Icon's vs Bilstein 6112.

[bkg]

@bkg - yours is 1st gen, right (from you avatar)? I haven't heard of this with 2nd gens or considered this so my interest is suitably piqued.

Also the lower ball joints on 1st gens probably don't need any extra help becoming grenades I imagine.

Correct - it’s a 2004 doublecab. I don’t notice it until I was servicing the front end. Has a bad inner TRE, so I decided to replace them all. That’s when I’m noticed they would bind at “full droop.” I think I have the limit straps set to stop at about 1.5” before full droop.

I don’t have a sway bar in my truck. Kind of want one, but it’s going to be for sale shortly, so no point in making that investment.

Edit: avatar is my 2004 xtracab... sas’d, 37’s, and other stuff

 

[DaveInDenver]

Got me worried now. No sway bar either and extended travel FOX with Camburg UCAs. Yikes!

 

[bkg]

Got me worried now. No sway bar either and extended travel FOX with Camburg UCAs. Yikes!

Sorry!? ? hopefully it’s just me...

 

[smokeysevin]

Rebuilding them really isnt that bad, shock oil is cheap, the seal kits are like $30 bucks, and the pin spanner is also inexpensive. On my DR shocks I swapped the needle fill valve out for a standard shrader valve and put new shafts, seals, and oil in for like $200. It was only that much because the previous owner of the shocks ran them dry and wasted the shafts and wear bands.

Sean

 

[Kpack]

Rebuilding them really isnt that bad, shock oil is cheap, the seal kits are like $30 bucks, and the pin spanner is also inexpensive. On my DR shocks I swapped the needle fill valve out for a standard shrader valve and put new shafts, seals, and oil in for like $200. It was only that much because the previous owner of the shocks ran them dry and wasted the shafts and wear bands.

Sean

I briefly considered rebuilding mine myself, but I decided against it because I had no safe way of getting the springs off. I could probably figure out the rest of it with the help of Youtube, but it would've taken me three times as long as most everyone else. Looking back it certainly would've been less expensive and faster to do it myself.....but I still don't feel comfortable with those springs.

 

[smokeysevin]

Interesting, I didn't have any issue getting the springs loose. Were your springs longer than stock?

Sean

 

[blueranger501]

Got me worried now. No sway bar either and extended travel FOX with Camburg UCAs. Yikes!

Never noticed any suspension binding for me (extended travel with internal “limit stop”). My shop has also never mentioned it. Certainly worth cycling to check.l but not something that I would be overly concerned about.

Have not had a sway bar for 13 or so years. I prefer the ride even if you get a little lean on high speed turns.

 

[DaveInDenver]

Never noticed any suspension binding for me (extended travel with internal “limit stop”). My shop has also never mentioned it. Certainly worth cycling to check.l but not something that I would be overly concerned about.

Have not had a sway bar for 13 or so years. I prefer the ride even if you get a little lean on high speed turns.

Agree, it didn't appear like with extended travel FOX 2.5 and Camburg UCA that the ball joints or CVs had any bind but I can't claim to have checked the tie rod ends until @bkg mentioned it. I will sometime soon now.

I took the sway bar off my '91 when I put suspension (just plain old Northwest Offroad and then OME) on it in 2000 and never ran it again for the 15 years after that, it wasn't a big deal on that truck since it wasn't heavy and torsion IFS wasn't exactly flexy and it rode much better without. But even then it wasn't quite as soft as my Taco was completely stock.

I took it off my Taco but I do notice quite a lot of body lean on it, so I could see someone not liking the ride. I do now understand now what "sway" actually feels like to tell the truth.

 

[bkg]

Agree, it didn't appear like with extended travel FOX 2.5 and Camburg UCA that the ball joints or CVs had any bind but I can't claim to have checked the tie rod ends until @bkg mentioned it. I will sometime soon now.

I took the sway bar off my '91 when I put suspension (just plain old Northwest Offroad and then OME) on it in 2000 and never ran it again for the 15 years after that, it wasn't a big deal on that truck since it wasn't heavy and torsion IFS wasn't exactly flexy and it rode much better without. But even then it wasn't quite as soft as my Taco was completely stock.

I took it off my Taco but I do notice quite a lot of body lean on it, so I could see someone not liking the ride. I do now understand now what "sway" actually feels like to tell the truth.

I'm here to cause problems.

 

[Kpack]

Interesting, I didn't have any issue getting the springs loose. Were your springs longer than stock?

Sean

They are 14" 700 lbs springs. I'm sure I could get them off if I used spring compressors, but didn't want to mess with those. The last thing I need is one of those failing and getting injured. My hands are my livelihood....better to have someone with real training do it.

 

[cr500taco]

@bkg - yours is 1st gen, right (from you avatar)? I haven't heard of this with 2nd gens or considered this so my interest is suitably piqued.

Also the lower ball joints on 1st gens probably don't need any extra help becoming grenades I imagine.

I've had my lower BJ replaced, last year. They lasted 350K+ mikes. Not with OEM, so we will see how long the will last.

 

[cr500taco]

Sorry, been away from the thread for awhile. Will catch up on reading through it.

 

[cr500taco]

The bodies on Icons, like is typical of most threaded body shocks, is steel. They have to be to hold the spring seat without stripping the threads. Icon sells a anti-corrosion coating that is supposed to be effective, though.

Smooth body shocks often are aluminum. The only aluminum threaded body shocks I know of are the FOX 2.0.

FWIW, I bought FOX 2.5 coil-overs and if I was to go back I wouldn't, I might go 2.0 or probably just Bilsteins personally. It's not that I dislike high end coil-overs, that's not the case and I have no reason to sell them. But I don't need them and would have saved the money.

That's my thinking as well. I don't think O need the high end shocks.

 

[cr500taco]

Rebuilding isn't as cheap as I thought. I bought a used set of Icon's with the thought that I could just rebuild them and it wouldn't be a big deal. Well when I finally got around to it, $400 and almost 3 weeks later I had the coilovers back in my hands. That was more money and more time than I had hoped. Granted, there were some parts that needed to be replaced (shafts, lower spherical bearings, one adjustment collar), but that's what happens when you rebuild: parts need to be replaced.

Would I do something else if I were to do it again? I probably would've bought new and not worried about rebuild for 3-4 years. For myself I probably would've still gone with rebuildable coilovers because in my application they allow for more down travel than something like Bilstein (I believe).

That was my thought. I was thinking of getting a used set and rebuilding them, thinking it might be cheaper, but still getting a fresh pair. But, maybe not.

 

[DaveInDenver]

That was my thought. I was thinking of getting a used set and rebuilding them, thinking it might be cheaper, but still getting a fresh pair. But, maybe not.

A couple of things, first find a set that aren't rusty. But more important I think is knowing the source so you don't find they are damaged internally (e.g. the shafts are bent or the housing distorted from bottoming or overheating).

Ask yourself why someone would sell high end shocks? If they are swapping from Icon it may be the digressive tuning I suppose.

Otherwise unless they are shuffling brands I'm not sure why you'd downgrade. Selling a used set of functional FOX/King/Icon/Radflo is going to get you OME replacement, so what's the point? And if they need a rebuild you're going to get less. Might as well rebuild them. I guess if they don't want the headache, maybe.