lol, Mine works great! It even smashed a rock and works just fine still! Though its kinda messy... several hundred miles of dirt roads and a leaky T-case slung dirt packed grease ALL over my undercarriage. So I'll be attacking that mess with some degreaser and a scraper one of these days! I'm having my buddy do some calling around tomorrow to see if we can find a better deal for you. It might be some highway miles, but if its cheaper, it might be worth it.

Oh yes, and GREAT NEWS!!!! I've managed to come by the means, and I will be ordering pretty much EVERYTHING for my new front and rear suspension next week! I decided on the TOTAL CHAOS GEN. 2 CADDY KIT, and the CHEVY 63's in the rear! We'll be seeing QUITE the build up on this thread VERY SOON

Parts list includes:
TC Gen 2 caddy kit
F.O.A. 6" travel Coilover shocks
TC weld-on Shock Hoops
TC Idler Arm
Rear Chevy 63" spring hanger kit
New Tie-rods
T-100 CV Axle shafts
Beefy Rear shocks (brand unknown...)

and the POSSIBLE extras:
racing seats
after-market fiberglass or poly hood
More tubing (possibly a cage)
Automatic rear locker
33x12.5 tires and 15X10 rims

Now to try and get some sleep.....

 

glad to see you got your paint problem all worked out
cant wait to see the lift and youre front bumper design

 

Glad to hear you got the top the way you want it hopefully I will be doing the same soon. Good deal on the new suspension can't wait to see it.

 

Thanks guys! I'm excited myself! I'll FINALLY be gettin the suspension I've dreamed of! lol

On a side note however. It seems that my Chevy Silverado (the DD currently) has become quite temperamental...because despite having spent hours recently on the brakes and getting it back to safe driving operation. It apparently caught wind of my plans for a very expensive upgrade to my yota, and decided to break on me. Snapped a CV axle off at the hub and nearly lost the entire hub and wheel assembly...

Because of this, the half-top won't be getting done on time >.<

Oh yeah, and the chevy probably also doesn't like the fact that she'll be getting sold in a few months and replaced by, more than likely, a much better and more powerful Tundra

 

tht sux about the chevy but glad yu are getting super close to building the truck the way u want it

 

Thanks twisted. Yeah, I love and hate that chevy all at the same time. Its going to be hard to let it go, but at the same time, I'm going to love getting a new toyota as a dd. Can't decide between a newer tacoma, or late model Tundra. Don't like how the new tundra's look, waaaay too fat looking, lol.

 

Checks in the mail! Woohoo! just a few more days until I can order a truck load of parts and finally get the ball rolling! This is so exciting to me because I'll be the first one among all my local wheeling buddies to actually do a serious modification. Beforehand everyone just bought their trucks already built. I'd also like to take this chance to say that chevy sucks, and toyotas rule.

Also, the half top now has the full top coat of high-gloss black. It will be getting another coat and some wetsanding/buffing and then be done!

 

HOLY CRAPOLI! lol. NASTY LIST, HOMIE! Can't wait to eat your dust some day up there!!!! hahaha.

 

Oh yeah, it'll probably get some engine work too. Something like a racing Cam kit and bored out a lil

 

The half-top is offically bolted to the truck! Paints not perfect, but its glossy-ish black, and thats good enough for me. EVENTUALLY it might get a pro paint job, but for now, it looks GREAT! I'll post pics once I get home, cause I was too tired after repairing my soon-to-be-gotten-rid-of chevy, last night.

ALSO: Bumper will be getting fabbed up tomorrow! the fab buddy has made it a priority before he leaves on vaca for a few weeks, thankfully

ALSO AGAIN: I noticed I said "6" inch coilover, but its actually supposed to be "8 inch"

 

Well, I THOUGHT We were gonna get an early start on the tube-front-bumper, but hurricane force winds cancelled that plan....

So. instead heres the close-enough-for-me finshed results of the half-top!
Primed:


Almost painted:


Painted, sanded, painted, sanded again, polished in spots, top coat finished and finally bolted on:

 

Sick! Looks great, Moze!

 

looks awesome man

 

like the top man, my boy has been hounding me about starting mine so I told hime if he wanted it done so friggen bad go do and uh he did Im afraid to go out and check on progress, I did explain in depth how I wanted it done we shall see.

 

UPDATE
We got, yet again, another late start on the tubing work for the front bumper. so All I have for ya'll is a teaser pic
The good news is, we got the most complex bended piece out of the way, and the rest will be short, easy pieces to fab up. Right now, it could go any direction we want. We had some neat ideas to give it an angry, aggressive look by adding headlight guards, but not totally sure yet. We've got a few ideas, but we're trying to not make use TOO much tubing, because theres a lot we could do. IT WILL be finished by this next weekend, cause the fab buddy wants to see it done just as much as me, lol.

So here's where we're at as of now: The measurements were slightly off, so the passenger side is getting cut, trimmed, and welded back together, because as you can see, its a teeny bit crooked.


Tell ya what though. Its becoming VERY clear to me why fab work/ bolt on tube bumpers are so pricey. It might not look like much, but theres several bends in this one piece, and getting it to match the body AND fender lines was a real pain in the toosh.

My buddy also had THESE! 15x10 rims that will most likely be getting powder coated (if its not too expensive) Now all I gotta do is find a good set of 33x12.5 tires...


Also:
THE PARTS ORDERING HAS BEGUN!!!
New steering stabilizer, tie-rods, and CV shafts are ordered from Oriley's
and the chaos components will be getting ordered soon as I'm done with a post or two!

 

top and bumper start looks good man, waiting to se the finished bumper

 

lookin good moze that front end is really coming together, I really like that style of rim I have ran them on a lot of vehicles my waifes dodge has a similar style on it now.

 

Ok, so got several opinions from friends and such about trying to find good deals on used components for my LT install....and decided to schedule a visit/ consultation with a pro offroad fabricator at our local shop here in town called Fabrication Unlimited Squared (which is called FU2 for short....)

What I got from our phone conversation is that he'll be figuring out exactly what kind of coilovers I need and if he can mount them without me having to pay $250 for the Total Chaos shock hoop kit. He'll also be able to figure out the most optimum mounting positions for the rear shocks to get the most out of the chevy 63's.

This is definitely a huge under taking for me, and not to mention, costing me a LOT of money, so I figure a free consultation with a master fabricator who builds rock crawlers and race trucks in his spare time, might be a worthy endeavor. Once he gives me some ideas on how to do things, and orders the best coilovers for my rig, I'll be able to order the rest of the parts, and tackle the project one of these weekends very soon!

So far, what I DO have ordered is:
T-100 axles
Beefier-than-stock Tie rods
and a brand new power steering box.

Thanks for the compliments guys! I LOVE how the runner's turning out and it won't be long until I'm getting some SERIOUS air time!

On a side note. I have 31" and 32" tires, and a set of 5 matching rims for sale. If anyone in SoCal is interested

 

man i was just ripping through the back roads yesterday and i was thinking, "man i wish i had long travel!" im jealous haha

 

Don't be jealous! I happen to think your yota is pretty sweet too! My purchase of long travel only comes from necessity. I live smack in the middle of the high desert, and despite the heat, I LOVE the terrain it has to offer! So had to build the runner to be able to handle what the mojave has to throw at it!

That being said: EVERYTHING IS ORDERED! With the exception of the coils for the coil-overs. according to the Master Fabricators at Fabrication Unlimited Squared, the shocks need to be ON the truck before we can figure out the correct spring rate, and THEN the coils will be ordered and it will be complete!

Final Parts List: (Well, final for now, its not EVERYTHING, but its the most needed parts...)
1.) Total Chaos - Gen. 2 Caddy Long Travel kit
2.) Total Chaos - Gen. 2 shock hoops
3.) Total Chaos - Caddy Idler Arm
4.)Re-manned power steering box
5.) T-100 CV axles
6.) Moog tie-rod ends
7.) F.O.A. - 8" travel coil over shocks
8.) Chevy 63" Spring hanger kit
9.) OME Steering Stabilizer

Parts to come sooner than later:
1.) 33x12.5 tires on 15x10 steelies
2.) DOM tubing for rear shock mount/frame reinforcement
3.) Rear shock mounting brackets
4.) rear shocks