There's always room for improvement when it comes to our trucks. Every aspect, be it the powertrain, braking system, or suspension, can be made to work better for any driving environment or style. With the right modifications, the Toyota Tundra becomes a capable off-road assault vehicle able to roost through a medium-sized set of whoops in a single bound.
In this article, we'll be outfitting an '03 Toyota Tundra with Camburg Engineering's new IFS system. The system replaces the complete front suspension with a fabricated set of control arms, Sway-A-Way coilover shocks, and Sway-A-Way air bumpstops. The new suspension will lift the truck as much as 5 inches, thanks to the adjustable coilover shocks, and cycles nearly 1 foot of travel on trucks equipped with 33-inch tires. It will do the same with 35-inch tires after modifications are made to the firewall and inner fenderwells.
Our truck was outfitted with a set of 35-inch-diameter BFGoodrich Baja T/A radial tires and 17-inch-diameter, polished-aluminum Walker Evans bead-lock wheels. On the pavement and with the new suspension and wheels in place, the truck drove much the same as a stock Tundra, but with a slightly stiffer and more confident feel. The front suspension actually rides better on the pavement than it did with the stock parts, thanks to a stiffer spring rate that keeps the truck from nose-diving through the corners. Aside from that, though, the truck steered just like stock, and body roll was only slightly exaggerated from not having the front antisway bar in place (there isn't room to reinstall it with the new suspension). We were more interested in the off-road manners, though, and the new parts delivered in spades. Through medium-sized whoops and ditches, the suspension worked well, soaking up everything in its path and keeping the front tires in contact with the dirt for maximum traction.
Check out the photos of the new-and-improved front suspension, and keep an eye out for the next step in making a good truck even better when we completely revamp the rear suspension of this Tundra in an upcoming issue of OFF-ROAD.
 Before we took our test truck...  Before we took our test truck down to Camburg Engineering for suspension upgrades, we rolled out to IMZZ Industries to install Trailer Products' 6-inch-plus-wide fiberglass front fenders. The stock sheetmetal will not be wide enough once the new suspension and rolling stock are in place. |  Once inside the shop, all...  Once inside the shop, all the 10mm bolts were removed. The fenders were also pulled from the truck and tossed aside. |  The fenders fit nicely after...  The fenders fit nicely after some minor massaging at the mounting points and took little more than an hour to install. |
 The front of the stock fenders...  The front of the stock fenders contain an inner mounting bracket that must be cut off and bolted back onto the core support of the truck; this serves as a mounting location for the new fenders. We cut the stock fenders using this air-powered body saw. |  Once the fenders were set...  Once the fenders were set in place, measurements were taken to determine the original mounting bolt locations, and the fenders were drilled out. Care was taken to make sure that the fender not only lines up properly with the body lines of the truck, but that we also drill our holes in the proper locations. |  The fenders were bolted in...  The fenders were bolted in place using the original hardware, and the corner lights were reinstalled. It took about an hour to install the pair of fenders. |
 With the front fiberglass...  With the front fiberglass in place, we headed over to Camburg Engineering's Huntington Beach, California, facility. In no time at all, Nico had the front coilover suspension unbolted. |  In addition to removing the...  In addition to removing the front antisway bar, the steering rack was unbolted from the lower crossmember. It is not removed from beneath the truck completely, though, because we only needed it out of the way to gain access to the lower control arm mounting bolts. |  Here is the pile of stock...  Here is the pile of stock parts we pulled from the truck. Aside from some of the hardware,.... |
 .....these parts can go into...  .....these parts can go into the round file, the junkyard, or your best friend's truck because the stock Bilstein coilovers are pretty nice pieces. |  Camburg designed and built...  Camburg designed and built the new control arms to not only increase the front suspension travel of the Tundra, but also to boost its track width and durability. The upper arms are built from DOM tubing and are MIG-welded together....... |  .......The lower control arms...  .......The lower control arms are built from several laser-cut pieces of cold-rolled steel plate and are also MIG-welded together. The lower arm features mounting locations for a Sway-A-Way 4-inch air bump; a Beard 8-inch limiting strap; and a Sway-A-Way 2.5-inch-diameter, 8-inch-stroke coilover shock. The welds look beautiful, as do the parts. |
 The pivot points of any control...  The pivot points of any control arm are usually the weakest link and failure points. Camburg is well aware of this, so the upper arms feature super-strong Delrin bushings for the inner pivot points...... |  .....and nearly indestructible...  .....and nearly indestructible 1-inch spherical bearings for the outers. The lower control arm inner pivots are also spherical bearings, while the outer pivots are the stock ball joints. |  The installation of the control...  The installation of the control arms is straightforward, since both arms use the stock mounting locations...... |
 .......The upper arms received...  .......The upper arms received grease on the bushings and thread-locking compound on the bolts. The lower arms received a set of four alignment spacers and the factory alignment cams. |  The stock upper ball joints...  The stock upper ball joints must be pressed out of the spindles...... |  ......to enable the new upper...  ......to enable the new upper control arms to mate with the spindles. |
 The part on the left will...  The part on the left will replace the stock upper ball joint, allowing a Grade 8 bolt to attach the upper control arm's spherical bearing to the spindle. Since spherical bearings are much stronger than standard ball joints, the pivot point can carry a substantially higher load before failing, making this a much more desirable suspension than stock. |  After pressing the misalignment...  After pressing the misalignment spacers into the top of the spindles, the spindles were bolted onto the lower control arms. Next, the upper coilover mounts were placed beneath the upper shock towers and secured with the supplied fasteners..... |  .....Custom-valved Sway-A-Way...  .....Custom-valved Sway-A-Way RaceRunner 2.5-inch-diameter coilovers are used exclusively in this kit and feature remote reservoirs, an 8-inch stroke, and custom coil springs. |
 Once the coilovers were in...  Once the coilovers were in place and the reservoirs were mounted,...... |  .......the spindles and upper...  .......the spindles and upper control arms were bolted together. |  The braking system was reassembled...  The braking system was reassembled and connected to the truck with custom-length, steel-braided brake lines. The extended lines are necessary because of the increased track width of the new suspension; it's also necessary to extend the tie rods...... |
 .......At the time these pictures...  .......At the time these pictures were taken, Camburg had a welded-sleeve extension for the steering racks. The crew has now added some trick machined-aluminum extensions to the kit. |  To take advantage of our new...  To take advantage of our new front suspension, and eventual new rear suspension you'll see in an upcoming issue of OR, we thought a change in rolling stock was in order. We ditched the stock 16-inch tires and 30-inch-tall BFGoodrich Rugged Trail T/As in favor of larger rims and donuts. Walker Evans Racing builds a bitchin' new aluminum wheel with the bead-lock ring cast into it...... |  .......The 17x8.5-inch wheels...  .......The 17x8.5-inch wheels are available in any five- through eight-lug pattern, with any bore diameter and backspacing from 3.75 to 5.00 inches. To put the Tundra's V-8 power effectively into the dirt, we chose nothing but the best from BFG. The 35x12.50R17 Baja T/A tires are the only professional-grade, street-legal race tires available to the public and are what the pros use to dominate SCORE off-road races. Baja T/A tires provide ultimate traction on the dirt, and remarkably decent tread wear on the pavement with a quiet ride quality. |