devinsixtyseven
Explorer
After seeing the Flying Taco Circus :sombrero: in the Expedition Trophy thread, I thought I'd mention this relatively easy and inexpensive mod.
Since my truck's been garaged lately due to a cranky (crankless?) starter, I figured I might as well take care of a few other things, and after the umpteenth call to Total Chaos ("hey guys, am I gonna break this?" "BTW I broke one of these, now what..." "how come this is busted?" "inconceivable!") I figure as long as I'm doing an R&R on the UCAs I might as well order a set of gussets for peace of mind.
The gussets are explained on the Total Chaos website (chaosfab.com), they're pretty simple...just a bent piece of 1/8" steel that supports the length and top of the spindle, so if you come down hard or bust a limit strap the spindle has a little more support. They're the sort of insurance you'll probably never need, but they're inexpensive and easy to prep for the guy who's doing the welding, and worth the time if you're already taking apart the IFS for another reason--coilovers, upper control arms, or maybe gutting the old, greaseless, corrosion-prone alignment cams. It only takes about 20 minutes to clean up the spindles and plasma-cut gussets for welding, and then off to the welder they go.
I'll be a lot happier running the planned tires on my setup on rough trails with the gussets in place...maybe I'll never need them, maybe...but if I did and didn't have them, well...at 25 bucks for the pair, under an hour of prep time, and whatever the weld cost might be (shouldn't be much, it's about four linear feet), it's much cheaper than breaking a spindle.
-Sean (maybe I should just start a build thread for the Tundra? If I did, could this and that other thread be merged in?)
Since my truck's been garaged lately due to a cranky (crankless?) starter, I figured I might as well take care of a few other things, and after the umpteenth call to Total Chaos ("hey guys, am I gonna break this?" "BTW I broke one of these, now what..." "how come this is busted?" "inconceivable!") I figure as long as I'm doing an R&R on the UCAs I might as well order a set of gussets for peace of mind.
The gussets are explained on the Total Chaos website (chaosfab.com), they're pretty simple...just a bent piece of 1/8" steel that supports the length and top of the spindle, so if you come down hard or bust a limit strap the spindle has a little more support. They're the sort of insurance you'll probably never need, but they're inexpensive and easy to prep for the guy who's doing the welding, and worth the time if you're already taking apart the IFS for another reason--coilovers, upper control arms, or maybe gutting the old, greaseless, corrosion-prone alignment cams. It only takes about 20 minutes to clean up the spindles and plasma-cut gussets for welding, and then off to the welder they go.
I'll be a lot happier running the planned tires on my setup on rough trails with the gussets in place...maybe I'll never need them, maybe...but if I did and didn't have them, well...at 25 bucks for the pair, under an hour of prep time, and whatever the weld cost might be (shouldn't be much, it's about four linear feet), it's much cheaper than breaking a spindle.
-Sean (maybe I should just start a build thread for the Tundra? If I did, could this and that other thread be merged in?)
