Donahoe vs. Long Travel

[GreenTaco]

I've been having a hard time deciding on how to lift the front of my truck. The rear is going to be deaver 7 pack with 12" bilstein 7100 (done by Demello). My question is should I do Camburg long travel in the front or Extended Travel Donahoe's with Camburg upper control arms. I really like both kits and I'm not sure which way to go.

P.S. I have a 2000 Prerunner TRD V6

[Mez]

There's a big difference between a long travel kit and throwing in some extended donahoes w/ uni ball arms.. It all depends on what you want.

[atwinda]

Long travel is going to require new glass fender as well. I'd say stick with the hoes and uca.

[mudferret]

Originally Posted by GreenTaco

I've been having a hard time deciding on how to lift the front of my truck. The rear is going to be deaver 7 pack with 12" bilstein 7100 (done by Demello). My question is should I do Camburg long travel in the front or Extended Travel Donahoe's with Camburg upper control arms. I really like both kits and I'm not sure which way to go.

P.S. I have a 2000 Prerunner TRD V6

How big is your budget? There's a HUGE cost difference between long travel and C/O's and a-arms...

I'm reserving long travel until I win the lottery, or get a job, whichever comes first.

[4BYnTacoma]

Originally Posted by GreenTaco

I've been having a hard time deciding on how to lift the front of my truck. The rear is going to be deaver 7 pack with 12" bilstein 7100 (done by Demello). My question is should I do Camburg long travel in the front or Extended Travel Donahoe's with Camburg upper control arms. I really like both kits and I'm not sure which way to go.

P.S. I have a 2000 Prerunner TRD V6

Yes I agree with teh others. It mainly depends on what you want to do with teh truck and the size of your budget. Unless you are going to some competition runs, I would say the long travel is over kill, but that is just my opinion. To every man his own...

Read that Donahoe vs. Camburg thread. I think Donahoe goes into some detail as to what the coil over system and upper control arms are capable of... something about winning a Baja somether or rather

[sawryan]

Originally Posted by GreenTaco

I've been having a hard time deciding on how to lift the front of my truck. The rear is going to be deaver 7 pack with 12" bilstein 7100 (done by Demello). My question is should I do Camburg long travel in the front or Extended Travel Donahoe's with Camburg upper control arms. I really like both kits and I'm not sure which way to go.

P.S. I have a 2000 Prerunner TRD V6

There is a huge differance in price and performance between a stock replacement coil-over and a long travel kit. The replacement coil-over lets you lift the vehicle and gives you a night and day ride over stock. A replacement arm lowers the roll center, eliminates ball joint bind and w/ the bolt in coil-over gives you an etxra inch of droop. The long travel kit replaces both lower and upper arms widening the stance of the truck by about 3.5" on each side, allows you to run an 8" reservoir shock and bump stops depending on which lt kit you go with. You will also need fiberglass fenders. The lt kit will offer much greater performance if you plan to really beat it, or if you are just going for looks then it works to. Ultimately the decision comes down to budget, type of use you plan to give the truck, and performance. Hope this helps, please feel free to email w/ questions ryan@swayaway.com

[Donahoe]

Originally Posted by GreenTaco

I've been having a hard time deciding on how to lift the front of my truck. The rear is going to be deaver 7 pack with 12" bilstein 7100 (done by Demello). My question is should I do Camburg long travel in the front or Extended Travel Donahoe's with Camburg upper control arms. I really like both kits and I'm not sure which way to go.

P.S. I have a 2000 Prerunner TRD V6

There is a good artical you might want to read here is the link:
http://www.trailslesstraveled.com/viewarticle.php?id=52

In the artical they talked about the differance between the Donahoe Coil-overs and his long travel Total Chaos system. This is what he said:

"We immediately experienced a dramatic improvement in the handling of the Tacoma on-road. The ride quality is amazing compared to stock. Once we got a chance to take it off-road the performance was even more obvious. The suspension is compliant and progressive. Body roll is less perceptible, and front and rear suspension feel more balanced. In fact, the performance of the Donahoe equipped truck comes embarrassingly close to that of our long-travel Tacoma."

So for all the extra cost of going long travel I'm not sure you will get your bang for your buck. Long travel does look Bad to the bone on a truck but I'm not sure you gain all that much for the cost...

hope that helps

[SEAN_at_TLT]

Kreg, I saw this thread and was all set to post, but when I opened it I saw that you had already taken care of it

It's amazing how similar the real performance is between a dialed stock-width and a box-stock long-travel kit. I think ultimately the LT is obviously better but the problem lies in the tuning. There are so many more variables that for the average person to achieve maximum performance out of their LT kit they need to dedicate a lot of time to tuning and learning, where as with a set of Donahoe's you just slap 'em in there and roost. Plus the rear Donahoe kit is a simple no-welding solution that matches the front well and all of this is with stock sheet-metal and completely reversible in an afternoon in the driveway. The bottom line is if you really want to dedicate a lot of time/energy/money into this hobby strongly consider LT but know that you will be tuning for some time to come but if you want an awesome truck that you can just plug & play so to speak go with a nice set of bolt-ins and some Deavers...

[jzaiden]

Originally Posted by GreenTaco

I've been having a hard time deciding on how to lift the front of my truck. The rear is going to be deaver 7 pack with 12" bilstein 7100 (done by Demello). My question is should I do Camburg long travel in the front or Extended Travel Donahoe's with Camburg upper control arms. I really like both kits and I'm not sure which way to go.

P.S. I have a 2000 Prerunner TRD V6

There is a huge difference in the LT kit from a set of high quality bolt on coil-overs. When you run our Camburg valved SAW Racerunner with our LT kit along with a pair of Air bumps there is more than a night and day difference. Not to mention 9" usable travel vrs 13" usable travel that is 45% more travel with reservior shocks and air bumps!

This



VRS This??? Come on!

[DesertTRD]

Originally Posted by GreenTaco

I've been having a hard time deciding on how to lift the front of my truck. The rear is going to be deaver 7 pack with 12" bilstein 7100 (done by Demello). My question is should I do Camburg long travel in the front or Extended Travel Donahoe's with Camburg upper control arms. I really like both kits and I'm not sure which way to go.

P.S. I have a 2000 Prerunner TRD V6

You have heard from every manufactuer out there, now hear from someone whos been there and has had both.

Unless you feel like spending alot of money, doing alot of work on your truck and matching it up with something in the rear, Long travel is not for you.

I have run donahoes on my truck and was impressed with the valving, the lack of fadeing and the comfort on the street, they were able to control alot of my body roll and allow me to drive faster offroad than when I had my 2.0 Swayaways.

The downside, if your hard on your truck, the stock suspension will NOT beable to handle this, I managed to crack both my lower arms on my truck when they were stock, they were bad enough I didnt even want to consider welding them back together, ofcourse I drive my truck hard and it shows. This gave me a reason to step up to Long travel.

While I enjoy the ride (its insanely smooth and handles very well) there are times I wish I had stock arms on there for less maintenance! Theres always something to fix or modify, hell i just finished putting my 4wd back in the truck tonight (its been out for 3 weeks while i replace cv boots (maintenance due to sticks stabbing cv's) and replaced a spindle (thank you again Jerry for catching that!) because I abused it!

Ask yourself this, what kind of terrain do I want to drive on, and what am I willing to spend to do so. Then consider both kits and buy the one that fits your needs. Also if your close to demellos and want I can give you a ride around his "short course" he made, to give you an idea of how lt can feel. it wont be the best example but its pretty effective.

[peekay331]

Originally Posted by DesertTRD

You have heard from every manufactuer out there, now hear from someone whos been there and has had both.

Unless you feel like spending alot of money, doing alot of work on your truck and matching it up with something in the rear, Long travel is not for you.

I have run donahoes on my truck and was impressed with the valving, the lack of fadeing and the comfort on the street, they were able to control alot of my body roll and allow me to drive faster offroad than when I had my 2.0 Swayaways.

The downside, if your hard on your truck, the stock suspension will NOT beable to handle this, I managed to crack both my lower arms on my truck when they were stock, they were bad enough I didnt even want to consider welding them back together, ofcourse I drive my truck hard and it shows. This gave me a reason to step up to Long travel.

While I enjoy the ride (its insanely smooth and handles very well) there are times I wish I had stock arms on there for less maintenance! Theres always something to fix or modify, hell i just finished putting my 4wd back in the truck tonight (its been out for 3 weeks while i replace cv boots (maintenance due to sticks stabbing cv's) and replaced a spindle (thank you again Jerry for catching that!) because I abused it!

Ask yourself this, what kind of terrain do I want to drive on, and what am I willing to spend to do so. Then consider both kits and buy the one that fits your needs. Also if your close to demellos and want I can give you a ride around his "short course" he made, to give you an idea of how lt can feel. it wont be the best example but its pretty effective.

not to mention that just because a truck gets LT front and a matching rear, there are a bunch of other things that can break, e.g. motor mounts, cab mounts, core support, etc...

[DesertTRD]

Originally Posted by peekay331

not to mention that just because a truck gets LT front and a matching rear, there are a bunch of other things that can break, e.g. motor mounts, cab mounts, core support, etc...

hey just went through your pics, im supprised you went into the snow again im guessing you guys stayed away from holcomn creek

[Donahoe]

Originally Posted by jzaiden

There is a huge difference in the LT kit from a set of high quality bolt on coil-overs. When you run our Camburg valved SAW Racerunner with our LT kit along with a pair of Air bumps there is more than a night and day difference. Not to mention 9" usable travel vrs 13" usable travel that is 45% more travel with reservior shocks and air bumps

Camburg Valved???? What do you mean?

[DesertTRD]

Originally Posted by Donahoe

Camburg Valved???? What do you mean?

HELL!!!!

You going to laughlin?

[SEAN_at_TLT]

DesertTRD, that was my point exactly, i just didn't take the time to elaborate a well as you

Nice post, I completely agree after spending serious time with both Donahoe's, TC LT and most every bolt-in Taco shock out there...

[jzaiden]

Originally Posted by Donahoe

Camburg Valved???? What do you mean?

A better starting point then the stock SAW valving. You should know that all shocks come with a standard valving. We have a standard part number for the shocks to be used in our LT kits. This shock also has a limiting spacer so the uniball will not bind on droop and break the spindle.

[Donahoe]

Originally Posted by jzaiden

A better starting point then the stock SAW valving. You should know that all shocks come with a standard valving. We have a standard part number for the shocks to be used in our LT kits. This shock also has a limiting spacer so the uniball will not bind on droop and break the spindle.

So you speced out the Valving for the LT kit? Thats good... You need to do that with all your long travel kits.

[BruceTS]

I guess I have a biased opinion......LT

My Daily Driving, included using my rig on our jobsites. I have fun testing out the suspension all the time. currently I have it set much softer than most of the desert runners. For 90% of the driving I do, it works, but the shock valving does need to be adjusted to get optimum performance.

[peekay331]

Originally Posted by DesertTRD

hey just went through your pics, im supprised you went into the snow again im guessing you guys stayed away from holcomn creek

haha, we couldnt get to holcomb creek even if we wanted to. there was WAY too much snow up there.

[LavosTRD]

Never Again!!!!!!!!

[YoTRacer158]

my truck is equipped with extended donahoes and camburg arms up front and i have stock leaves with 5100's out back...the donahoes w/ arms are a night and day difference over stock, better on the street and way better off road. i've never ridden in an LT tacoma, but i have rode in an LT S10. and as stock vs. donahoes, it was night and day. we raced for a little and i kept up, but my truck was taking a beating. he has 5" extra travel up front and tons more in the rear, and i could definately feel it when he took me for a ride in it. but as others have said, it costs more and costs more to maintain. i may go LT in the futurewhen i have another daily driver and i can go all out on my tacoma, but for now my donahoes do just fine

[DesertTRD]

Originally Posted by YoTRacer158

my truck is equipped with extended donahoes and camburg arms up front and i have stock leaves with 5100's out back...the donahoes w/ arms are a night and day difference over stock, better on the street and way better off road. i've never ridden in an LT tacoma, but i have rode in an LT S10. and as stock vs. donahoes, it was night and day. we raced for a little and i kept up, but my truck was taking a beating. he has 5" extra travel up front and tons more in the rear, and i could definately feel it when he took me for a ride in it. but as others have said, it costs more and costs more to maintain. i may go LT in the futurewhen i have another daily driver and i can go all out on my tacoma, but for now my donahoes do just fine

Heres the beauty of what Donahoe has, he has a shock guy who knows his stuff there and has a tacoma, which means its in his best interest to get a very nice valved and controlled ride out of the shocks, he wants it to be the best because he is running the same stuff on his truck. It helps when you have a vehicle and an interest in making it work.

A properly valved truck with 8" of travel can outrun a inproperly valved long travel truck anyday, hell theres a 7 Truck out there ran by jamie cambell, and he outruns just about ever truck on the course!!! which is amazing.

[Half Baked Taco]

Why the hell are you still posting? ...aren't you supposed to be in Laughlin or sumtin?

[YoTRacer158]

Originally Posted by DesertTRD

Heres the beauty of what Donahoe has, he has a shock guy who knows his stuff there and has a tacoma, which means its in his best interest to get a very nice valved and controlled ride out of the shocks, he wants it to be the best because he is running the same stuff on his truck. It helps when you have a vehicle and an interest in making it work.

A properly valved truck with 8" of travel can outrun a inproperly valved long travel truck anyday, hell theres a 7 Truck out there ran by jamie cambell, and he outruns just about ever truck on the course!!! which is amazing.

I agree completely, awesome company with an awesome product. and they pretty much showed their suspension is more than capable with the baja 1000 win. I had their coilovers before then, but if i didnt, it would have just been one more reason to pick them over any of the other brands.

[Donahoe]

Originally Posted by DesertTRD

Heres the beauty of what Donahoe has, he has a shock guy who knows his stuff there and has a tacoma, which means its in his best interest to get a very nice valved and controlled ride out of the shocks, he wants it to be the best because he is running the same stuff on his truck. It helps when you have a vehicle and an interest in making it work.

A properly valved truck with 8" of travel can outrun a inproperly valved long travel truck anyday, hell theres a 7 Truck out there ran by jamie cambell, and he outruns just about ever truck on the course!!! which is amazing.

Actually we have 3 shock guys and 5 tacomas...So we REALLY want them to work good because the Tundra we built kicks all our butts....

[Will Revis]

I feel like my tv went to a commercial after reading this splendidity.

[cb77DEMELLO]

Originally Posted by Will Revis

I feel like my tv went to a commercial after reading this splendidity.

LOL........