DamageWagon's Build - 2011 "AdventureWagon"

[DamageWagon]

Fun little comparison next to my Dad's 2wd TRD Offroad Tacoma haha

[vanished]

It's not nice to pick on your dad! Lol. I did same thing to my dad's Dakota a few years ago...


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[DamageWagon]

So I've now spoken with EMF, USPS, Paul at CJC, and Aaron at Thuren today....

My EMF drag link is still nowhere to be found. USPS said "we will get back to you on that by the end of the week". Best news I've had in a while on that front! It shipped exactly one month ago.

I went to install the replacement heim in my Carli bar and found out Carli upsized their heim, so my misalignment spacers didn't fit. Put the blown heim back in... Also found that the Carli bushing I installed 3,000 miles ago is starting to oval. Good thing I bought Thuren bushings as a preventative measure! Well, until...



My

Find out the Thuren bushings I was going to run in the Carli bar just slipped right in, no press fit. Aaron said some of the early ones might oval the tube and the bar has to be replaced. last night was a good one!

So now I need a new Trackbar. And drag link. Little stuff, but it adds up in fun ways

Props to Paul and Aaron, very helpful guys.


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[RustyPW]

Answered your pm.

[nts007]

That sucks about your emf joint. I was on the phone with them yesterday. My replacement heim for the Carli one is shipping out tomorrow. And looking to replace the bushing with a heim from them as well just need to cut my Carli bar down. Hopefully it works out for you as your going now. Just frustrating.

[DamageWagon]

It is frustrating. I really wanted one of those EMF heims haha. Next time. I have their joints sitting next to me, just not the machined drag link. Doing both sides of your Trackbar with their heim sounds like a cool idea. Have you considered using their style of bushing?


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[nts007]

I did originally think I could but their bushing won't work as my Carli bushing end looks like this. So to keep the angle I'll have to use a heim

[DamageWagon]

Are you trying to tap your bar and use a threaded heim or use a weld on style? You could cut the bar at an angle and use their weld on bushings. A heim on both ends might make for a rough ride on the little stuff. I believe 2wagons runs heims on both ends and uses a straight Trackbar (his 6" lift lets him run a straight bar)


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[nts007]

Weld in threaded sleeve
I don't think I will be able to tell the diference on comfort level. Truck doesn't ride like a caddy. I swapped in the factory pw bar and I cannot tell a difference between carli bar and stock as far as ride

[DamageWagon]

Your Carli bushing is probably shot then. I was on the phone with Aaron and Radio about this today. My Carli bushing is starting to oval out after 3000 miles. The Thuren bushings should fit perfect and last a lot longer, and are half the price haha. I found that the Thuren bushings don't fit mine but I think I have a different problem with my bar. I felt a massive difference in ride quality when I switched from the factory bar, even though I couldn't see any movement in the factory bar when parked and watching while someone turned the wheel. You should feel a difference in the little jittery stuff.


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[nts007]

My Carli bar bends 3/4" in the middle when you turn the steering wheel on flat gravel with the truck not running. I brought this up with Dan at Carli and they just want more money. The track bar is the last Carli thing on my truck. And I'm only using it for now until I can figure out which direction I want to go in. I'm just surprised how much a 1.5" .25wall tube bends. The stock bar doesn't flex that much. I've looked. Dan then tried to school me on the laws of physics telling me that my hydro assist which connects from the axle directly to the tie rod was causing the track bar flex. Even when the truck wasn't running. I was pretty annoyed and am tired of dealing with stupid. You should see how they warrantied my shocks and gouged them up. You won't hear me say good things about Carli after what I've dealt with. And ask any Canadian who had bought their ball joints if they've been able to get the lifetime warranty as advertised. Sorry not meaning to rant lol. I just get wound up bout it now

[DamageWagon]

That's a bummer dude. Before I knew better I thought Carli's stuff was for the Orange County pretty boys that never use their trucks but bard money into them. Then I learned Carli and Thuren were the top dogs. Now I think Thuren is at the top and Carli is an OC pretty boy shop again hahaha. Carli makes good stuff, but their off the shelf selection really isn't dialed like it should be, and you're right about them wanting money. I've spoken several times with Radio, who is a cool dude, but keep running into times he tells me something that must just be engrained in the Carli way of thinking because it just doesn't make sense. It makes enough sense to have most people believe it, but it isn't true. Carli has its own laws of Physics, that's for sure. I guess you have to buy their Physics separately.

They don't warranty the ball joints? I have heard they are super picky about the "original owner" thing.


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[nts007]

I know 3 fellows with cummins all got refused warranty. Two went through a shop who purchased new joints and installed and sent back the old as carli requested. Then the reimbursement was refused as it was stated they were "abused". One set had 120k km and the other had less than 30k. The shop no longer deals with Carli warranties but still do sell their joints but customers are on their own. The third told Carli he wasn't buying a new set from them and that by policy they by rights should not only send them prior to taking any monies but in no way should they have any reason to dispute the warranty claim. Well someone at Carli told him nope and due to the "international" aspect they we're not going to do anything about it. Carli stuff may work fine in California. But not here. Their product is not meant for our climate and conditions. And our roads. When you use "bridge expansion joints" as your description on ride smoothness and we use "the 3rd pothole in the left tire rut" things just don't line up. Sorry for derailing your thread. Hell I've had it subscribed since you started it. Just search up Carli 7100s and you will find my old threads.

[DamageWagon]

I derail other people's stuff enough haha, no worries! Woot woot a subscriber! Haha. I should have some serious changes going up in the next month

Was the shop you are referring to HRT Offroad? I saw that Carli dropped them from warranties but I have heard only good about HRT. That's super lame that Carli wouldn't warranty their BJ's. If they were told there would be no warranty due to being run in Canada I would understand. A lot of the go-fast guys run Carli joints and like them a lot but when I do mine in a few months in going with EMF. I haven't heard much but from what I've seen of their parts, Clay is a mean Engineer and machinist. I asked about their BJ's and how they last, info on the rebuild kits and Erin said they've got about 400-500 kits out there. She said "well you can buy a rebuild kit from us when they wear out but I don't think we've had to make one in 2.5 years". That said enough for me! And being able to adjust your friggin ball joints!? Hell yeah! Sloppy? Tighten it! And with the US-Canadian exchange rate right now their BJ's are only about $450 for a full kit. Hell yeah.


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[nts007]

Hrt was one of the shops yes. There is another one closer to me that also ate the cost on a Carli warranty. One of my employees has carli bjs in his truck too and they are getting really loose. He has almost 200k km on them though. So in a nutshell they are way better than stock. He too is going with emf balljoints this year. Gotta remember the go fast guys don't use their trucks for 100+k km per year driving daily on roads from hell.
The exchange is defiantly on your side right now lol. Carli joints 3 years ago were $1000cad plus tax. The emf right now are like $650 so that alone makes them a huge plus.
I currently have dynatrac bjs and have rebuilt them once now. Been happy with them. But next time I may just go to the emf. On my other trucks though I will be doing emfs the second they need

[DamageWagon]

I should have noted... As long as it doesn't take 4 months of waiting to get them, I'll get EMF's hahahahaha.

Yes you guys running diesels through Canadia over long hauls like that I'm sure best your joints up bad. I would be curious to hear from someone who has EMF joints, it has been difficult finding much if I on people's experience. One thing I noticed is that my TRE's from them feel like they are riding on sandpaper, horribly harsh. There is no finish pass during machining. Maybe this is intentional? It doesn't worry me, I think everything will break in and I can adjust them.


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[nts007]

I would believe they are like the dynatrac where the more they wear in the more they polish. In the next few months I'm gonna Order the emf bjs for our dually. Then I can give em a workout and let people know. Now back to your buildup. Can't wait to see where this one goes

[Reloaderguy]

My Carli bar bends 3/4" in the middle when you turn the steering wheel on flat gravel with the truck not running. I brought this up with Dan at Carli and they just want more money. The track bar is the last Carli thing on my truck. And I'm only using it for now until I can figure out which direction I want to go in. I'm just surprised how much a 1.5" .25wall tube bends. The stock bar doesn't flex that much. I've looked. Dan then tried to school me on the laws of physics telling me that my hydro assist which connects from the axle directly to the tie rod was causing the track bar flex. Even when the truck wasn't running. I was pretty annoyed and am tired of dealing with stupid. You should see how they warrantied my shocks and gouged them up. You won't hear me say good things about Carli after what I've dealt with. And ask any Canadian who had bought their ball joints if they've been able to get the lifetime warranty as advertised. Sorry not meaning to rant lol. I just get wound up bout it now

I read that interaction on CF and it sounded like at the time Carli was going to replace the bar.

[nts007]

Yes on the forum but once I was in contact by email directly is was "I'll sell you our upgraded bar at a bit of a discounted price." I just said thanks but no thanks.

[DamageWagon]

We went to Ocotillo Wells to ride the bikes this weekend and I couldn't wait to test out my new Kings! I will say the fronts are night and day from my Bilstein 5100's. I have 3.0"x10" shocks up front but we pulled the internal spacer so it has 10.75" of stroke. I only topped them out a few times and bottomed 4-5 times. I was running through whoop sections like a boat, it was super smooth. Glad I went with 3.0's because they were probably about 200-220 degrees when we made it back to camp. The rear 2.5 bypasses sucked! I didn't know when I ordered them but the stock bypass tube location is horrible for our trucks. My ride height is in the bump zone. I made the bypasses very stiff and that helped the ride, before when the tubes were open the suspension would move freely and then slam into the bump zone with every hit. Now it feels better. To top things off, King forgot to put parts in one of my bypasses. As soon as I crack the locknut on either tube it starts running oil out, and I can turn the set screw in enough to come out of the locknut and get 150psi shock oil to the face hahaha. That shock is now going back to King for the second time.



I hit a jump and caught some air early on and ended up bottoming the front, donkey punching the rear and having the rear come slamming down. Definitely don't have enough high-speed valving for that!


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[olyelr]

Sway bars are for pansy's anyway.

Looks like you could bring the rear up an inch or two... help ya get out of the bump zone at ride height too.

[DamageWagon]

Yeah I need to raise the rear. I'm thinking of lift shackles. My concern is that when we put the camper on and all our gear it is going to settle back to the same spot and will ride poorly. Worst case scenario I will revalve the bypasses to a slightly stiff smoothie valving and leave the tubes mostly closed. That way it's like running a smoothie, almost.


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[Pit Slave]

I should have noted... As long as it doesn't take 4 months of waiting to get them, I'll get EMF's hahahahaha.

Yes you guys running diesels through Canadia over long hauls like that I'm sure best your joints up bad. I would be curious to hear from someone who has EMF joints, it has been difficult finding much if I on people's experience. One thing I noticed is that my TRE's from them feel like they are riding on sandpaper, horribly harsh. There is no finish pass during machining. Maybe this is intentional? It doesn't worry me, I think everything will break in and I can adjust them.


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Love my EMF steering! Going to do maintenance on them today, first time since I put the set on about 2 years ago. Up until today, all I needed to do was just keep them greased.

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[Pit Slave]

https://www.instagram.com/p/zgOBjBNhD0/

https://www.instagram.com/p/2ge-jLthGE/

https://www.instagram.com/p/28l5IzNhL3/

https://www.instagram.com/p/4sS9XBNhEw/

https://www.instagram.com/p/2gft3pNhH9/

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[DamageWagon]

Pit that EMF steering looks amazing! I would buy it if I could afford it, but there's no way I'm dropping $1500 on steering right now. The drag link and joints from EMF were $250 hahaha. Doing the full steering is a big change! I can see where the money is though, and I sure you will never have an issue again.


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