kit is different than the uniball (which appears to be the kit you installed)... and you actually appear to be the Caddy Gen2 which looses 4wd and turns the truck into 'pre-runner' status... or am I missing something?

 

you're right it's the gen 2 caddy kit, which retains 4wd with t100 cv axles. It's the gen 3 that eliminates 4wd.

 

No head on shots?

Looks NICE!!!! T100 axle going in the rear?

 

CV shafts are still on order, should be here sometime at the end of next week. So then I'll have to weld on the new droop stops and take it for a real test drive.

I think you missed something

 

whoops...!
guess I missed the Gen 2/3 difference.
(thanks to mrmatson and olharleyman)

So how does it ride?

 

Here's a head on shot


I'm not sure about the ride yet, I'm waiting until I get the cv's in to take it for a real test drive.

 

I just jizzed my pants. How much did that cost?

 

about 30 bucks for levi 501's in your size.

 

Actually 505's

 

Way to much, I'm at about $3000 right now.

 

It's badass an fairly original though. I think I've seen two or three others on the board. There's more I know but still it is sweet.

 

Can you use stock droop bump stops with the TC kit or do you have to have new ones welded in? Just curious since I'm planning on throwing a TC kit on my 4runner one day...

Looks good though. What's your plan for the rear?

 

If you want to keep 4wd you'll need to weld on the TC droop stops. The bump stops remain stock.

As for the rear it's gonna stay the same for now, I've got skyjacker springs and 5.5in shackles right now so it's not to bad. When I can afford it I plan on putting Deavers, 12in shackles and an axle over conversion in the rear maybe with some 16in travel shocks.

 

axle over?

 

Axle over, putting the axle on top of the springs eliminates axle wrap completely which is good for handling. I may not do this though because of the decrease in ground clearance

I finally got the CVs in and the whole thing put together and ready to go. Went to Gordy's hill this afternoon just for an hour or so to give the new setup a shakedown. So here's the full report on the Total Chaos gen 2 caddy kit with 10in FOA coil over shocks and suspension spring specialists blue coil springs

The ride quality on the street is about the same stock, maybe a little more body roll, but it's negligible, I'd taken the sway bar off my stock suspension ages ago anyway so the roll actually is a little less now. Even so the stability is great, the extra width really keeps the truck planted.

Offroad the difference is staggering. I can take most small obstacles at twice (at least) the speed I could with the stock setup. The truck just soaks up the bumps with no problems at all.

I was actually surprised how well this suspension setup flexes, I decided to go the long travel route mostly because of the high speed benefits but I do like to do a bit of rock crawling and this suspension does really well.

I don't have any pictures of the high speed stuff (I'm gonna have to enlist a friend or two to get some pics). But here's a few poser shots from today.

The front end is really wide now, as expected


Can't really tell from the picture but this was a bit of a hairy moment, I nearly rolled down the hill there.


I actually lifted a back tire, I probably would have been in a bad way without my rear aussie.


The front stayed completely planted



Coming down a nice little embankment into the arroyo


Mad poser shot

 

Thats awsume!! Im very tempted to go LT, but I don't think I would go with coils. I would probibly keep the t-bars to keep costs down.

But im in the same posision. I want the flex for the odd rock crawling run, but I want to be able to go fast!!! Plus, you got some good diff clearance now

 

i wasnt going to go with coils and the gen 2 but after reading this and taking a look at FOA shocks the price is about the same as if u were to go with the bj setup and some king shocks then it would be to get the gen 2 and some FOA coilovers if not a bit cheaper. defiantly would consider it and run the numbers for ur setup.