ADS Off-Road Racing Shocks - Information, Pictures, & BS Thread

Icon has had tophats crack in half, shocks blowing seals shortly after installation, and those are the common issues. Most get taken care of under warranty but having to deal with it is a pain. Brand new hand assembled parts shouldn't need a rebuild in a few months, the quality control is poor.

 

Alot of the issues with Icon is also on the user. The top hat C is a weak point that should be addressed on both ends. On the users end, replacing the factory bump stops with something better will prevent the cracking issue. Also, you can put a 1/2" steel spacer plate above the shock mount to strengthen the tin foil shock mount that's there now. I do agree that the top hat from Icon needs to be beefier. As for the shocks leaking and blowing seals, I've noticed many people over loading, or putting too much pre load on the shock, this could be one of the issues. I'm not saying that there isn't a problem with them coming strait out of the box, but there have been reports of all manufacturers with out of box issues as well.

 

I was looking more about ride quality, internal build. I have icons, but am thinking about going to ADS. So far have none of the issues that people have reported, granted I've only gone wheeling a few times on them and don't do jumps or desert stuff.

 

Ride quality is going to largely depend on proper coil weight rating and valving. It doesn't matter how high quality the components are if it's set up wrong.

 

Right, so my question is if I have no issues with my Icons so far and like how it rides, there's no real benefit to upgrading as of yet? I figure I can ride these out until they need a rebuild, sell them and switch to ADS further along the line.

 

I'd say yes. Recommended rebuild is at about 30k miles, and that's just about for all rebuildable shocks. I would in the meantime if you haven't already, upgrade your front bump stops.

 

Correct, unless you hate your money.

 

I hate my money with a passion but alas, my wife and kids not.

 

ordered a set for my 4runner. must be because i wanted adjusters on front and rear. still waiting for them. ordered 2/17. Hoping to get these installed.. soon

 

Going to be ordering a set of front coils soon. Should I get the mid travel or the long travel? I do have aftermarket ucas.

 

Long travel is more than just shocks. You'll need extended CV shafts, lower control arms, extended brake lines, just to name a few things. I think rather than long travel, you're referring to extended travel.

 

I knew there was something in between but I wasn’t a 100% thanks !!

 

If you have aftermarket UCA's, there's no reason not to get extended travel coilovers.

 

Why?

 

This is something I've been wondering though. I wasn't super clear on what's all needed to go LT it seems like extended travel can be achieved by only doing the UCAs. Is there a benefit to doing lowers too? Or if you're doing both you're going to need to do the rest of these things too to actually see any benefit of putting in lowers?

I'm slowly wading through this thread but I'm becoming increasingly sure that I want to go with ADS.

Still have a lot to learn before I can pull the trigger, like what I can fit and what I should do for the rear in terms of mounting locations on my first gen, etc.

What kinds of leaf spring are people going with?
I like the dakars. But since I'm going to redo all the mounting places I'm pretty open to non standard options. It's a DD so I still want to be able to tow and carry a good amount of weight, so I'm not willing to give that up for flex. Guessing that means I'm not going LT anyways

 

Not much benefit of doing lowers with mid travel. Only thing you gain is better bushings and a uniball instead of a ball joint. You can upgrade bushings in your stock lowers, so there's that. Dakars are solid leaf springs, you can't go wrong with them. You can also do Deaver leaf springs, a little more pricey, but they're solid as well. I've also seen Icon leaf springs, but besides a good build quality, that's all the input I have on them. Or you can build your own leaf springs.

 

Also, with an extended travel setup for the front with just UCAs, you gain 1” of droop over the non-extended travel fronts. That’s really it.

 

Stock width aftermarket LCA are a huge improvement, they won't leave you stranded on the trail when the arm decides to let go. Plenty of instances of this occurring to prove this...if you don't wheel, sure skip all of the above and rock some 5100s.

 

So the only benefit of a mid travel aftermarket LCA is that the uniball is stronger than the ball joint. You think some genius would come out with a uniball replacement for the stock arms, then you wouldn't have to pay $1500 just for some aftermarket LCA's

 

She needs every inch she can get though