ADS Off-Road Racing Shocks - Information, Pictures, & BS Thread

For street. I run 4 clicks counter-clockwise from full hard-on. Decent so far.

 

what coils on your fronts? 13” or 14”
650# or 700#?

leaf pack?

Asking to compare to my settings

 

Since my truck only has about 65lbs over the bed, I am running the rears at full soft. And I have the Icon RXT pack set on Stage 1 which gave me 2.25" lift.

I will rack up things a bit as needed with payload changes.

Still need to order a U-bolt flip kit + hydro bumps, and install my SS extended brake lines.

 

Okay Im looking at possibly putting on ADS shocks and struts with adjustable external reservoir on my 2011 Tacoma,
Is there anything you dislike about your ADS shocks?
What do you like most about them?
Is there anything fitment wise I need to think about before buying them and throwing them on?
How have they held up over time?

 

This is my second vehicle and second platform using their stuff.

here is what I like:
-they are enthusiasts and are trying to build the best shocks they can.
-they won’t try to upsell you. They won’t tell you a 4 inch bypass is what you need when you don’t. They will tell you to go with a 3 and tell you why (the larger won’t get into the correct operating temp or the piston will be too big to be able to successfully dampen)

-when you call, you get to talk to the guys who are actually building the shocks, tuning the shocks and designing the shocks.

-they make 1 type of shock. I have run kings and fox and it bugs me that there are different level shocks to their stuff. And it’s pretty significant differences. And it’s hard to really compare what’s what and how they compare to each other. Accutune has their comparison page. But they compare a Fox “factory series” (their high end) to a King “performance series” (their low end).. and for a while king had a prerunner series... and Fox has a bunch of different quality and design pistons etc. You need a PhD to keep that sorted. ADS has one level of shock.

-parts are easy to get in case of breakage, rebuilds. I’m fairly certain shock seal even carries rebuild kits for ads.

- bypass shocks, especially custom ones, take a while. It’s the same if you buy king or fox. But unlike king, no one will walk in and swipe your shocks off the ready table putting you back to the end of the line. I don’t know if fox has this problem... But also there are some vendors on here that seem to have the full Toyota line in stock so that problem is moot if your not going silly custom.

-I don’t know about materials, but it seems the ADS guys take the Fox,king etc material durability list and have over the years made the ADS stuff meet or exceed it.

-I feel like you are getting a personal built shock like the big teams when in reality you’re just joe nobody.


negatives:
-small operation, the employees are only human and they have good days and bad days. So if you catch them on a bad day, just give it a few and call them back. They will surely be over it and back to wanting to have fun and build cool stuff.
I only say this because I tried to talk to them about a weird project a little over a year ago. It was a quick conversation. They were not their usually selves. Not a biggie. That project was completed in June ish...

The rear of my truck rides amazing. Now it’s front time!

 

Can't really put a complaint in on them yet. We'll see how that goes in time.

So far I am extremely pleased with the build quality, ease of install, and ride comfort.

As I mentioned above, the ease of install. I installed them myself in my driveway with basic hand and air tools.
Both front and rear bolted right up where they belong, as if they were factory parts.

The rear reservoir hose still has a slight bit of room to tighten down to bring the reservoir flush with the frame and completely clear the hose from the upper shock mount. I have seen other brands require a bit of grinding to clear the upper shock tower.

Again, I only have a month or so on mine, so I will have to give it some time and action to further long term longevity.
I have no doubts that these will fully exceed my long term expectations.

I can confidently say: "Go for it!"

 

Anything that I have to really complain about has since been fixed. I have the older style front reservoir mount that runs horizontally along the frame near the front bumper. When the body flexes it likes to interfere with it so you have to mount it just right, which is kind of a pain to do between hitting the coil over bucket or the UCA. My other issue is when topping out the older style coilovers, you’d hit the internal stop which was metal and would make a loud clunk. They’ve since made a polyurethane type stop that alleviates some of the noise. I look forward to when it’s time for a rebuild so I can get these things changed on mine.

 

700# and Dakars HD. No clue on 13/14"

 

It will tell you then length on the spring.

 

Dang UPS...they forgot the trailer that had my coilovers in Phoenix yesterday... so looks like an unknown eta for them....

huge props to The folks at ADS for the quick order to delivery time on a platform that isn’t stocked.

the blue guys are 24-28 weeks behind right now. That’s really going to help when I sell mine.

 

I run the 700# 14” (ext.) now and it took a while for them to soften up to ride better...Like 6,000 miles...they are cherry now. I use to run the HD Dakar for weight, but switched the the Icon RXT mid pack with airbags and the ride is noticeably smoother.

I keep the front about 5-7 clicks up from soft for street, and 8-15 clicks for trail depending on speed. Never have really ever maxed the clicks into the firmness.

recently I cranked up the coilovers 2-3 turns to set the front back to 1.5” as it once was, but after the mileage so far it has been more around 1-1.25”. After being the front up an inch it rides much better...it’s weird to say but they feel just right now with almost 10,000 on them now.



shot before I lifted the front back up an inch. This is almost 3” of rake back to front. Really doesn’t look that bad IMO

 

Decided to sell mine....

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ads-coilovers-rear-shocks-new.695397/

 

HELP!! I’ve had these shock for almost two years and just noticed a rub spot on the rear passenger res! Any tips??

Doesn’t look like a spacer will help but maybe if I do both mounts??

seems to be NO damage to the brake

 

What’s rubbing?

If you mean the e brake line hose on the reservoir; then you have nothing to worry about.

 

Yes, sorry... better description next time.

yea?? Do I sense a bit of sarcasm??

 

It doesn’t look bad, but maybe you could bend the brake line bracket a bit to try to get it farther away from the reservoir. Luckily, if the minor scuff marks bother you, that cap can be replaced when you rebuild the shocks.

Could be worse, the fender apron dug into my front reservoirs pretty bad before I noticed...

 

How do you like em? Been considering these for 2 years and still haven't pulled the trigger.

 

No, no sarcasm. I just wasn’t sure if there was something I wasn’t seeing. I’m on my first cup of coffee and ups has lost my coilovers so I’m a bit out of my mind on that.

Yea... I often type the way I talk. It’s a placeholder and intention rarely transmit well over the interwebz

 

I love them but I have no other reference with off road shocks. More experience with tuned coil over upgrades in cars... I got #650 no resi front as I am not adding much weight and small lift. I love em, smoother off road than on sometimes, weirdly.

I’ll try moving it over more and see, thank you. don’t care about looks, but also don’t want to damage stuff

 

Heheh.... I work for UPS Feeder operations in Ontario. If its any consolation, PHX is probably getting ripped into right now if they forgot a whole trailer, but the good news is it's most likely only a day behind schedule.