Fred Williams
Brand Manager, Petersen’s 4Wheel & Off Road
Photographers:
Lance KuboyamaTotal Chaos FabricationRobert Anderson
Most '03 and newer Toyota 4Runners may serve as Momwagons hauling kids to band practice, but underneath their sporty urban looks is an off-road machine waiting to be unleashed. Offered with ahearty 4.7 V-8, a coil-link-suspended rear axle, and a small nimble body on frame construction, these trucks offer an excellent building platform for an all-around trail/camping rig. Unfortunately they also come with an independent front suspension offering dismal wheel travel.
The complete Total Chaos 4Runner long-travel suspension offers a true 13 inches of wheel travel yet reuses the factory A-arm mounting points on the chassis. This means no dropped center differential cradle to rob ground clearance when rock crawling, yet still plenty of tire travel for high-speed desert romps.
Lance Kuboyama brought home his '03 4Runner a few years back and immediately decided that it was going to become a trail machine for both rockcrawling and desert prerunning. He has since done tons of upgrades, from bumpers and winches to wheels and rocksliders. We're going to show you the awesome Total Chaos suspension kit Lance uses on the front of his 4Runner.
Total Chaos Fabrication has its roots in desert racing, but Lance has proven that this suspension works fine on some moderate rockcrawling trails as well. The secrets behind the TC long-travel kit are the wider track width and the uniball joints at the top and bottom of the steering knuckles. Plus, in order to make this all work, special longer-than-stock axleshafts and steering parts are available. We talked Lance and Total Chaos into tearing down part of the 4Runner's front suspension in order to show all the benefits of the kit. If you want to read more about Lances's personal buildup, check out his Web site, www.chaosedition.com.
