Mid Travel Ordered!

Well finally got around to ordering the Mid travel setup for the tacoma. I figure I got all the performance stuff out of the way might as well make the tacoma ride a little smoother.

Ordered everything through Wheeler's and couldn't be happier with the service thus far. YotaDan has been more than helpful at getting everything lined up and the speed of service has been amazing.

Wound up going with the Icon extended travel Coilovers W/ Resi.
Icon VS 2.0 Rear shocks w/ resi
Deaver J59 leaf spring pack with 9 springs
Icon UCA w/ cover cap kit
Wheeler's Greaseable shackle stock height shackle set and some new U-bolts.

Hope to have everything in by the time I go home around the 20th of the month and will definitely post pictures once it's all installed.

 

if u dont mind me askin , what did all that run you? Im shopping and doing some research and that setup is pretty close to what I am wanting to run

 

Pm sent

 

Driver Side



Driver Side Thread



Passenger Side



Passenger Side Thread



Rear



Switches



Side View



As you can see in the side view, the rear is approx 2" higher than the front. The Fender measurement over the center of the wheels in the front is 37 5/8" and the rear is 39 1/2". I went with the Deaver 9 leaf spring pack. I'm thinking that the 8 leaf would of been about perfect. I'm going to have to add some weight to the rear to level it out some. Figure a tool box with some backup equipment in it will help level it out some. Plus I need to throw some sand bags back there anyways for the winter roads up here.

I've did adjust the front end up just a little, but had to put about 3/8" more preload in the driver side to get to to level out with the passenger side.

Now as far as the ride, honestly I'm still up in the air about it. I had the OME nitrocharger shocks with 883 springs in the front and Bilstein shocks in the rear with All Pro Expo leaf springs. I can tell that the rear is definitely softer. The front on the other hand I'm not so sure about. Maybe I had my expectations set a little high after hearing everyone talk bout how their icon's felt like butter, or maybe I'm just driving them in a different set of conditions. The roads that I'm putting them on aren't full of whoops like the desert. They are oil field roads that are just beat up from 18 wheelers and washboarded to hell and back. And before everyone says you have to "push them harder", i'm doing between 30-60 mph on these dirt roads so it's not like i'm babying them.

On the highway they are definitely stiff but that was to be expected. It just seems that they would be slight smoother on the dirt roads i'm on. I don't have the pre load turned up to much (1 7/8") on the driver side and about 1 1/2" on the passenger side which is well inside of spec.

Is there anything that I can do to soften them up?

 

I can't speak for the Icons, but I had a similar experience with my Baja. I run oil field roads all over MT, ND, and WY, and I have found that when it comes to sharp jarring bumps, like washboards, or potholes, that Baja is almost as harsh as my old Duramax. The same goes for things like expansion cracks on bridges and joints in the highway, they can be bone jarring at times.

That being said, when I get it into any sort of whooped out or flowing terrain, that seems to be where it really shines. It sounds like you're having a similar experience.

 

You hit the nail on the head there.

In some of the whoops (few that we do have) the suspension shines. I've hit some slight whoops at 55-60 mph and the suspension just soaks it up. Although the washboard and pot holes it just seems as though the suspension isn't really any better than the OME shocks that I had on there. Although I will say the rear suspension seems to be working TONS better. Definitely softer in the rear.

I was wondering if any other coil over would possibly be any better. I'm not sure that kings or anything else would be worth the cost of buying new shocks.

 

Looks like you got 2.5 coilovers with RR but you didn't opt for the CDC? Would make a big difference and cost was minimal.

 

Cost was not an issue when I was ordering the kit. It was the fact Icon doesn't make the CDC setup for the 1st gen Tacoma.

 

Not sure what your expectations were, its still mid travel. I have Icon extended travel and Icon 2.0 in the rear and I go pretty fast over some pretty crappy fire roads. Its a smooth ride but you still feel some bumps. Not much you can do about some washboard roads as the bumps are too small to be absorbed. Did you remove your sway bar?

 

I know in my case I expected it to ride much better than my 3/4 ton pickup, but on oil field roads it feels nearly as harsh.

 

Well Baja isnt as good as a setup as Icon.

 

Lowering your tire pressure may help with the washboards

 

True, but it should be a lot closer to the icons than to my Duramax.

 

This x1000

 

And that very may well be the problem. Could be that some of the washboard bumps are just to small and harsh for the suspension to have time to actually soak up the bump. But do you think that this is a issue with more so the way Icon shocks are valved or would the problem still be present if I were to go to Kings? Just spit balling ideas here.

Yes. Swaybar has been removed.

Define lowering. I'm running LT265/75-R16 Toyo MT's. I'm currently running in the neighborhood of 30-35 lbs. I'll have to double check. With as cold as it has gotten, and how much the temp fluctuates here, it's hard to get keep them at one steady pressure.

 

Oh I didn't know that. They should! Looks good!

 

I have no idea about the first question, but I think there are just some washboards that are too shallow to be absorbed.

If you lower your PSI to 18-20 you will have a much smoother ride.

 

Running 18-20 lbs wouldn't be to little when it comes to driving on the highway? Seems like it would cause irregular tire wear?

 

If your running a E rated tire then I would say 25 is the lowest and still highway safe but that's me. My E rated 255s ride nice off road at around 20 but too low to drive back home. If you have On board air you can test out different pressures.

 

I meant that for offroad use.