Hey there guys...first time posting in off-road. I'm redoing the sussp in my 2007 tundra in order to increase travel in the front, reduce rake, and maintain tow/pay capacity. I use my 4x4 TRD DC for off-road towing, hard work on the farm (flying through stepped pastures and down the embankments of dams), I also do some recreational muddin' and general debauchery. I need a strong, low maintenance setup and am about to pull the trigger on the following parts.
How does this setup sound to y'all? Any recos? Camburg vs. Total Chaos?
__________________ Want to know what's ironic? My Polish grandparents who were captured during the Warsaw Uprising.
Grandmother was enslaved in a German concentration camp and forced to make artillery shells for the 3rd Reich. Grandfather was in German and Soviet POW camps...ending up in Siberia. After WWII, they moved to the USA to be free, but Obama has turned it into the USSA...Grandaddy is rolling in his grave. CBTMA Member
That plan sounds non-brokeback. Should work out well.
The 07 stock arms are as long as the 1st-gen LT kits, so that uniball upper oughtta be good for something like 13" travel. Set the ride height so you're not hitting the bumpstops when you hit a bump...on my 1st gen with short arms thats around 60/40 up and downtravel, maybe the LT guys will chime in with their numbers since they have the same length arms as your stock 07.
Since yer towing and hauling, have you looked at a new leaf pack? It'll be more durable than AAL in the long run. Alcan and Deaver can both do an excellent job, just make sure they know what you're using it for.
Can you run a smaller rim? 18", maybe? Will it clear the caliper?
The more I look at the "doublecab" version...with the reverse half door...the more I think it needs to take a turn to the dark side and go moon buggy, sorta like a cross between that thing in Batman Begins and the open-top in Titan AE. Pull the bed, add a solid front axle, shrink the wheelbase and add stupidly large tires with no lift, then take it to Iceland or Dubai or something.
Anyway let us know how it turns out, and get some action shots. Not a lotta 07s offroad yet.
That plan sounds non-brokeback. Should work out well.
The 07 stock arms are as long as the 1st-gen LT kits, so that uniball upper oughtta be good for something like 13" travel. Set the ride height so you're not hitting the bumpstops when you hit a bump...on my 1st gen with short arms thats around 60/40 up and downtravel, maybe the LT guys will chime in with their numbers since they have the same length arms as your stock 07.
Since yer towing and hauling, have you looked at a new leaf pack? It'll be more durable than AAL in the long run. Alcan and Deaver can both do an excellent job, just make sure they know what you're using it for.
Can you run a smaller rim? 18", maybe? Will it clear the caliper?
The more I look at the "doublecab" version...with the reverse half door...the more I think it needs to take a turn to the dark side and go moon buggy, sorta like a cross between that thing in Batman Begins and the open-top in Titan AE. Pull the bed, add a solid front axle, shrink the wheelbase and add stupidly large tires with no lift, then take it to Iceland or Dubai or something.
Anyway let us know how it turns out, and get some action shots. Not a lotta 07s offroad yet.
-Sean
Thanks Dev,
I did look into new leaf packs, but I don't know too much about them, so I just opted for the $80 toytec AAL for now. Minimal cost...when I figure out more on a full leaf pack, I'll go that route...thanks for the suggestion!
As for the wheels. I don't have those big azz, lame 20s...I'm riding on the TRD 18s with the BFGs. If I decide to get bigger tires down the road, they'll only be about 0.5" larger...I don't need massive tires, nor do I believe in them...besides, the bigger the tire/wheel, the less the travel right? I need the travel, because when I drive through the stepped pastures, I move!
When it comes to suspension in general, I have limited knowledge...I know enough not to look like an idiot or to get taken for a ride. I'm going to have a good shop install the setup, so that I know it's done right...I've never installed susp components and don't have any local buddies who know how. I hate to pay, but at least I know that I won't screw it up.
Can you explain the 60/40 up and down trvel thing...I think I know what you're talking about, but I never claim to be an expert. I'v eoffroaded hard for years, but I always used stock setup or the TRD setup on my '04 4x4 Taco (I abused the Frik out that thing ) This will be the first time that I''ve made honest mods for offroad.
Interesting reco on the dubai mod, but I may have to pass!
Thanks for the help and the non-brokeback comment! oh, what are your thoughts on Camburg vs. Total Chaos fir the UCAs?
P.S. Dev, the store is giving me a full refund for the engagement ring...hence the sudden finances for meaningful mods to the Tundra!
__________________ Want to know what's ironic? My Polish grandparents who were captured during the Warsaw Uprising.
Grandmother was enslaved in a German concentration camp and forced to make artillery shells for the 3rd Reich. Grandfather was in German and Soviet POW camps...ending up in Siberia. After WWII, they moved to the USA to be free, but Obama has turned it into the USSA...Grandaddy is rolling in his grave. CBTMA Member
I have a 06, which I have been using on the farm out here in kansas and colorado. Aside from the heavy duty towing which mine cant really do, only 6600lbs, my suspension has really come in handy. I was just thinking the other day that if the farmers out here used a little bit of offroad technology that they would be able to get more work done.
Front Suspension A good set of coilovers for when you are charging down the dirt roads and you hit the wash outs and all the nasty bumps created by the rain and big tractors. Just yesterday my coilovers saved me from bottoming out really hard. I really like the Camburg setup for coilover and UCA. The combo should be good for 12inches of travel. Camburg Engineering Inc.
Rear Suspension In the rear you might want to look into airbags for leveling the rear when you are towing or are hauling heavy stuff in the bed. Loading pallets of minerals and salt can be pretty heavy.
Another option could be those timbren or supersprings helper springs if they make them yet. SuperSprings - Product Guide
Tires I think tires can make a huge difference, I went through a really bad washed out road that people hadnt been on for days due to the mud, I would like to partially thank my toyo all terrains.
On an 07 I would run 35's just cause you can, you would get a nice footprint as well as being able to soak up alot more impact. Tires in a way are part of the suspension.
My truck has been all over the place, from chasing in baja to all over socal, to the midwest. I have found that this style of setup will get you through alot of places.
__________________
2006 White DC 4x4 sr5
King coilovers|TC Diff Drop|Bilstein 5100's|Pro Comp 1069 16x8|Toyo Open Country 285/75/16
Officially decided that an 08 CM 4x4 will be in order.
Well, it is important for a guy to have the occasional deep & meaningful conversation with his truck...take the relationship to the next level, make long term commitments, show support for cooperative growth, that sort of thing. For instance, adding an arseload of mods and learning how to rally the hell out of it.
Sorry this is kinda long but you're actually gonna put your truck to good use. Hopefully it ain't TL/DR material .
The bigger your tire, the less space you'll have to move it around, and on such a new truck it'd be a shame to cut it so soon. Get the biggest tire you can fit, tho...it's more cushion, you can drop the pressure lower, like matrix-t was saying tires are a big part of suspension.
Pick up a CO2 tank kit from Ultimate Air, the 15# Express kit is the best deal for the money unless he carries a 20# tank...CO2 is useful stuff, some welders you can run on straight CO2 (the Passport was designed around it). It's like 270$, if you get it piecemeal it's over 300 for the basics. If you already have a regulator and hose etc. I know where you can get a new 20# tank for 140$. Trust me airing down helps a lot, and you'll use the CO2 for everything. Throw this in as one of your mods now, you'll use it as long as you have a truck, regardless what truck it is.
The compression/extension split is pretty important. If you set the ride height too low (like I did recently), you're on the bumpstops too often, and constantly hitting the stops will pull the alignment out (I should get a punch card for the alignment shop). 60/40 is just a ballpark number, you might not need that much uptravel, so mess with it (use a lot of grease btw or you'll gall the threads and they'll eventually seize). It just means, using that example on my truck, that of 10" total wheel travel, 6" (60% of 10") is uptravel and 4" is downtravel.
Sticking with the 1st-gen example, a stocker only has 6" of travel to begin with, and it's set at something like 2" uptravel and 4" down (the highest suspension lift is 4" on a bone stock 1st-gen). I ran a few easy trails like that, and was all over the bumpstops...it wreaks havoc on your alignment, makes you gun-shy for the next drop or bump, it's no good. With a 2" lift, there's 4" of uptravel, and I still found I'd hit the bumpstops on harder routes. Eventually I set it for about 4" lift and wasn't concerned with hard hits, plus the downtravel is strap limited and the same as stock (4") so it's soft on extension. Messing with it more, it seems like 50/50 to 60/40 works out very well on a 1st-gen with 10" of wheel travel...3" to 4" of lift. It's worth the hit to your vertical CG.
You'll find something similar with your 2nd-gen, but the travel numbers will be greater. The higher you set it, the stiffer it will ride and the harder it will be to align, but you can take a bigger hit. I don't know the travel numbers for a stock 07, but Total Chaos and Camburg should have numbers and good recommendations. Be aware the rear of the truck may end up low if you set the front ride height up 3"-4"...get the rear up there however you can and save for a full leaf pack (500 bucks).
Interco makes an SSR (I think) in 35.2x12.0R18, those are exact numbers on their measuring rim. If you can fit it (all the way up, turn lock to lock), get it--it's the narrowest 35" tire I've seen, everybody else is 12.5" or larger and you'd be surprised at all the problems 1/4" can cause. Otherwise get the biggest tire that'll fit at full compression and a full lock turn and no larger or you'll just give yourself headaches. They're in your neck of the woods, too...LA. They know gumbo mud.
Don't shy away from doing this yourself, it's not hard. Too bad you're not closer, it's about a day's work start to finish with beer in the middle. The benefit is you'll know what can go wrong, how it fits together, how to adjust the shocks, how to service the uniball and bushings, stuff like that. You'll need to know those basics to get the best performance from the setup, or you'll be paying through the nose to have someone else adjust and lubricate everything. You'll need a Factory Service Manual, or at least the relevant pages...the dealership where I bought my truck let me photocopy pages from theirs, Lon might have the pages here already, or you could buy one ($$$). Camburg, Total Chaos, Donahoe, all those guys can help with tips and pointers when you buy the parts.
Camburg and Total Chaos are very similar. Pick which one you like. You might be able to get a better deal with Camburg arms and shocks (by SAW), the other manufacturers are slowly closing the quality and innovation gap with Donahoe so you're not losing out by getting SAW (Camburg rebadges) instead of Donahoe, and since you're far from CA getting SAWs or another shock you can rebuild yourself (or locally done for you) is something I'd very highly recommend. If DR didn't go out of their way to make it so awkward for a buyer to service their own shocks, they'd be a lot more attractive to people who really push their trucks outside CA. If you're ok with voiding the warranty, they're as easy to rebuild as any other shock, and you'd just need a motocross shop with the right filling needle to pressurize them.
There I go rambling again and making a huge long post. Hopefully it was useful
Camburg will have a long travel kit for the new Tundra out soon. I hear it'll be something like 19" of travel. Should be good for bouncin' around the farm.
Thanks again Dev!
I'm shy about doing it myself, since I've never tackled suspension work. Sure I've done electrical, intakes, exhaust, hoses, belts, and other minor stuff, but never suspension. I completely agree with your point about knowing the setup if you install it yourself. I want to know all of the intricacies of my suspension. I'm going to call up the local offroad shop next week, once I have an ETA on the parts, and see if I can shadow the mechanic. I always like to watch mechanics work on my stuff, not because I don't trust them, but because I learn a lot. It's amazing what I learned about my corvette by watching the tranny tech replace the entire clutch assy (after only 4000 miles on the F'ing car)
Thanks for the tutorial on the travel, makes sense to me now...didn't realize all of that went in to it.
Looks like Camburg isn't shipping their arms yet. Wheeler's says that TC ought to be in next week, so we'll see which one pops up first. I'm realy not too picky between the two. Since I'm not going to get the coilovers until the UCAs are in, I'll look into the SAWs.
We'll see about the tires. I may go up a bit, but I don't want too much rolling weight.
Not too worried about the rear-end dropping too low by lifting the front. have you seen the friggin' rake on the '07....jeez, it looks like it's setting up for the doggy style! Also, toytec says that their AAL will add a solid inch to the rear.
matrix-t, thanks also for your help!
I'll look into the super springs...they seem like a good option. I'm going to focus most of my energy on the front to begin with, and only do the AALs to keep my caps for now. Once I get some breathing room I'll focus on the azz.
__________________ Want to know what's ironic? My Polish grandparents who were captured during the Warsaw Uprising.
Grandmother was enslaved in a German concentration camp and forced to make artillery shells for the 3rd Reich. Grandfather was in German and Soviet POW camps...ending up in Siberia. After WWII, they moved to the USA to be free, but Obama has turned it into the USSA...Grandaddy is rolling in his grave. CBTMA Member
Not a huge update, but I did get the TC arms in last week from ORW. Donahoe has been having supplier issues with collars and end caps...and apparently some computer problems as well, so they have been lagging. I talked to Victor at ORV yesterday though, and he hooked me up with the SAW coilovers which are freshly on the market. I don't know if he was p!ssing on my leg and telling me it was raining, but he said that SAW designs their coilovers specifically for toyoter, and that this coilover is also specifically designed to work with the TC UCAs on the 2007 Tundra. Does this sound like BS? He said, as you did Dev, that the SAWs have come a long way with quality and durability and they will be great for my application. Victor also said that he placed the order directly with SAW, the coilovers would be custom built for me in the next 3-5 days and then drop-shipped. Should have them late next week. I was pretty damned impressed.
I talked to the guy at the local off-road shop, he said that to install the AAL, UCAs, diff drop, Coilovers, and do an alignment, it would be $295 OTD. He also said that I could shadow him for the day to see how everything is put together in case I run into any issues on my own.
Thanks for the reco on SAW Devin!
Now I just need to put on a set of step tubes, and then see what I have left for tires. The Pirelli Scorpions treated me very well on my Taco, but they slipped on the pasture grass, so I'm going to explore some decent options that aren't outrageously big.
__________________ Want to know what's ironic? My Polish grandparents who were captured during the Warsaw Uprising.
Grandmother was enslaved in a German concentration camp and forced to make artillery shells for the 3rd Reich. Grandfather was in German and Soviet POW camps...ending up in Siberia. After WWII, they moved to the USA to be free, but Obama has turned it into the USSA...Grandaddy is rolling in his grave. CBTMA Member
I have no idea if SAW builds toward Toyotas, that might be stretching the truth a bit...but the shocks you ordered are built to a specific length for the uniball kit, so you'll get all the travel (or most of it) afforded by the uniball.
Shafts come in standard lengths, so if a 6" (actually 6.5") shaft would be a hair too long, they'll use a 5" (5.5") shaft and you'll be missing a little travel, but it'll be a noticeable improvement in twisty terrain.
I have no idea if SAW builds toward Toyotas, that might be stretching the truth a bit...but the shocks you ordered are built to a specific length for the uniball kit, so you'll get all the travel (or most of it) afforded by the uniball.
Shafts come in standard lengths, so if a 6" (actually 6.5") shaft would be a hair too long, they'll use a 5" (5.5") shaft and you'll be missing a little travel, but it'll be a noticeable improvement in twisty terrain.
Ok cool...sounds like I'll be in good shape. And to your point in an earlier post, these SAWs will be easier to rebuild and maintain right? Can't wait to get this setup on...I'm ready for some real clearance and travel, not to mention getting rid of some of that nasty rake. Thanks for all of the help!
__________________ Want to know what's ironic? My Polish grandparents who were captured during the Warsaw Uprising.
Grandmother was enslaved in a German concentration camp and forced to make artillery shells for the 3rd Reich. Grandfather was in German and Soviet POW camps...ending up in Siberia. After WWII, they moved to the USA to be free, but Obama has turned it into the USSA...Grandaddy is rolling in his grave. CBTMA Member
I know this isn't suspension related and I hate to derail a good thread.
Are you planning on tinting your windows?
no, I want folk to see my purdy eyes while I'm drivin'
was thinking about LineX for my windows so that I don't get dirt scratches and rock chips
__________________ Want to know what's ironic? My Polish grandparents who were captured during the Warsaw Uprising.
Grandmother was enslaved in a German concentration camp and forced to make artillery shells for the 3rd Reich. Grandfather was in German and Soviet POW camps...ending up in Siberia. After WWII, they moved to the USA to be free, but Obama has turned it into the USSA...Grandaddy is rolling in his grave. CBTMA Member
So if you don't want people noticing you have crossed eyes, send him a PM.
hmm was debating the window tinting thing...thanks for the heads-up. Need to see how my finances pan out in the next month or so...the SAW coilovers, the TC UCAs, the diff drop, tube steps, and AAL set me back about $2100 (throw in $300 for labor and alignment on top), so my play money is getting tight, but I do have a chunk earmarked for LineX...the windows are low on the totem pole.
Should have my coilovers by Friday, and have them installed next week (wed/thurs). Will post pics...before and after on level ground with measurements.
__________________ Want to know what's ironic? My Polish grandparents who were captured during the Warsaw Uprising.
Grandmother was enslaved in a German concentration camp and forced to make artillery shells for the 3rd Reich. Grandfather was in German and Soviet POW camps...ending up in Siberia. After WWII, they moved to the USA to be free, but Obama has turned it into the USSA...Grandaddy is rolling in his grave. CBTMA Member
Suspension for farm work
) This will be the first time that I''ve made honest mods for offroad.
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Linear Mode
