@leeleatherwood Have you installed the Dobsons and were you able to get the alignment in spec?
2nd Gen INFINITI QX56/QX80 Build
- Thread starter leeleatherwood
- Start date
leeleatherwood
Active member
Yes, Dobinsons installed. Toe is good but camber is off a couple degrees. I'm not worried about camber because it doesn't affect tire wear anyways and it's not really visibly apparent.
Y62UpNorth
New member
I don’t have experience with the Icons on a Y62 however my dad does run a stage 7 kit on his Jeep and he loves it, and when I get to borrow it occasionally I love it too! Also kinda funny how we’ve got the same rear setup lol Ironmans and Moogs and it seems we’ll both be running Icons at some point... FYI for the Icons if you want protection from the elements you can get boots for the front coils and guards for the rear shocks, this is according to one of my local shops here as they have a Tundra for a shop truck and it’s got the protection for the coilovers and shocks, if you get snow where you’re at and they salt and sand the roads it might be a good investment!
Boosted4runner
New member
Hey folks,
I’ve been searching on the Armada forum and on the FaceBook Patrol board (under my wife’s account, I don’t have social media).
I picked her up a 2020 Armada AWD SL with rear air shocks for Christmas. I’d like to run 34’s or 35’s (11-11.5 wide) on +12 offset wheels with Ridge grapplers or Duratracs.
I order a 1” rear spacer lift and a 1.5” rear spacer lift. Also ordered a 2” and 2.5” front spacer lift (I have Kings on my Tundra so I understand quality, and she doesn’t need it nor will use it LOL).
Anyway, the front spacers came from 2 companies, and the “2” lift” almost measures 2” in actual thickness, which I’m guessing would lift the front 3” - I want to stay around 2” total.
The “2.5” lift” measures 1.4” so I’ll be using those in the front and I’m guessing will sit around 2.25”-2.5” higher?
Do you recommend I try the 1.5” rear spacer first and adjust the rear air leveling system? Or drop the 1” rear spacer in and try to level?
Do you think the front will end up higher than the rear and I might need to order a 2” rear spacer? I’m not familiar with spacer thickness to accumulated height in the rear IRS setup. The rear spacers when mic’d are .986” for the 1” lift and 1.486” for the 1.5” lift.
I measured the factory height yesterday and the front was at 36” to center fender and the rear was 35”. I adjusted the rear leveler so it’s now sitting at 36” 1/8 in the rear. Ran out of adjustment space on the rod. I also have the extended front sway bar brackets. Someone on the Armada board that is lifted recommended them.
Any thoughts or help appreciated. Trying to keep it cheap, this rig probably won’t even hit a moderate rated real off-road trail. Thanks all!
BTW, ************ Q on 37’s with Kings OP!
This was the rig last week before window tint, and all chrome painted gun metal gray.
After paint yesterday
This is the wheel/tire setup I’d like to go with, but 20” rather than the 18” pictured.
I’ve been searching on the Armada forum and on the FaceBook Patrol board (under my wife’s account, I don’t have social media).
I picked her up a 2020 Armada AWD SL with rear air shocks for Christmas. I’d like to run 34’s or 35’s (11-11.5 wide) on +12 offset wheels with Ridge grapplers or Duratracs.
I order a 1” rear spacer lift and a 1.5” rear spacer lift. Also ordered a 2” and 2.5” front spacer lift (I have Kings on my Tundra so I understand quality, and she doesn’t need it nor will use it LOL).
Anyway, the front spacers came from 2 companies, and the “2” lift” almost measures 2” in actual thickness, which I’m guessing would lift the front 3” - I want to stay around 2” total.
The “2.5” lift” measures 1.4” so I’ll be using those in the front and I’m guessing will sit around 2.25”-2.5” higher?
Do you recommend I try the 1.5” rear spacer first and adjust the rear air leveling system? Or drop the 1” rear spacer in and try to level?
Do you think the front will end up higher than the rear and I might need to order a 2” rear spacer? I’m not familiar with spacer thickness to accumulated height in the rear IRS setup. The rear spacers when mic’d are .986” for the 1” lift and 1.486” for the 1.5” lift.
I measured the factory height yesterday and the front was at 36” to center fender and the rear was 35”. I adjusted the rear leveler so it’s now sitting at 36” 1/8 in the rear. Ran out of adjustment space on the rod. I also have the extended front sway bar brackets. Someone on the Armada board that is lifted recommended them.
Any thoughts or help appreciated. Trying to keep it cheap, this rig probably won’t even hit a moderate rated real off-road trail. Thanks all!
BTW, ************ Q on 37’s with Kings OP!
This was the rig last week before window tint, and all chrome painted gun metal gray.
After paint yesterday
This is the wheel/tire setup I’d like to go with, but 20” rather than the 18” pictured.
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Y62UpNorth
New member
Dang shoulda waited for the new face lifted Armada that’s about to come out lol just kidding but no in my opinion go with whatever lift you’d like, I would personally prefer the shorter one though. Factory height and the right offset you can already fit 35s with no issues, one thing I do have to say though is delete the air bags in the rear, it’ll save you trouble and money in the future for when they go out, and in all honesty mine went out literally after a year of ownership. There should be plenty of info here when it comes to the delete but if you don’t feel like scrolling around just ask and I’ll be happy to answer along with the rest of the guys here I’m sure.
Boosted4runner
New member
LOL!!! I know!! I found out about 3 days after I purchased this one that the new body style was coming out in the US. But to be honest, we usually always purchase a few years old and 20-30k miles to save $$. This 2020 had 2,000 miles and we picked it up for $39.5K, very hard to pass up considering the identical 2020 I built online was $57K. Best I could find was $49K on a new one but was white and she wanted Gun Metal.
Maybe we’ll get a decent price on trade-in couple years down the road and upgrade to newer body style.
I prefer shorter lift as well, but I can’t find any front spacers that are 2”. The ones I purchased that said were 2” are a 3” lift.
We’ll see how these 2.5” end up in the front I guess.
I did run into some threads on running heavier duty rear springs and non-air rear shocks along with airbags. Not sure I found anything for just a shock/spring replacement without using the factory compressor. I think that’s too much work as of right now, just crossing my fingers that the 1.5” rear spacer and factory springs/air shocks will work. Has anyone tried just rear spacers (and that’s it) to lift the rear?
Y62UpNorth
New member
To give you an idea for a potential lifted setup my first suspension mods for my Armada were sort of a Frankenstein setup but I ran Bilstein 5100 up front with the factory spring, if ride quality isn’t an issue then you can set the 5100 to the max height and you’ll get 2 inches (even if you don’t do this and run spacers I really recommend a new pair of UCAs, it’ll correct geometry and also prevent premature ball joint wear) and then for the rear I ran Ironman 4x4 Foam Cell Pro Shocks along with some Moog 81085s with Firestone air bags (to match the lift up front like you’re talking about just run the rear coil spacers you’ve got)
This is just my take on how I think you should do your lift, still budget friendly but also somewhat performance oriented that way you get a better quality ride!
Boosted4runner
New member
Awesome! Thank you! The Firestone bags and 81085’s were pretty comfy? You still run the factory air compressor for the Firestone bags right?
Thanks!
Y62UpNorth
New member
No I didn’t run the factory compressor, the reason why I deleted the factory rear suspension setup was because that compressor isn’t reliable, I just set up the lines for the Firestone bags to be filled manually, I fill them a little lower than max pressure around 25 PSI.
Y62UpNorth
New member
And yes real comfy ride, the dampening from the Ironman shocks were pretty good for the price you get them at, and then with the air bags and coils it felt sort of factory but like I said the dampening of the shock is was really helped make the difference in comfort.
Boosted4runner
New member
Welp, I installed the 1.5” rear spacers hoping they would work, and the ride in the rear is nothing like stock. I think the factory air shocks are just controlling the height so spacers really don’t do anything except make the spring rate more harsh. My wife loved the plush ride, and she’d hate this. After adjusting the rear air leveler, I’m at 37.5” height. From the factory it comes at 35.25”. If I lift the front with spacers it’d be around 38.5” which would be okay, a little higher in the front like it comes from the factory but I don’t think I’m going to. This sucks. Wish there was an easy way. I think I’m going to take these rear spacers out and just adjust the rear leveler to 36” matching the stock front and put 34” tires on. I really wanted a 1” to 2” lift.
leeleatherwood
Active member
The rear coil only handles like half the load in the rear (if that), so if you add a coil spacer, you still need to increase the air pressure to get higher lift as you have found out. Higher air pressure = stiffer ride.
Your best option is to replace the spacer with the Moog 81085 springs. The ride will be stiffer but more sporty like, instead of fat walrus dragging it's ass like.
Or remove the spacer and install PRG rear subframe drop. This will lift it 2" and maintain exact same ride quality.
Boosted4runner
New member
Wait, so on my 2020 I can do a rear 2" subframe drop, and then do the 2" spacers upfront, and achieve a leveled rig so I can run 35's?
I'm going to try and contact PRG right now!
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leeleatherwood
Active member
Yeah, the bolts the PRG kit comes with are too short though, you will need to source some yourself which are about 1" (in metric) longer.