Post by Jon on Mar 7, 2009 20:31:42 GMT -8
Looks like I get to be the first Toyota post.... SWEET! ;D
I've had my truck for a couple years, and figured it was time to improve. I wasn't very happy with my suspension. It looked all right, but I didn’t seem to have as much travel as I would like. I did a lot of research, and found that the spacers on my truck limited my travel. I also wanted to get a winch, which meant a new bumper, which I figured meant a new suspension.
For suspension, FJ owners seemed to speak highly of three brands.
- Icon (spendy!! but highly rated and excellent customer service).
- Sway-A-Way (not as spendy, but highly rated)
- Old Man Emu, good price, good performance, but not adjustable or rebuildable.
Some others also got mentioned, (Fox, Bilstein, All-Pro, etc) all with good products but I had basically narrowed my search down to those three. I really wanted Icon, looked cool, but I couldn’t afford that. Sway-A-Way also seemed out of my budget. I settled in with OME. I had always heard good things about them with Land Cruisers, and everyone seemed to agree that these are the best you can get without jumping into a coil over. They fit my budget, so my suspension decision was done.
Next I began researching bumpers. Bumper weight was important to me. I had driven a 08 FJ with an ARB Bumper and winch, and OME suspension. It was nice, and definitely a well built bumper, but it was also seemed heavy to me and I didn’t like how it weighed the front end down. I really liked the look and approach angles of the Land Cruiser North West bumper. I went and met with Matt at LCNW and he makes some quality stuff.
Ultimately though, it was a bit more than I could afford to spend. I still like the look of this bumper, but dang Matt, is it made of gold. I'm joking, but none the less, this was out of price league.
Jason Demello makes some incredible stuff for the FJ. I looked at his bumper for a long time.
The price semed right, good approach angle, nice weight, but ultimately I just couldnt get over the giant DO cut in his bumper. No offense to Jason, but that just looks funky to me.
Looking for alternatives I began researching Metal Tech and the bumper they offered for the FJ. The front MT front bumper itself weighs only 19 pounds more than the stock bumper. It’s made of 1 ¾” .120 wall tube bumper has four light mounting tabs and comes with a rather unique winch mounting solution. The winch mount is actually separate from the bumper mounted directly to the frame behind the crumple zone. This seemed a better idea than mounting it to the 1/8” thick steel sheet mounts in the frame horn bumper used by others. Not only did I like that, but because the winch mounting system is separate from the bumper, you can remove it and your winch if you’re not going to need it.
The pricing seemed right, I liked the look and angles, so I did some more research on MT and the more I googled the more sure I became that this was the bumper I wanted and the vendor I wanted to work with. Nothing but glowing reviews from the local FJ crew about the product service and support, great reviews from the FJ40 and 80 folks on IH8Mud and Pirate, and a really cool story about the company. Basically MT was started by making stuff for their own rigs, After enough people asked if they could make one for them, Metal Tech was born. They are basically an exclusive land cruiser shop, but I think they may have done some work on Tacoma's also.
I reached out to Mark at MT and began asking a ton of questions. Do the airbags work, how much does it weigh, what winch do you recommend, will it fit this winch? Mark answered all my questions educating me along the way with way more information than I expected. As I began digesting all of this I mentioned to Mark that I really wanted the hybrid package he offered, but couldnt afford it.
MT had put together a package of front SAW coil overs, and rear OME shocks and coils, but I couldn’t afford it. Mark mentioned to me that he had a customer who just had the SAW front end installed, and he decided to instead go with a long travel set up with the SAW coil overs with the remote reservoir. He also had a set of OME rear coils that someone had returned after a week and he would make me a deal on them.
I did some research on this set up and the one thing everyone agreed on was that the stock UCA's from Toyota while adequate for stock suspension should be upgraded when moving to coilovers. Several folks recomended Total Chaos, so thats who I went with. After some quick math and another discussion with Mark, I was sold and eager to have this stuff installed. All we had to do was wait for the coil overs to be rebuilt at SAW…..
While waiting for the SAW gear, I began trying to figure out my winch solution. I have always heard good things about Warn, and I liked that they are local. Unfortunately I wasn’t going to be able to afford a new Warn though. I was pretty bummed by this but began looking at alternatives.
One of the many alternatives that caught my eye was Titan out of Canada. They don’t have the best web site, but Duncan at Titan knows his stuff and took the time to answer many of my questions. He was offering a great deal on 10K and 12K winches, and I was planning on getting one of his. While I still haven’t seen one in person, the reviews I have found all say great things about Duncan and his products.
Ultimately though while searching one day I found what I thought was a deal on a Warn XD9000i. Excited, I jumped on it without really taking the time to research it properly. The winch wouldn’t free spool. I googled some more and after finding a great post on how to rebuild a XD9000i, some great service and parts from Warn, I had a rebuilt XD9000i.
Now all I needed was those shocks from SAW. Mark and LT did a great job keeping me updated on the status, but unfortunately there wasnt much status to give. They just where not getting answers from SAW. This made me a bit nervous, so I shot off an email to SAW asking the status. I was a bit shocked when the President of the company gave me status on my rebuilt shocks. As a result of the economy, like most SAW had recently had to make some tough decisions. I would like to thank Brian for personally helping get my shocks out to me. I am sure that the quality product, and tough decisions will help SAW get through these times.
With all the gear now at MT in Newberg, on 3-4-09 I made the treck down to have my first real mods done. It was a beautiful day!
I've had my truck for a couple years, and figured it was time to improve. I wasn't very happy with my suspension. It looked all right, but I didn’t seem to have as much travel as I would like. I did a lot of research, and found that the spacers on my truck limited my travel. I also wanted to get a winch, which meant a new bumper, which I figured meant a new suspension.
For suspension, FJ owners seemed to speak highly of three brands.
- Icon (spendy!! but highly rated and excellent customer service).
- Sway-A-Way (not as spendy, but highly rated)
- Old Man Emu, good price, good performance, but not adjustable or rebuildable.
Some others also got mentioned, (Fox, Bilstein, All-Pro, etc) all with good products but I had basically narrowed my search down to those three. I really wanted Icon, looked cool, but I couldn’t afford that. Sway-A-Way also seemed out of my budget. I settled in with OME. I had always heard good things about them with Land Cruisers, and everyone seemed to agree that these are the best you can get without jumping into a coil over. They fit my budget, so my suspension decision was done.
Next I began researching bumpers. Bumper weight was important to me. I had driven a 08 FJ with an ARB Bumper and winch, and OME suspension. It was nice, and definitely a well built bumper, but it was also seemed heavy to me and I didn’t like how it weighed the front end down. I really liked the look and approach angles of the Land Cruiser North West bumper. I went and met with Matt at LCNW and he makes some quality stuff.
Ultimately though, it was a bit more than I could afford to spend. I still like the look of this bumper, but dang Matt, is it made of gold. I'm joking, but none the less, this was out of price league.
Jason Demello makes some incredible stuff for the FJ. I looked at his bumper for a long time.
The price semed right, good approach angle, nice weight, but ultimately I just couldnt get over the giant DO cut in his bumper. No offense to Jason, but that just looks funky to me.
Looking for alternatives I began researching Metal Tech and the bumper they offered for the FJ. The front MT front bumper itself weighs only 19 pounds more than the stock bumper. It’s made of 1 ¾” .120 wall tube bumper has four light mounting tabs and comes with a rather unique winch mounting solution. The winch mount is actually separate from the bumper mounted directly to the frame behind the crumple zone. This seemed a better idea than mounting it to the 1/8” thick steel sheet mounts in the frame horn bumper used by others. Not only did I like that, but because the winch mounting system is separate from the bumper, you can remove it and your winch if you’re not going to need it.
The pricing seemed right, I liked the look and angles, so I did some more research on MT and the more I googled the more sure I became that this was the bumper I wanted and the vendor I wanted to work with. Nothing but glowing reviews from the local FJ crew about the product service and support, great reviews from the FJ40 and 80 folks on IH8Mud and Pirate, and a really cool story about the company. Basically MT was started by making stuff for their own rigs, After enough people asked if they could make one for them, Metal Tech was born. They are basically an exclusive land cruiser shop, but I think they may have done some work on Tacoma's also.
I reached out to Mark at MT and began asking a ton of questions. Do the airbags work, how much does it weigh, what winch do you recommend, will it fit this winch? Mark answered all my questions educating me along the way with way more information than I expected. As I began digesting all of this I mentioned to Mark that I really wanted the hybrid package he offered, but couldnt afford it.
MT had put together a package of front SAW coil overs, and rear OME shocks and coils, but I couldn’t afford it. Mark mentioned to me that he had a customer who just had the SAW front end installed, and he decided to instead go with a long travel set up with the SAW coil overs with the remote reservoir. He also had a set of OME rear coils that someone had returned after a week and he would make me a deal on them.
I did some research on this set up and the one thing everyone agreed on was that the stock UCA's from Toyota while adequate for stock suspension should be upgraded when moving to coilovers. Several folks recomended Total Chaos, so thats who I went with. After some quick math and another discussion with Mark, I was sold and eager to have this stuff installed. All we had to do was wait for the coil overs to be rebuilt at SAW…..
While waiting for the SAW gear, I began trying to figure out my winch solution. I have always heard good things about Warn, and I liked that they are local. Unfortunately I wasn’t going to be able to afford a new Warn though. I was pretty bummed by this but began looking at alternatives.
One of the many alternatives that caught my eye was Titan out of Canada. They don’t have the best web site, but Duncan at Titan knows his stuff and took the time to answer many of my questions. He was offering a great deal on 10K and 12K winches, and I was planning on getting one of his. While I still haven’t seen one in person, the reviews I have found all say great things about Duncan and his products.
Ultimately though while searching one day I found what I thought was a deal on a Warn XD9000i. Excited, I jumped on it without really taking the time to research it properly. The winch wouldn’t free spool. I googled some more and after finding a great post on how to rebuild a XD9000i, some great service and parts from Warn, I had a rebuilt XD9000i.
Now all I needed was those shocks from SAW. Mark and LT did a great job keeping me updated on the status, but unfortunately there wasnt much status to give. They just where not getting answers from SAW. This made me a bit nervous, so I shot off an email to SAW asking the status. I was a bit shocked when the President of the company gave me status on my rebuilt shocks. As a result of the economy, like most SAW had recently had to make some tough decisions. I would like to thank Brian for personally helping get my shocks out to me. I am sure that the quality product, and tough decisions will help SAW get through these times.
With all the gear now at MT in Newberg, on 3-4-09 I made the treck down to have my first real mods done. It was a beautiful day!