Oregon and Washington BS thread

Hehe nice! How you liking the 3rd gen vs 2nd gen power wise?

 

I haven’t driven my 3rd Gen hard at all because it has 18 miles. I can tell all the umph is in the top end though.

 

Did anyone go to the beach today to escape the heat? If so, how nuts was it?

 

Best you'll get 600 if you're lucky

 

Bay Area Metal Fab having a 15% off sale till Monday.

 

Ironman 4x4 also doing 25% off site wide till Monday.

Always been intrigue by the FCPs these guys make... 25% off makes it tempting to try out.

 

Seems like they're always on sale. I have their stage two fcp sitting in my garage from their spring sale that got delivered last week. They're replacing my camburg coilovers + uniball uca up front and oem rear leaf/icon aal + icon 1st gen remote resi in the rear. They've served me well and hope ironman serves me for another 12 years/150k (with rebuilds of course).

 

I've got them and have been very pleased. Honestly I think it's one of the better kits out there for the average daily driver/overlander/sometimes wheeler out there even price nonwithstanding. They perform a lot better than your standard OME/Bilstien lifts and don't come with any of the headaches that remote resis do.

The FCPs aren't going to need regular rebuilds like the setup you have now did. That sheer volume of oil will make them very hard to overheat, and even if you do manage to it's literally impossible to aerate the oil because of the foam charge as opposed to gas(aerating the oil is usually what ruins the seals and causes oil to leak out). They also aren't under nearly as much internal pressure.

I think they're on sale so much because they're really trying to get a foothold in the US market. They've been a well known brand in Australia for a long time but pretty new to the US. They've become a pretty known brand here in the PNW because they're North American headquarters is here so it's just easier for them to get word around the off road community in the area.

 

Just picked up the Ironman skid plates and en-suite shower thing for 25% off. Good deal for the skid plates!

Apparently they moved to Sherwood. I drove out to Wilsonville and was confused.

 

If the bumpers were more ARB style with the bar loops, I’d have bought one. Not a fan of the tube bumpers though it looks good in their photos.

 

Thanks for the info man.
Been really reading up on a suspension before I pull the trigger. Was gonna go Fox 2.5 DSC, but I'm honestly not sure I need something that hardcore. I plan on doing off-roading for sure, and doing some aggressive trails out in CO, UT, NV, NM, but most of the time I'll be doing forest roads, dispersed and non-dispersed camping.

...I just really hate the stock OR Bilstein's and stock leafs.

These seems like a robust option that definitely isn't a race shock (i.e Fox, King, Icon), but can definitely perform off road.

For the price, I might just do it. Will just get the FCP shocks and the springs, and get SPC UCAs, and AllPro leafs.

 

Thanks for your feedback! They're so thick and the foam cell technology definitely intrigued me. Originally, I was planning fox for replacement with rebuilding my camburg uca and all-pro leaf springs. Popularity is definitely there, or at least from what I've seen. I've seen them on many lifted Subarus and Tundras.

Great deal for sure! I just looked on Google and you're right about the move. They must have moved within the last month.

 

Honestly I'm almost positive that the FCPs would be a better choice for what you're trying to do than the Fox's, price notwithstanding. I mean firstly for me at least the rebuild intervals on independent res shocks if you actually use them was a non-starter for me. I mean I use my truck very hard and put on almost 30k a year, no way I'm signing up to potentially need to pull off my shocks on a yearly basis.

Also honestly they'll probably even perform just as well if not better. Because of their sheer size they actually have about the same oil volume as a 2.5 Independent res(IR) shocks. IR shocks do still provide better heat dissipation in some conditions because of the increased surface area the oil will travel through, but this really only provides a benefit for lots of repeated big bumps at high speed(like the off road racing they're designed for) because to actually circulate the oil through the reservoir you need to be running the shock through most of its entire stroke. For the usage most of us normal off road/overland types actually put our shocks through this has no benefit. Even if you're carrying a lot of speed for a forest road(say 50-60 mph) you're still just constantly running the shock through a very small portion of the stroke besides the odd whoop or big pothole. This means that the oil in the shock body is heating up, but never running through to the reservoir so a bigger bore non-res shock will actually take less time to overheat.

And then for the really gnarly stuff where we are pushing the shock through the stroke we're usually going slow enough shock heat isn't an issue.

 

I think they found a nice hole in the market for people who want better performance than your basic OME Nitrocharger/similar kits but don't want desert racing shocks.

Like as someone who takes my truck on frequent long trips with a lot of rough roads I simply couldn't stomach putting something on that would need more care and attention than stock. Durability seems to fall too low on a lot of people's priority list when going for aftermarket suspension. There's a reason you never see true Overlanders living on the road in a Land Cruiser running Fox shocks.

 

It's the green coils that I see are a dead giveaway when it comes to spotting them. They used to be yellow-ish, no?

Wow you drive a lot and sounds like you've done your research in regards to the suspension, it's usage, and what suits your needs. My dad has the bilstein 6112/5160 combo on his 2014 Tacoma and my brother has full OME on his 2012 and they both ride pretty nice for sure. My truck use is a lot like them now - mainly road use with very little off road (annual hunting). I do, however, go venture off and drive to places for hikes/kayaking/snowboarding, etc. but somehow manage to only put about 9.5k miles on my truck annually in the past 10 years since I've moved back to Oregon so I hope these will last until my truck dies on me.

 

I'm going to pull the trigger.
Just the FCP shocks and springs, and will go SPC UCA and All-Pro leafs.

FCP shocks, and (front) springs is $1,100 with 25% off. Seems like a smoking deal.
Let's go 35's! (more like 33's though, lets be honest)

 

35s all the way! Kidding lol Does it say if yours come assembled or not? I was under the impression it doesn't and had to buy our own top plate hat or whatever you call it and either assemble it yourself or have a shop do it.

EDIT: What I meant to actually say was mine came assembled so now I have two top hat shock mount that I cannot return to Amazon since it's past the return date.

 

The old IM4x4 used to be yellow, yeah. I had a set on my truck. The powder coat on the yellow got beat up pretty quick.

 

From everything I've seen they should.

Haha yeah I'm a nerdy engineer so after I met some of the ironman guys at an off road event and learned a bit about those shocks I went way down the rabbit hole, especially seeing as I didn't want resis but did want something a bit beyond OME Nitrochargers or something.

I mean when I was doing my research I couldn't find a single report of them failing, including with folks who use them in the Outback. I mean the FCPs have only been around for like 5 or 6 years but at this point that's awhile. And like the foam charge removes the causes of both shock failure over time(gas leaking out, gas will be able to seep out of old seals long before oil will) and us ruining them faster off road(overheating them and aerating the oil). Besides literally busting it doing something really stupid I have a hard time seeing why they would fail.

I mean everything wears out eventually but seeing as they're rebuildable I feel like they should last you.

 

Bilstein came out with tubular chromoly UCA’s for Tacoma’s and other rigs. Should correct castor for lifted vehicles. $699.00.

https://cart.bilsteinus.com/details...964705164971&Pos=Front&Dr=5180767408557695164