aturk's mid-travel, double-locked, pavement princess

That's a known issue with the Eibach's.

I did my Fox 2.5's, RXT's, and Archive goodies all at once (coming form Eibach 2.0s). The rear felt much more "tight" and controlled. I would not say they are going to gain much in the washboard area, these trucks just don't seem to do good on washboard roads no matter what the case is.

 

So I've had my truck "built" for a while, but it hasn't been used or abused much. 10-15k miles of daily driving, a couple mild trips into the woods.

I've been through a LOT of parts trying to eliminate noises, clunks, failure points.

More recently, my Icon RXT's started to make some awful creaking noises from the front and rear bushings. I also had a clunk that sounded like the leafs were shifting in the packs and hitting the leaf pack clamps. After waiting for about 3 months for Icon's customer support to give me any direction, I started looking into other options. I had added drawers, and would need to take my Icon leaf pack from Stage 2 to Stage 3 due to the weight. Unfortunately I wasn't feeling great about the leaf pack long term, so I decided to go with Alcan's.

Alcan will make you weigh your truck, ask for an exact lift you want, and build you a custom leaf pack tailored to your weight and lift. I keep my truck low in the front (2" of lift), so I went with 2" lift in the rear. He already accounts for the 1" of rake the truck has from the factory. I wanted to retain that.

Not many posts about these leaf packs, but they are made incredibly well and are coated in a thick paint like undercoating so I'm hoping the coating lasts a little longer. The leaf packs are supplied with Prothane bushings that are grooved on the inside for extra grease holding. Superlube was used to repack all the bushings in both the leaf pack (they come without grease) as well as my Archive Garage shackles.

The bad:
The second leaf in the pack is a little long. My buddy has done a few installs of Alcans on trucks equipped with hammer hangers and the second leaf rubs either the shackle or the hammer hanger slightly. I have the latest hammer hangers, the above might be true on all versions or some older versions, but it was far easier to just cut an inch off the leaf instead of throwing them on, seeing if it rubs, taking them off, repeating, etc. We spread the leaf pack to not cut into the other leafs accidentally, and used a porta-band to cut the 1" piece off. We then ground and smoothed the edges so it won't rub/cut into the other leaf. Quick blast of spray paint and we are good to go.

The good:
The Alcans ride great. I only have about 70 miles on them, but they are firmer and more controlled than the Icons, which trends into much better road manners. The difference is definitely noticeable and I'm very happy with the new ride. The Alcans also have a bracket for the ebrake cable. Used a large cushion clamp to secure the ebrake cable to the bracket on the Alcans. I never had a bracket on my Icons, and had zero issues running them that way, but it was always something I wanted to do right.

I will retorque in a few hundred miles and re apply my paint marking

 

Got my plugs changed. Long list of little things to get done over the next month.

Passenger side took about 10 minutes.
Drivers side way tougher, took about an hour and lots of swearing.

Did not remove the intake manifold brackets, but would recommend doing it. You’ll have to get the bottom bolt through the fender well which makes it a little more of a PITA.

 

Getting ready for a 5k mile road trip from Charlotte NC to Denver, CO, then into the San Juan Mountains of SW Colorado, wrapping up the trip in Moab, UT and then taking the long way home through the SW and into Texas.

I've done a ton of little stuff to the truck over the 6 weeks, but here are some of the bigger items:

New C4 Hybrid Bumper to replace my SSO Slimline Hybrid.

C4 Fender Liner kit.

Moved up to a 30" S8 from a 20" S8.

Morimoto headlights to try them out.

 

when you cut your exhaust, did it change the tone at all? Beautiful truck!

 

Nope, might be a hair louder on cold start up sitting still as the sound waves echo/bounce off the ground, but the exhaust tip is at least 2ft off the ground if not more. Zero change while driving.

 

So a couple of weeks ago, wrapped up a 4820 mile road trip.

Charlotte to Denver, couple days in Denver and jetting up to Rocky Mountain National Park
Denver to the San Juan area (Ouray and Telluride)
Ouray to Moab, Arches National Park
Moab back to Charlotte

We budgeted for 15-16 days door to door. 2 days out to Denver, 3 days home from Moab.

I ran some famous trails like Imogene pass in Colorado, and a few of the popular trails in Moab.

I had done a lot of truck prep a month prior to the trip. New C4 bumper, C4 fender liner kit, lots of little maintenance things, etc. Happy to report I had no mechanical issues and didn't have to work on anything.

I got home and basically had to redo all of my maintenance all over again, so that's been the last few weeks. Will be sending out the Fox shocks to be re-valved, I should have done this early on, high speed is way too stiff and jarring. We don't have enough rough fire roads for it to be really annoying out here near Charlotte, but out west it was very apparent.

Here are some pics:

 

I just found your build thread, absolutely love it.

Question for you…I do a lot of long trips exactly like the one in your last post. 5-6,000 miles with a lot of trails and highway. Do you like the Ridge Graps for that application?

I’m running General Grabbers right now but they’ve been plugged a few times and are starting to scallop pretty bad so I’m looking change it up.

 

Thanks!

I don't have much to compare to, but I have no issues with the tires. I went from stock off road tires, to 32" Goodyears, and then to these 34's.

This was the first long road trip I've done in my truck, but I have plenty of trips in the 4-6 hour (each way) range. Mine are the LT's, but in a C-load for ride comfort. They are wearing pretty good, but admittedly I rotate them more often than anyone should. Did just get my first nail in the tread too, but luckily it did not penetrate far enough to need plugged or patched.

I will be trying the new Falken RT's next, as they have a 35x11.50 size in C load I want to try.

 

Cool, thanks for the response! I’ve been looking at the Falken RT’s also, they are very light compared to other RT’s in the size I have at the moment.

 

Not much going on here lately, had my 4th major ankle surgery in the last 3 years. Couple months of downtime ahead of me but excited to get back outside when the time comes.

Been collecting some parts for a major refresh and update this spring.

Got the @drtfabrication rear diff skid on right before surgery.

 

Nice looking truck!

 

thanks for sharing ! Heal up quick too

 

I've been wanting to get one of those Vyper chairs! Looks like the OG version. Does that metal ring (foot rest?) get in the way?

 

That sucks man, I hope you heal up quick and can get back out there.

I just noticed that picture of the pool/resort looking thing in the mountains in your last big post.

Where was that? I know you listed a few different places in your post.

 

It’s the OG version, long time fan. Got it to win the 911 lol.

I didn’t really like it at first but it’s grown on me for sure. I see they released a newer cheaper version for Black Friday. My one or two gripes is I have the backrest, it’s way too short. Needs to be a foot taller to really support your back. The other gripe is it’s tough to use this stool in my driveway where I do some of my work. My driveway is pretty flat but has some slope to it. The Vyper chair rolls so nice once I take my feet off the ground I’ll roll out to the end of the driveway LOL

 

Ouray Hot Springs. Super cool place.

It’s fed from Box Canyon a few miles up the road which is another super cool place to visit.

 

That’s awesome, thanks for the info! I’m trying to plan our next trip out west so that’s helpful.

 

Here's the last photo I have of the truck after a mini detail.

When I first got the truck, which was summer of 2019, I polished it and ceramic coated it (former/current detailer). The coating was good for a little over 2 years. I've been battling ankle surgeries for 3 years so I tried to maintain and top the coating with the best products I could, but it was finally DEAD DEAD DEAD about late spring/early summer of 2023. Occassionally I would still use a drying aid with Si02 (ceramic coating material) in it to give me some protection, but with the exception of some chemical decontamination products (Iron removers) the paint had never been clayed since I got the truck.

Right before surgery, I washed the truck numerous times with a relatively high PH soap (Carpro Lift), as well as a water spot removing soap (Carpro Descale), which will clean and help strip whatever was left of the truck. After one wash and rinse, I used iron remover on the paint which got a minimal amount of color change off. I washed again and rinsed. I then used a clay mitt and a third application of the high ph soap (CarPro Lift) as the clay "lube". The paint had been feeling very rough the last few washes and it was overdue for a clay by a year or two. Truck sits outside in my driveway alot and I've got a fair number of trees around my property. Once the protection of the ceramic coating and whatever top coat I had applied had left the chat, the grit and grime really stuck to the paint. After using the clay mitt, the paint was totally stripped and smooth, but left with zero protection.

I applied Gyeon Ceramic Detailer spray, which is about the strongest sprayable ceramic coating topper I've found. I put down two coats of this as it will be about 6-8 weeks after surgery until I can even wash the truck again (my dad is driving the truck while I recover - so it will still see the elements as well as rain and road grime. I could have used an easy to use ceramic coating such as Gyeon cancoat or one of the many well known brands like Adam's graphene, but I am planning to cut and polish the truck towards the end of February, so I didn't want a ton of protection to have to polish off or strip off with chemicals.

Thankfully the paint gods gave me decent super white paint, and the trail gods have not pin striped the truck yet, but the result is a super smooth, super shiny paint that ANYONE could do in a few hours of time.

 

I did Gtechnic CSL topped with Exo V4 last spring. I always wash with Koch Chemie GSF and top with P&S Bead Maker. The roof coating is already about gone, but the rest of the truck's coating is holding up somewhat still. So much for the up to the 5 years advertisement. AZ summers are brutal.