.... Shame on you guys for hating on the 22RE....

 

Hey guys, just to chime in some direct info, I spoke to total chaos today, and with the gen 1 balljoint kit, and torsion bar setup, they were able to finish the baja 500. They do recomend a billet torsion socket from www.sdtruckshop.com I wanted a caddy gen 2 kit also, but I hit a reality, my truck is really a daily driver and will not see off road too much. maybe the gen 2 is overkill. I am a fan also of the downey kit I have a ridealong review on these boards. Im actually weighing out TC gen 1 kit or the downey kit....

 

Thanks for the link to the HD torsion bar sockets...

hmmm

(I have 300M bars already)

 

While there is a listed price for the more-or-less complete Downey LT kit, comparably, what would you be looking at in terms of cost for the TC Caddy Gen 2 kit along with hoops, coilovers (median $), etc.?

Could you do the TC Caddy Gen 2 setup for the same or less than the $3K price-tag Downey is asking for?

 

yeah, i don't know about some of the stuff downey makes, its like hit or miss with those guys, i would seriously consider Chaos Fab.

 

To answer my own query, apparently not.

Complete Downey Long Travel 4WD Front end kit: $2563
TOTAL: $2563 (inclusive)

Complete TC Gen II Caddy Kit: $1919
Pair of Fox coilover shocks: $978
Pair of Eibach springs: $166
Pair of weld on shock hoops: $271
TOTAL: $3334

Not bad considering that the TC kit is a coilover setup versus the Downey torsion bar setup. Though that is the bare bones version of the TC kit. Additional costs on the lower uniball conversion ($399), idler arm ($352), heim steering ($475), etc. would jack the price up considerably.

The question now is, what would a comparable rear end set-up consist of for this kit and what would it cost?

 

TC does make a torsion bar kit as well, just to note. For the rear end i guess it depends on how involved you want to get. You could ether go 4 link, or just do like most do, which is longer springs, usually full size truck leafs, and longer shackles. You just have to move the spring mounts. As far as cost goes, it all depends on what you want to fab/source yourself, but Downey has an all inclusive long travel rear system that goes for 640.00. For the for link, you would pretty much have to fab most of it, but http://www.trail-gear.com/trail-link-4.html there is some stuff there to help you out.

 

DIY.

http://www.4wheeloffroad.com/techart...t_1/index.html

Not too complicated.

 

Or, you could go even simpler ,and probably cheaper, and throw some 63" Chevy's or Ford rears out back.

 

First, thanks all for the informative replies.

That seems to be a relatively simple and cost effective route from what I've been reading and, ride-wise, seems like what I'd be after.

With a pair of $500/piece Fox or King coilover shocks on the front end would it be necessary to match that on the back or would Bilsteins (or anything other $100 shock) do the trick?

 

yeah, some Bilstien reservoir shock would do nicely.

 

The projected cost for this just gets more and more ridiculous. Here's what I'm thinking then..

Front: TC Gen II Caddy, 2.5 coilovers, lower uniball.
Rear: Chevy 63" and Bilstein remote resevoir.

Of course there is the fibreglass etc. to consider, along with armor, etc. etc. etc. Given the initial cost, I'm also assuming it'll be reasonable to save things like the idler arm, IFS truss & heim steering for a point further down the road.

With regards to the coilovers, between Fox, King, Bilstein and any other brands out there - which coilovers are priced the best. At $500 a piece they seem to be more geared towards the racing crowd, are there more affordable options out there?

Jeez, and I thought to Downey LT kit was fixing to be expensive.

 

Bilstein is cheapest.

Also, fiberglass is merely personal preference. You don't have to have it.

Oh yeah, if you're planning on getting some air with this set up, you're gonna want to truss up your frame some.

ORS sells a front truss

http://www.offroadsolutions.com/79-95_4wd.html

You might want more than that though.

 

Is the only other alternative cutting the original fenders to allow room for the wheel travel? Won't there be a lot of rub on the stock fenders?

Not planning on jumping it or anything just yet. TC, Sonoran, etc. all have IFS trusses too. I imagine it'd also be pretty easy to have fabbed up as well.

My point with regards to those parts was that I could put them after the LT kit is put in without having to tear anything apart. Buying/Installing it all at once might be more than I can handle financially.

 

If you go with 33'' tires, then yeah, cutting the fenders is going to be a must. There are some yotas around here that have a fabbed IFS truss, it wouldn't seem like it would be to much hassle.

 

just get a quad... it might be cheaper LOL

 

No ing kidding. Seriously. Unfortunately this is also my DD and it rains a lot in BC. Any quads with cabs out there?

 

Am I right in understnading that the shock hoops and mounts that TC sells for this kit only accomodate 8" shocks and therefor will only allow for 8" of travel and not the full 12" of travel?

Are custom hoops and mounts required to get the full travel on this kit? 8" isn't that far off of stock is it?

 

Not sure of the setup of that kit, but on the IFS front ends, the lower shock mount is only part way out on the lower suspension arm, so the shock travel is only a certain percentage of the wheel travel. So if am 8" travel shock were mounted 2/3 of the way out on the lower arm then at the end of the arm, 12" of travel would still be possible. Might contact the mfg. and ask them what the shock travel to wheel travel ratio is.

 

how much for the remote reservoir bilstein? The remote reservoir doetsch techs are 169.99 through Downey