BlazeN8

A few more photos of the Mega Travel. Here is the mock up of the drop bracket sub-frame.



I designed the subframe to accomodate either the CMdiff 7.5 or Supra 8. The brackets to either diff bolt onto the rear factory mounts with a new front cross member.

BlazeN8

I cut and lengthened a set of standard length center bar axles. The sleeves are 1.5" OD / .250 wall DOM. The ID was machined to slip fit the OD of the axle and I welded the perimeter as well as plug welded in three holes per side.





So far the sleeved axles have held up! If I end up producing the Mega Travel I will have the center bars built by a specialty machine shop. If the sleeved version holds up maybe I will offer a low buck sleeved option too? Or some type of DIY kit?

Currently I am using factory upper and lower ball joints. The upper BJs have been clearanced to allow additional up travel. I may switch to a Uniball?

ToyoTech559

damn. i really would love to have a center mount diff but would only want to gain about 1-1.5 inch more lift than what i have....

YotaWoRx

What's up Nate? I want to go to ocotillo as well, but I have to work on Jeff's parking lot princess lol

kornhuskerwizard

Looks bada$$.Cant wait to see pics of it on the rig!!

Red Wagon

What about just the upper arms?

I like the idea of one piece instead of the extension bracket.

Zpd426

Love the unpainted sub frame picture, looks heavy duty. I didnt realize you moved the UCA pivot as well, how much did you have to bring them in toward the center of the vehicle?

Thought at all about adding a little skid plate on the bottom of the LCA?

crazytoyota4x4

Dang n8, the mega travel looks pretty sweet, definitely interested in the 15" of wheel travel. Hope this progresses into a kit we can buy from you.

BlazeN8

Ocotillo Wells testing went well. Unfortunately no photos, not a one, sorry! Albert, too bad you couldn't make it. It would have been more fun with another LT Toyota, especially the Blazeland Mantruck. This trip was a skeleton crew. Keith had back surgery so his Blazerunner stayed parked. Jame's 1992 SAS 4 Runner or "Whitey" got left at home. It wasn't like the good old days when we had a caravan of Toyotas.

Saturday I followed James who was on his dirt bike. He knows Keith's backyard well. "Follow me" and off the two of us went for about three hours. We went hard and fast and it was mostly non-stop. We found a new sink hole that formed in the head of a remote wash. It was the deepest drop off James had ever seen out there; which is saying a lot as he has been tooling around back there for 20+ years. We dubbed it the black hole. If you were caught out on the flats in a flash flood it would have sucked you down like a giant toilet flush. If you were on a night run or not paying close attention it would be a deadly 30 foot drop.

Saturday was all 2wd action of pre-running and me chasing James on the bike. I aired down to 8 psi and never even locked the hubs. I kept up to the bike and James commented he couldn't safely go any faster. I have to admit running washes and dodging sage brush on two wheels in soft sand is more difficult than on four. I was sitting in a comfortable seat while he threw the bike around. I was tired just watching him work.

I had a few good surprise hard bottom hits that stuffed the front end deep into the bump stops. The tires contacted the firewall seam and fenders. Not so hard as to cut the tire or mash anything more than the inner plastic skirt but hard enough to make that annoying crunch noise. I may remove the plastic skirt and hammer the vertical seam flat. When James and I discussed this he told me that when he did the mods to his 1988 4 Runner he didn't remove the EFI Control Unit before hammering. Discovering smashed components and a non-running rig is not much of a reward to fixing the tire rub problem. Lucky for me that when I did the hammering on the Fordota the Ford EFI control unit had be relocated to the glove box or I may have made that mistake too.

Sunday, Jame's 12 year old son joined us on his bike so we went a lot slower. Little James wanted to see the black hole wash, but we were unable to find it. We spent a few hours looking but no luck.

Sunday after lunch the motor cross riders were worn out so the three of us loaded in the Mega Runner and headed across the highway to the OHV State Park. We hit up the familiar landmarks. I locked the hubs and make a few runs up Blow Sand. I kept the hubs locked the rest of the afternoon. I noted a half dozen times we hit 50-60 mph on a few of the high speed washes. I must have had beginners luck on my CV axle sleeve job as there was no unusual vibration and nothing broke on the heavy footed hill climbs.

BlazeN8

Toyotech,

Now that I am getting the suspension to settle I am finding that its not as much lift as I originally estimated. The rear leaf springs are All-Pro 6" lift and they are starting to settle a tiny bit but I am still seeing the rear to be 2" higher than the front. I measured my 1985 SA truck, which has a 4" suspension lift, and it sits 1/2" higher than the Runner. The standard Blazeland LT is typically set to be a 3" lift (I observed your ride to be slightly less) On my Fordota, because of the Chevy 63 leaf pack, I had to set the front to 3+ to sit level. I believe the Mega Travel is more accurate at 4-5" of lift. That is about what your looking for.

On a related lift observation, the front crossmember on the mega travel does sit fairly low even with 35" tires, especially when the suspension is compressed. There was a large bolder across my path when I rounded a blind corner that I had no way of avoiding. If I had hit the brakes I couldn't have stopped in time and the suspension would have compressed, I would have hit the rock hard. All I was able to do was hit the gas and steer to one side so the rear diff would miss. However with my 100 HP 4 banger hitting the gas inn 3rd gear offers very little lift in way of unloading the suspension. It was more like coasting and both the front crossmember and rear diff made contact. The crossmember is constructed from a 2x2 sq. tube with a 1/4" wall so all the rock did was scuff off the paint. There was a small nick in the rear diff. With 32" tires the 11 gauge factory cross member would have sustained a nice big dent.

BlazeN8

Kornhuskerwizard, the megatravel has been on my 4 runner since September. Check out the dates on my build thread, it will take you back a few pages.

Zpd426, I moved the LCA pivots in 2-1/2" per side. About the same as I moved the UCA pivots. But I also moved the UCA pivot down. For the LCAs they moved down a different distance and because of the spindle spacer it gets even more complicated. Anyway, the LCAs are approx. 6" longer per side, but because of the pivot relocation the track width is only increased by 3.5" per side. Which brings us to Red Wagons question. I was hoping that it would be possible to install the Mega Travel UCAs with the Blazeland LT LCAs as an upper component only upgrade, sort of like the old Rancho / Downey design. By not reconfiguring the LCA components and pivots and adding a spindle spacer and drop bracket a bunch of other things happen. One is the lower BJ binds and contacts the LCA drop. The second is it creates too much plunge in the CV axle assembly. There are some other issues with camber gain as well.
Here is a photo of the +6 Mega LCA vs. the standard +3.5 LCA.



Even if there was a way to make it work out to do an upper only version the CMdiff wouldn't work. And with mega travel without a drop bracket you would be limited to dinky tires because of all the up travel.

Earlier I posted a photo of the basic components of the MT (Mega Travel) laid out on my driveway (all parts inflat black). Then I posted the revised version of the upper kit (UCAs in silver) During the transition between UCAs I bolted on a factory UCA with UCA Extension Bracket so I could move the rig in and out of the shop for other projects. The geometry was all screwed up. There was a major positive camber and the wheels towed in. I was sketchy to move the vehicle a couple of hundred feet to park out of the way.

Anyway I am starting to burn out and am getting sleepy. Suffice to say I have played around with all sorts of configurations over the years and all the things most of you guys are brainstorming about I have thought of as well. I am really stoked on how its evolved and would like it to be something I can share with you all.

BlazeN8

Happy New Year!

Its been a relaxing day. Watched the Gator Bowl this morning, nice job Cornhuskers! This afternoon I had a chance to get on my creeper and roll around to inspect the under carriage for damage and make observations. I was looking at bumps stop impact marks, shock wiper patterns, worn paint, fresh metal scrapes, oil drips, grease spatter, etc. Everything seemed in order accept one of the nuts at the limit strap to LCA was loosening. It was a worn out / used nylock nut I used when I ran out of new ones.

Here is a comparison photo of the some what clean Runner against the dusty Runner! I always love how sand cleans the tires. You can see from the remaining dust nearer to the center how far up the sand polishing went at 8 psi.

Photo

Photo

I could gain a little bit more down travel by letting out the limit straps via the adjustable clevis. I might shim the bumps a half inch to remedy tire rubbing. I may adjust the ride height in the front to sit slightly higher. And I need a better rear shocks......but we all knew that!

BlazeN8

Here is a photo of the 86 Mega Runner next to my 1985 Truck. Both rigs have 215/75/R16 tires.

Photo

Here is the point on the frame I took measurements from.

Photo

Measurements as follows:

85 xtra cab p/u- 26.25"
Mega Runner- 26.50"
*Fordota w/ LA kit- 24.00"

Translates to ride height / or lift:

85 xtra cab p/u- 5.25"
Mega Runner- 5.50"
Fordota w/ LA kit- 3"

*Note: The Fordota has 33s, so I added 1" to compensate tire size.

Keep in mind the measurement point is at the frame so the body lifts are not a factor. Here are body lift sizes anyway for reference.

85 xtra cab p/u- 2" Body lift
Mega Runner- 1" Body lift
Fordota w/ LA kit- 2" Body lift

ToyoTech559

To get 4 inches of lift on the mega I think I would have my arms flat which will reduce my ground clearance. I'll have to play with what I have now and decide which way I wanna go down the road.

The mega travel looks good and perfect for those who want a standard SAS lift. Plus with your kit, they won't have to buy a bracket lift.

Zpd426

Are you using the 7.5 right now? Do you run one in the fordota?

BlazeN8

Toyo, yeah that's what I was shooting for is a standard SAS lift height and to clear 35s. Zach, I am currently running the 7.5 on the Mega runner. I mocked up for the Supra 8. If my Supra 8 unit I had 5.29 gears and an ARB I would be swapping it out. If it ain't broke, don't fix it! Lets see how long it takes to break the 7.5? Perhaps when its time, the Supra 8 will make it on the Fordota.

BlazeN8

Here is a photo I took this afternoon to help visualize the ride height differences between the LA and the Mega. Don't forget, the Runner has a 1" body lift and 35s, the truck a 2" body lift and 33s.





I think another 2" of lift on the front of the truck and 35s would be nice. Going from 12-13" of wheel travel to 14-15" is a big improvement for some situations. The higher center of gravity, enhanced body roll, and unstable spring pre-load makes cornering more of a concentrated effort. But i think on the truck the rear will be lower as will the center of gravity. I probably wont set the front quite as high either.

ToyoTech559

the 7.5 diff is plenty strong imo. your axles will break before the diff. look at all the new toyotas now with IFS and 7.5 front diff. the newer vehiclies are much heavier and even more so when armored up. they all hold up fine and never heard of anyone blowing one up even locked. the axles is the weaker link which i think is better than the diff lol. faster and cheaper fix

Zpd426

I like the idea of the rear being a little lower, thats where you need the CG low imo, if your sliding around a corner and you catch something there is less weight up top to wag the dog and pull you on to your roof.

That fordota will look great with the Megatravel!!

My plan will be to get the 4" lift up front to level out the truck. Then I can justify getting a little longer shackle to soften the ride. (maybe one day mega travel?)

I HAVE broken the stubby passenger side output shaft from the diff.
Sheared it right in two.

Sand... buried deep

I agree Toyo, My diff has been great. That stubby shaft is a weak point.

kornhuskerwizard

I have the detroit ez locker in my 7.5 front, ive been driving in snow for awhile and its crazy how it pulls. you want to have both hands on the wheel. I also think theyre pretty tough, ive never broke one or an axle.