Icon 2.5 w/ remote resi

Im trying to decide on coil overs and my buddy at toytec suggested the icon 2.5 w/ remote resi. Ive read a few bad things about them being to stiff. My other choice would be kings and Icon rear shocks. Thoughts?

 

Hello Brady, How are you.

If they're too stuff, its a springrate/ preload issue. You can swap the springs out and adjust the preload easily. Check out ADS Suspension as well.

Do you really need the remote resovoir? Planning on dune bashing?

 

What's wrong with Bilstein, Fox, or Kings?

There are a variety of options available, and depending on your needs, Bilstein 5100's may just do the trick.

As for the rear, careful with your selection; I can elaborate on this more depending on the answer to my bottom questions.

You've only mentioned shocks but, what are you trying to accomplish with your truck?

Off-road? Aesthetics? On-road?

 

He wants to look cool.

 

Kind of sounds like it, if you're listing shocks that cost over $1k but don't mention at all how you're going to use the truck, your assumption is a safe one.

 

That’s what I’ve heard an no that’s just what my buddy suggested but I was doing some reading and read that it’s not necessary so I won’t be getting the remote resi.

I will be using the truck for a daily and heavy Offroad use on the weekends and when I take longer trips. Heavy Offroad use as in Crawling. I’m from CO so a lot of rock crawling trails. And I will also be using the truck for camping. But I also want to have a very smooth on road ride.

I initially wanted to go with king coilovers w/o remote resi, Dakar leaf pack, and king shocks with the piggyback. And Total Chaos Uppers. But after talking to my buddy at Toytec he said that the leaf pack will be to much lift for the king shocks and suggested the icon coilovers and shocks. What’d you guys think?

 

You may have read that based on the difference between a digressive shock and a progressive shock.

Simple google search will give you a better explanation.

When you upgrade your suspension for off-road use, you won't feel much of a difference while on-road. Throwing that out there now because I've read a lot of people complain about spending xxx on said shocks only to give them similar performance on-road; the difference is huge off-road though.

If you're going with new leaf springs that will provide any sort of lift in the rear end, you'll need to address a few other concerns -

Dakar's, Deaver's, or custom Alcan's will flex much better than stock leaf springs ever could. With that being said, the additional up travel, as well as down travel, will exceed that of a stock length shock, regardless of brand.

You'll need longer rear shocks to alleviate this concern so that you don't over extend, or completely bottom out, your new shocks. You also want to protect your shocks further by adding longer bump stops, as well as replacing needed hardware such as u bolts, shackle bushings and/or shackles as well.

I have to ask something first though before we get into suggesting anything; have you owned the truck long?

 

Icons being a digressive shock are generally known to be stiffer on the street but shine more offroad. Kings use progressive valving and are generally softer on the street. Which is why most people tend to like them better for a truck that sees more street driving with occasional offroading, at least on this forum.

The nice thing about either one is that they're rebuildable and you can customize them...most people find that they need to re-valve their coilovers to meet their specific needs and the needs of their truck. Out of the box you might not find exactly what you want from any brand unless you have them customized before getting shipped.

I have Kings and to me they are stiffer on the street than I like. I'm pulling them off to be re-valved sometime in the near future to suit my truck better

 

About a year now.

 

Would you suggest the kings? I have read up on the icons being digressive and so they are stiffer on road. But I’ve also read a lot of people loving them on the street. So I’m not to sure which to go with

 

Kings

 

Yeah it's hard to base your decision on what you read because everyone's idea of the perfect ride is different, it's very subjective.

If a plush street ride is more your thing then yes, I would lean more toward Kings (or another progressive shock like Fox or ADS (I think)).

If your aim is more to do go-fast stuff in the desert with street manners second, then I would consider the Icons

Either way you may find you'll want to customize them once you get them on the truck and get a feel for how they are

 

Thank you!

 

You can get Kings in whatever length you want/need, you just have to call and custom order them. Most vendors should be able to help you with that.

Kings and Fox are a linear/progressive shock, vs. the digressive Icons and Bilsteins. Digressive gives a harsher on-road feel because they are designed to handle g-outs better, rather than hard hits (like rocks or potholes).

I have run digressive shocks (5100s are digressive, same as ICON). Yes, apples to oranges when talking about build quality, etc, but the basic design is the same. They were for sure an improvement over stock, but my old shocks were also worn out, so hard to really make a true comparison. So yeah I loved my digressive shocks on the road (and off road).

I am running mid travel Kings now, and the ride difference was night and day. Both on road and off. Again, not really a fair comparison since my 5100s were a few years old, and I was going from $200 shocks to $1100 shocks, lol...

So, ICONs are great shocks, very high quality, but they are honestly designed for a specific type of terrain, and don't do all that great (relative to a comparable quality linear or progressive shock) on the road. That's not really good or bad, it just is...

So really, I'm sure you'd be happy with which ever you choose, but if you are wanting a better on-road feel, the Kings or Fox will likely suit you better.

 

Thank you!