Help a confused Ex Jeeper

Fwiw, I really enjoy the ride my Icon suspension provides. No problems at all, yet. King, Fox, and ADS also make nice performance parts.

 

Oh I highlighted it in your quote. You said steer clear of OME shocks, how come?

 

Oh it was concealed, I see that now, had to go back and expand the quote.

OME shocks on second gen were a major disappointment. It crippled my truck for off-road fun, by limiting wheel travel, and crappy dampening, which translated to a rough ass ride over bumps, and the springs shooting the wheels out over small obstacles like a cannon ball. It scared the shit out my passengers, and made me hate my truck. I moved to 5100 and problem solved! I've since moved onto 6112's for more dampening and better control, they are dreamy for off-road and good on-road as well. Quite happy with them.

But back to the design of OME, it is of twin tube design. Twin Tube shocks are inferior vs. Monotube high pressure gas shock when it comes to performance. There are many reasons why monotube wins out. Rather than list these in a long post, just search around the web "twin tube vs. monotube gas shocks" In 5-10 minutes, you should have a good idea.

 

Considering this lift from Headstrong. Suggestions? http://www.headstrongoffroad.com/store/p312/Coil/Bilstein_5100_Kit_w/_Dakars_(HS05BK-1-Dakar).html

 

Pretty much a standard go-to. Nothing wrong with that.

 

I was also looking at the OME kits on Headstrong as well but someone commented here that wasnt too thrilled with their shocks. They ride like a dream on Jeeps

 

That's what the majority of my off-roading is.

I went with Icons set at about 2.75" of lift and I'm very pleased with them over the last 30k miles. The people who think they are too stiff are a bunch of whiny pansies.

My two "regrets" with my setup are:
1) I went with an add-a-leaf in the rear instead of just bucking up and spending the extra money for a Dakar or Wheeler's leaf pack. Even if you have the TSB (recall) leafs, they will sag at some point, especially if you put a canopy on your truck and/or carry extra weight often.
2) I should have gone with remote res shocks in the rear. I do a lot of driving on service/forest roads that are gravel or dirt, so they are usually washboarded out, which keeps the back of the truck busy, so my shocks get pretty hot. I've never had them give out on me, but I'm sure they will have a reduced lifespan because of it.

 

Coming from the "Just Empty Every Pocket" world, I kind of know where you're coming from. If you're crossing over from the CJ world, anything is going to be an improvement. If you're coming from the TJ world, you'll likely be looking for a softer ride.

Start by planning your build out. If you're going to have weight, bumpers, winch etc, I would go Kings. Kings have been noted as having a smoother ride than Icon, but personally, I've ran across threads where Icons started leaking and were stiff. I've never ran across anything negative about king other than price. A good used set usually is a good resolution for that.

I have 5100's and OME 886's. While I love everything about this setup, I ran into an issue when I encountered roads with washboards and a large amount of 4-6" rocks. The truck just bounced me around too much. I am going the ORI rout for the ability to tune. I almost went Kings because of the ability to revalve and rebuild. There's also a thread somewhere where An Icon rep talks about their 700# coil will not bind at full compression, which made me ponder the idea of putting them on Kings. I never ran across anything about King coils.

I have no experience with the 6112 setup, but again I've heard good things. I also heard good things about my setup. The issue is ride quality is going to be completely subjective. Bilstein 5100's, extended King coilovers, ORI, Uniball UCA's and LCA's are going to be the best combination when it comes to maxing out your front travel.

For the rear, replacement springs, Shackle flip, or Chevy 63" swap are your options. When you get there, you'll begin to ponder whether you should go spring under or over. You should already know a little about this from the keep scene and there are pros and cons to both sides, all dependent on what your ultimate goal is.

 

I appreciate the detailed response. I'm coming over from a 2 door JK but owned a 4 door JKU and a YJ so I know rough riding. The Tacoma is like a dream come true, I thought I would have tons of regrets but so far there are none. Planning for this truck is so hard cause there's so much, alot like jeeps but I knew what I was doing with jeeps yet I'm clueless on my tacoma. I'm doing tons and tons of research before I pull the trigger on anything suspension wise. I'm also on a budget as well so that plays a factor but I also want to buy once and cry once

 

The @ToyTec Lifts BOSS Kit is also another great one to consider. It rides really well on and offroad. It's valved more specific for each application rather than just a generic tuning which gives you a better ride. http://toyteclifts.3dcartstores.com...oss-Suspension-System-for-05-Tacoma_p_15.html

The dealership by me puts the Boss kit on just about everything and love it. Same can't be told for our other dealership which put spacers on everything haha.

 

I forgot to mention the JK. Because, well, it's a JK. Save, save, and save. Do not "think this will work." There are enough people on this forum who are probably local to you. Reach out to them and see if you can test ride one as well