Cincinnati Area Thread (Tri-State, Ohio/Kentucky/Indiana)

Someone mentioned they got nine squeak free months out of their Dakar's. I got one trip to Badlands.

Edit,,, that’s my only complaint about them, except they didn’t save my dumb ass from almost rolling my pickup ten minutes after I paid my money to the girl at the gate.

 

Well, I went rogue...

After talking to Marie at Headstrong Off-Road for a few days about my suspension, I finally made a decision. And let’s just say I didn’t go with the 6112/5160 setup or a Fox setup. The cost of my setup was almost exactly in between the those two options and I’ll likely be the only person in the area running this suspension.

Marie convinced me to try a brand that’s newer to truck suspensions. They’ve been around a while but mostly in the ATV and smaller off road vehicle market. She’s been running it on her 4Runner and had nothing but good things to say. I’ll post pictures and more details once I have it. I’m sure it’ll be a little while before it ships and likely even longer before I can get it installed but I’m excited. Next up are wheels.

 

Her 4Runner has Elka on it..... that's my guess lol

 

Haha, yep. I wasn’t sure how widely known that was. I had never heard of them and had no idea that’s what she was running until I talked to her. And she pretty much had me sold after explaining the valving Elka uses in their shocks and with all the good things she had to say based on her experience with them. The icing on the cake was the all aluminum construction that should hold up much better to the elements here. And I mean, who doesn’t want to support a Canadian company

I settled on a kit very similar to the Fox setup I was considering. I bought the extended 2.5 IFP front coilovers (2” to 3” of lift) with 650 lb springs and

$1,023 2.0 IFP Fox 2.0 Performance Coil-Over Front Pair compatible with 2005-2016 Toyota Tacoma

2.0 IFP rear shocks (made for up to 2” of lift). I could have spent a little more for remote reservoirs on either but for a truck that spends the majority of the time on the pavement, I didn’t feel it was necessary. And I would have loved to go 2.5 front and rear but the extra cost for that was a bit more than I wanted to spend. And since both the 5160 and Fox kits I was considering have 2” diameter rear shocks, the only thing I’m missing out on is the remote reservoir.

Either way, we’ll see how it goes. I expect the Elka shocks to ride much “softer” than the 5100s I have now, just due to the difference in valving. And at least they should look damn good for a while. Lol.

 

Avoiding Covid-19

 

Good luck

 

Social Distancing called me too.

 

Sarcasm? Is there something I didn’t find while researching?

Most of the reviews I read were positive, especially when compared to digressive shocks and even in comparison to Fox shocks. But they are relatively new to the truck suspension world so I’m sure some people haven’t liked them...

 

I also have not had good experiences.

Ran their stage 4's and stage 5's on a buggy under a sponsorship for 2 years, the OoB valving was a complete miss for my application, much too soft.

Once dialed in they were fine, but I've only ever bent elka and penske shafts...

 

Not at all,,,,
Just hoping your wife’s shocks works out for you.

seriously,,, it’s really all in what you personally prefer.

 

I embrace my stiff suspension and squeaky urethane bushings everywhere. It works off road, hell if I care it makes noises on pavement. Turn up the radio, drink more beers, give less fux about OCD junk.

life lessons gents

 

All the same, could stay on "stock" suspension and just trim plastic and metal to achieve lift with tires. Wouldn't be in this pickle (all of us throwing money at our trucks lol) at all, now would we?

 

Well, the truck rarely sees off-road surfaces and when it does, it’s mostly mild stuff, nothing extreme. I’m all for “too soft” compared to “too stiff” so I guess we’ll see how I like them.

And I’m gonna assume your phone autocorrected Elka to wife considering I don’t have one of those anymore. Lol.

 

Nah. No auto correct. I just shouldn’t try to be funny while half asleep and not wearing my glasses.

 

All good man.

I don’t mind if Elka has a rep for being “soft” compared to other brands seeing as I’ve basically reached old man status and just want the truck to ride as smooth and comfortable as possible on the road. And if Marie is satisfied with her setup when off road out west, I’m sure my setup will handle the light off-road use my truck sees here without issue.

And compared to the 5100s I’m running now (almost four years old with 65k miles on them), I’m sure anything I install is gonna feel better. Honestly, I’ll just be happy to ditch the top plate spacers and maintain close to the same amount of lift I have now. I’m equally as excited to ditch the wheel spacers when I buy new wheels with a more aggressive offset.

 

Anyone else out of work because of this mess? April 6th will be my first day of "furlough."

 

I’m “lucky” enough that I can work from home. My entire company mandated all salaried employees work from home indefinitely starting March 16th so this is the beginning of week 3 from my home office.

It wouldn’t be so bad if I didn’t have a 7 year old and a 4 year old here with me every other day. I'm thankful for the paycheck but basically only productive two and a half days a week...

 

Knock on wood, still busy as hell, but working from home. Watching a 5 YO all day is tough, but certainly doable. If I were to get canned during this mess, it would mean the company is going under so I sure hope that never becomes the case.

 

Not yet. Someone had to setup people to WFH. Long as our suppliers keep sending raw material, we'll keep producing.

 

Didn't someone here get a cheap set of Nankang tires? How terrible are they for daily use?