Wisconsin Tacomas and bad financial advice

Dang, missed it...

 

haha. ya.
old news.
I'm talking ghost town runs on the other thread.
politics is boring.

 

Okay Wisco crew. I am having rear shock issues. I know some of you have Fox in back, I think Adam and Jason? I didn't go that direction because of the short rebuild interval, but just over a year (15k) is not at all what I was expecting from the big D. I checked with Crickey Mike but got told to talk with Dobisons USA. Need shocks to get shocks fixed (I think I have somebody sitting on so ORs around here maybe) but trust is waning. So real experience with the big guns-@Snowy and @BEAR_KNIFE_FIGHT what says you. Others with experience? Fox, King, Icon, where should I be going for a long travel reservoir shock? I don't desert race but I do tow alot and it is a daily driver.

 

At the end of the day, rebuild-ability and tune-ability are the top points for me. Fox, ads, king — you can rebuild and tune all of them which is appealing. In terms of ride quality, a bypass shock is probably worth looking into. This will give you zones for different damping through compression and rebound. Are you rocking stock shock mounts or a relocate?

 

Locked offroad shocks are looking pretty good and gaining popularity. https://www.lockedoffroad.com/

Thinking about changing to them instead of rebuilding my current shocks.

 

What are the current rear shocks do you have so we know what you are working with?

Once upon a time I was going to go with 2.0 shocks. The suspension company I ended up buying from told me not to do that, and instead go with 2.5" rear shocks with the reservoir. Even if I don't baja race, even if I daily drive. Their position is that after upgrading to a full leaf pack Tacomas benefit from having a bit more damping control from a big shock and you also get the benefit of a bigger shaft (hehehe) diameter.

Let's cut to the chase - you wheel HARD. If your truck was my truck, I'd disconnect your rear shocks and measure full droop and full compression to the bumps and then get the longest appropriate 2.5 reservoir shock I can get. If you want to stick with the OEM rear shock mounting points, all I can say is that I am very happy with my Fox 2.5" Performance Elites in the rear (fronts are a different story but I'm not unhappy with them either, they are just fiddly with adjusters). If you want to do shock mount relocation like Jason did that's a whole other ball of wax but I'd definitely get Archive's 2.5 relocate towers and then get big long boi resi shocks for the back. Something with an aluminum body like Fox PES, or something with a custom Cerakote finish because our road salt up here does a friggin number on steel bodies.

What these guys said too ^^^. Jason you need bigger rear shocks anyways, cut those 2.0 mounts and go 2.5. Also you know what F it you need long travel LOL.

 

Working on that plan now. Going to pull the trigger for LT front soon. Also planning on 3 linking the rear (next years plan). Of course using bigger shocks all around

 

Very nice, that's going to be sweet. Curious what are your thoughts on 2.0" shocks in the rear, how did you like them? Ever have any swaying from the rear at highway speeds? Ever feel like you needed more shock than you had? I don't know what your setup was like before the relocate but did you ever have 2.5"s in the rear at stock location before to compare it to or nah?

 

I run Fox 2.5s in my rear they're a tad stiff for my AC, BUT.... Under load they are tremendous, working in tandem with my Dakar medium leafs. Excellent off road crawling, and at high speed .... Well .....


Zoom zoom m'f'r

OME are solid, but if you're building, they are limited.

 

Those 5160s are too short for Pat's full leaf packs. He'd blow them up in one day's wheeling, needs something longer. Otherwise I agree we tend to suggest what we have experience with only which is natural. Only ones I'd really stay away from are Kings because based on what I've seen from a couple other people they really do not do well in our road salt. Same goes for anything else that has a steel body and minimal coating which is why I suggested custom Cerakote above because that's about the only thing that will make them last.

Fox 2.5 PES on my DCSB with Deaver U402 stage 2s are the cats meow for me. Rides like a cadillac when I put about 300lbs or more in back over my normal daily stuff. Hauled like 1,200lbs of rocks and that thing just floated down the road. Haven't done major high speed whoops or anything yet but handles washboards and potholes with no problem. Some day I'll get the DSCs fixed on the fronts and then I can really dial them in.

 

Yeah, I'll mention what have, just because nobody else has... The Ironman 4x4 Foam Cell Pros are built for abuse. They're beefy, and after a bit of a break in period I've been very happy with the ride. Not remote reservoir though.

 

Still stock but that is an easy fix

 

So the truck sits at 6200 lbs daily. I have a custom leaf set that was built for 1200 over factory and more travel. I currently have dead Dobisons Top of their heap (IM’s might be what they are called ) with reservoir. I have always been sour on shocks because they just don’t seem to last.

 

I thought I had... Spent a month measuring, remeasuring and taking shit apart. Don't relish doing it again!!! (No I didn't write it down-supposed to be one and done...)

 

Fawlty Towers FTW!

 

Figured you might be the one to get that!

 

Before doing the rear shock relocation I had the Dobinsons MRA Shocks. It's really hard to compare because the truck was set up different with each shock.

The one thing I don't care for with the Fox 2.0 is only having an adjuster for low speed. The shock was valved for my camping load out so when the bed is empty it rides a bit stiff. Other wise no complaints so far.

 

@pearing I found the video that Tinkerer's Adventure did on the Ironman FCPs. Don't overlook them. They're extended travel, very durable with paint to resist salt and can be rebuilt at home with a $45 seal kit. No nitrogen gas. Those are some of the reasons I went with their kit. I wanted set it and forget it, not a lot of maintenance. 3 year warranty too.

https://youtu.be/G12zF12UnB0?si=RWtdo3pHA7Eo4PPx