[DIALEDTOY]

My question is which IFS lift has the most flex stock. I know the trailmaster has very little flex compared to the procomp(i think because of the AAL on the TM). Not sure on the Fabtech and Tuff country.
Thanks to anyone who knows the answer.

 

[Live4yotas]

If you want flex don't stay IFS. I have the trailmaster and there is no flex really you have very lil suspension movement.

 

[atwinda]

The truck only has 8" of flex in the front. Unless you do LT (which will give you 13") Extended length Donahoes, and uniball UCA's will give you the most at 9".

I know a lot of people complain that the fabtech subframe lift doesn't flex that well in the front, however I can't say that for sure, as I don't have that lift.

 

[joeylead]

The truck only has 8" of flex in the front. Unless you do LT (which will give you 13") Extended length Donahoes, and uniball UCA's will give you the most at 9".

I know a lot of people complain that the fabtech subframe lift doesn't flex that well in the front, however I can't say that for sure, as I don't have that lift.

The fabtech lift doesnt have much flex until you trim the bumpstops a bit. With them untrimmed, there is very little space between them and the bumpstop on the drop bracket. After trimming, front flex is good (for IFS anyway)

 

[rojodiablo]

I am in no way a fan of this nonsense, but some members disconnect the sway bar for a LOT more flex. I agree, that for rough trail work, it would be the way to go. But, I would NEVER run like this on the street!! Buy or build some quick disconnects, and have a blast. Beware of over extending the droop on these trucks. I don't exactly know, but there is a catastrophic problem with the inner cv when this happens, bearings fall out or splines pop out. So, you've been warned!!!

 

[joeylead]

I am in no way a fan of this nonsense, but some members disconnect the sway bar for a LOT more flex. I agree, that for rough trail work, it would be the way to go. But, I would NEVER run like this on the street!! Buy or build some quick disconnects, and have a blast. Beware of over extending the droop on these trucks. I don't exactly know, but there is a catastrophic problem with the inner cv when this happens, bearings fall out or splines pop out. So, you've been warned!!!

Generally speaking, with stock lentgh shocks, they will limit downtravel enough to keep the CV's safe from damage when running w/o a swaybar. When you use shocks that are longer than stock, it is possible to damage the CV. All drop bracket lifts except for fabtech retain stock length shocks, so it is ok to run w/out a swaybar on the trails. For low speed situations, the shock will not get damaged. On the street however, no sway bar and stock shocks/coils and the ride is a little scary!

 

[BIGTOYOTA]

I have the donahoe's extended and total chaos arms and it works great.

 

[Bryanccfshr]

I laugh at those who fear a land with no sway bar. That's what good springs are for. I disconnected my swaybar a couple of years ago and never reattached it. It's an uneeded apendage with my springs and vehicle weight.

Travel is limited by the IFS itself but not all IFS lifts flex(that's an oxymoron when used with IFS) alike. Some can give more travel than others. It depends on the spring rate, the lift amount and the static load(wieght) of the vehicle. Read around to gain insight. Look for words like Compliant, compression and droop with IFS and suspension and you will get a good idea what others think.

 

[TacoCrazy]

I laugh at those who fear a land with no sway bar. That's what good springs are for. I disconnected my swaybar a couple of years ago and never reattached it. It's an uneeded apendage with my springs and vehicle weight.

Travel is limited by the IFS itself but not all IFS lifts flex(that's an oxymoron when used with IFS) alike. Some can give more travel than others. It depends on the spring rate, the lift amount and the static load(wieght) of the vehicle. Read around to gain insight. Look for words like Compliant, compression and droop with IFS and suspension and you will get a good idea what others think.

I was thinking the exact same thing..I haven't run my sway bar in over a year and it will not go back on..A little more lean, but if you know how to drive it and what to expect it's not an issue.. The flex and ride off road is WELL worth what little is given up on-road in my opinion..If you wheel in more technical terrain having the sway bar in the garage, or disconnected, makes a huge difference..

 

[DIALEDTOY]

thanks all for the info guys
On my old tacoma i had the procomp, and that baby had a good amount of flex(35-36" high on the RTI ramp before the rear tire would leave the ground). Im thinking im going to go with the Tuff country, do u think that lift would have comparable flex to the procomp?

 

[joeylead]

thanks all for the info guys
On my old tacoma i had the procomp, and that baby had a good amount of flex(35-36" high on the RTI ramp before the rear tire would leave the ground). Im thinking im going to go with the Tuff country, do u think that lift would have comparable flex to the procomp?

The TC lift doesnt have any bumpstop provisions (at least the first ones didnt) so uptravel would only be limited by shocks and balljoints. I dont like that idea, but I guess it would have good uptravel though. If you trim the bumpstops on a fabtech lift, the uptravel increases to where the balljoints are put at a very extreme angle, so that is the max the susp would allow.

 

[02taco4x4]

I have the donahoe's extended and total chaos arms and it works great.

So you are running extended hoes w/ total chaos UCA's and no sway bar without any cv problems? Do you leave it off all of the time or just when wheeling?

 

[hytenor]

My question is which IFS lift has the most flex stock. I know the trailmaster has very little flex compared to the procomp(i think because of the AAL on the TM). Not sure on the Fabtech and Tuff country.
Thanks to anyone who knows the answer.

since the Taco's suspension geometry is fixed at 8" none of them really "flex" any better than any other. The drop-bracket style lifts just lower the front drivetrain and steering but maintain stock geometry for the most part. Stiffer coils will flex less, shorter than stock shocks will yeild less travel. Longer shocks will yeild a little more down-travel.

 

[DIALEDTOY]

Not true, me old procomp had twice the flex of my friends truck with the trailmaster kit. mostly a lot more flex from the rear axle.

 

[MNGSX]

since the Taco's suspension geometry is fixed at 8" none of them really "flex" any better than any other. The drop-bracket style lifts just lower the front drivetrain and steering but maintain stock geometry for the most part. Stiffer coils will flex less, shorter than stock shocks will yeild less travel. Longer shocks will yeild a little more down-travel.

The IFS trouble spot no matter how much total travel ... bump (compression)+down (rebound) travel is a lack of articulation due to the fact that it is an independent suspension... The fact that one side is higher up on a rock than the other transfers weight to the low side compressing it. With the sways unplugged and 6" of bump on one side you will still get a good bit of bump travel on the low side due to weight transfer... So lets make a optimistic WAG (wild ass guess) and say it went up 1"... Now we have a whopping 5" of articlation.

The front sway bar acts like a torsion bar linking the lower control arms (LCA). It raises the side opposite the tire on the obsticle a % of the bump occuring on the high side.

Hey look the sway bar did its job it brought the LCA's as close to even as its rate of tortion would allow.. Too bad the truck is really crooked now.. More WAG One side went up 6" and the other up 3"... 3" of articulation from 9" of total control arm movement.. :rofl:

http://www.off-road.com/toyota/cheaptricks/swaybar2/
Make some

To get the most from IFS.. Install the lift bracket and leave out the bumpstops, sway links, shock and spring and install the tire and wheel.. On coilover only lifts just take out the previously listed items.. Obviously leave it on the lift or stands... Run narrower tires (like 10.50 not 12.50), cutout flares, sheet metal nip and tucks in the wells... etc all help.. Get as much bump travel as possible.. Lower the differential if not part of the kit to improve CV angles at droop.. Maybe get better CV shafts.. Ones with the tundra style or porsche 930 joints if you want more droop.. If it will droop beyond where a taco CV likes to live....then get some limiting straps..
Then match your damper (shock) to the range of travel you have available..

Droop travel does littlefor us in the articulation department on a front wheel ramp travel index. The low side wont droop it will get compressed ... On a ramp it can't push the low tire down like a SAS front.. Off the ramp it all depends on the terrain the droop is usfull there..

Maybe get much stiffer swaybars... You are all now like wtf? How does that help off road... Well on the street you can run much softer coil spring rates in the front with a stiffer sway bar. A coil rate that would lean too much with the stock bar would be aggressively leveled off by the stiff bar..
On the trail pull the disconnects and the bars road manners are gone alowing weeble and wobble time.. Dont try to make a lifted truck stay level by cranking up the springs.... Stiffen the sway bar you can unhook that quick..

I have a few ideas to improve IFS performance in the rocks.... When I post my pics adding my tricks to the already flexy long travel kit.. I'll talk...

From http://www.chaosfab.com/photos.html

The front tire tucks nicely in the glass fender but it would never have made it that far w/o the upgraded rear suspension..

 

[synovus]

Not true, me old procomp had twice the flex of my friends truck with the trailmaster kit. mostly a lot more flex from the rear axle.

The ProComp kit has essentially the same amount of front flex as the Trailmaster. Rear flex was different between those two trucks because of differing setups in the rear. It had nothing, or very little, to do with the front setup, which is the main part of either kit.

 

[smith123tacoma]

now then...how bout that> I have a TM lift that is the org, now also I have the rancho coils to add lift to the front of mine, now the bad thing is that the only problems that I have had with the lift is the vw struts in the front end, those are the only thing that sucks. The back side is lifted with 6" procomp leafs and mated with 4" daystar shackles....do the math....the truck sits the same front and rear....now to get the drop that I like...belive me when I say this I went to my local hardware store, I got 6 plumming nipples 4" long along with grade 8 hardware to mount it all together.. I moved the top plate off the tower on the top and placed it at the bottom of my nipples.....rebloted it all together and presto there is the drop that was needed..now I have found out that I have a bad strut on the pass side so I now get to tear it all down and do it over....that sucks.....but I have also found that at 6" of drop with the top plate is a bit much and you end up not allowin none of the susp to take up the road...u end up with a hard bounce so with alittle bit of playing i have found the best mix poss. The truck rides great and still has drop and flex...how about that....as soon the camra is back and running ill post pics..I just put this all together last weekend...

 

[MNGSX]

On the right track.. I'm not crazy about the component selection but the basic theory is right.

http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/tech/air_shocks/

 

[TRD4ME / PARKSOFFROAD.COM]

My question is which IFS lift has the most flex stock. I know the trailmaster has very little flex compared to the procomp(i think because of the AAL on the TM). Not sure on the Fabtech and Tuff country.
Thanks to anyone who knows the answer.

The Fabtech lift replaces the stock struts with their own struts, and they are shorter than the stock ones. This will mean that no matter how much bump stops you trim, you will never get the same amount of down travel because the struts are just not as long any more.

Yes, the Tuff Country has no bump stops (for up travel), but the stock struts have rubber isolaotors on the shaft that act as bump stops. You basically get the most possible travel out of the system that you can.

If you are going to lift IFS thats fine, you can go quite a few places with IFS, more than most people think. Hytenor and myself have gone more places that quite a few of the SAS guys do, so it cant be all that bad!