Replacement coilovers and shocks - Fox 2.5?

Looking for opinions on Fox 2.5 coilovers and rears with remote reservoir. Leaning toward the spendy performance elite series since they come with hardware for mounting res.

I know this has been covered, but seems like most answers are what I have is grand. Not sure if there is much experience with the fox shocks specific.

My truck recently turned 100K. When I bought it in 2014 it came with aftermarket lift and radflo coilovers. I've had to replace the rear leaf springs due to a broken center pin and got new rear shock around 2016.

Anyhow, shocks are pretty shot (feeling all the bumps in the road for awhile) and it's probably time to replace. My UCA are black and not branded but I do think aftermarket for the lift so I don't think they need replacement if I go the FOX route.

Would love to hear opinions.

 

Curious to know the same. I believe they have two kinds. Maybe one is aluminum body and the other is steel? I’ve heard one is more Accutune-friendly. Not sure which.

I’d imagine 2.5 is the way to go given that popular 6112 is supposedly 2.3”.

 

From what I've read Fox Elites ride a lot nicer out of the box than the Race series, but if you're going the Fox route I'd still look into AccuTune so they can tune them to your specific weight and needs.

It's pretty easy to tell if the UCA's are tubular or stamped/folded steel. If stamped, likely stock and if tubular or something else, likely aftermarket. At the very least I would inspect them to see how the bushings and ball joints are doing. And with how sensitive these trucks are, I would still recommend alignment either way if you make a suspension change to the front end.

That said, I believe Radflo's are rebuildable. Unless you just don't like them it wouldn't hurt to contact them and see what they would cost to rebuild. It should be significantly cheaper than replacing the whole setup and they might be able to make valving changes as well during the process if you wanted to tailor the ride quality/characteristics.

 

I'm not sure what all the differences between the 2 FOX lines are now, but I have the Factory Race Series from before they split into 2 lines. 2.5 with DSC. I drove them about 60k miles as they came from FOX and that was my #1 mistake. I recently had them rebuilt, re-valved and swapped to 14" 600lb springs. The ride is now easily 100x better.

A couple of things I've seen/heard about the new Elite line...the aluminum body is great if you're in a snow/salt environment a lot (idk what it's like N.C.), and the way the front reservoirs mount on the Elites causes moisture collection and corrosion in the DSC knob. I don't have personal experience, but just to put it on your radar for further research.

I think you'd be happy with either AS LONG AS you get them tuned for your specific truck setup. I liked mine out of the box over my stock suspension, but compared to how they ride after the re-valve and new springs...out of the box was garbage.

 

I have the Fox 2.5 Performance Elite with custom valving and the ride is fantastic. As mentioned they are great for salt and have not corroded one bit. However my DSC front knobs have been broken from like day 1 and I haven't had a chance to send in for fixing/rebuild yet because I don't have a backup vehicle or time for that yet. Maybe someday I can use their full potential, for now they still work perfect for my needs unless I do big drops off rock ledges where dialing up the DSCs would come in handy. That reminds me no matter which shocks/springs you choose make sure your bump stops are in order.

If you already have Radflo shocks why not just rebuild them? You'll save a shitload of money and you can get them revalved to suit your needs and they'd probably be functionally identical to the Fox shocks. But hey if you just want the Fox shocks just because then don't let me stop you from being a big spender and rocking the bling. Or you can mail me a check for $1,000 and I'll send you some Fox stickers to put on your Radflos lol.

The difference is basically what you already said: Performance Elite are a full aluminum shock body, Factory Race series is a steel body. More or less functionally the same but aluminum is better for areas with road salt.

 

That's funny. Not looking to dump money unnecessarily especially as funds are currently diverted to a classic bronco project. Really know little about shocks and rebuilding. Hadn't occurred to me the coilovers could be rebuilt. I'm going to investigate that. Leaning towards Fox with years of bicycle experience and always liked them. Front coilovers are acting and looking tired.

 

I'm another one who converted from stock 2014 TRD OR suspension to full Fox 2.5 PE / DSC (all 4 corners) + Deaver U402 stage III leafs, provided & tuned by Accutune. I did the installation myself in my garage. Very happy with their performance and ride quality so far. Around 7K miles on them at this point.

Notes:
- If you are self-installing, plan to buy or rent a good-quality, SAFE set of spring compressors to allow for doing your own preload adjustment if needed. Waaaaay easier than packaging up two massive heavy coilovers to ship them back to Accutune for adjustment.

- I do not like the design of the new Fox reservoir clamps. Yes, they look slick but they are a pain to fuss with. They are too skimpy, and have a skimpy screw hole threaded into aluminum. It is easy to cross-thread, bind/gall, and shear the screw. I went back to plain stainless steel screw clamps.

A longer post about my Fox 2.5 experience here, if interested, with a bit more context and commentary:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/yes-another-king-vs-fox-thread.819821/#post-29401011


*For my use-case, which is 98% on-road, 2% forest trails & dirt roads. This is a daily driver, not a dedicated mudding, overlanding, or rock-crawling truck.

 

Looking to piggyback on this thread with a similar question. Any experience with the 2.5 IFP non-resi? Part #883-02-025.
I noticed on the Accutune website it states that they do not tune or rebuild these shocks. Sent an email to them asking about these but haven't got a response.
Mainly looking at these coilovers to get around the 2.5" lift range, keep it adjustable, but be more budget friendly.
I don't need high end suspension to cruise around the mountains at slow speed. Not desert running with this thing. Any reason not to go with this set?

 

Ha, having had Fox on my MTB's one of the main reasons why I did not choose them for my Tacoma

 

I have them and "tuned" through accutune. Not worth the money. I wouldn't do it again and I probably won't send them back for rebuilding. Bunch of marketing if you ask me.

 

What do you not like about them?

 

The price lol. I had 5100s w/ eibach springs on there before this setup and it was perfectly fine for probably 1/2 the cost, or better. Maybe if you're using this truck for high speed desert running, it's worth the money. But if you're doing that you probably want a better setup than the 2.5's anyway. I've realized this truck w/ rear leaf springs isn't going to ride that great. And spending money on remote reservoir coilovers isn't necessary. That's all.

 

way I see it non reservoir front non adjustable you have a lot of other options to look at including but not limited to 6112 (cheaper) OME etc

the point of Fox seems to be for wanting a reservoir and adjuster

but who knows maybe the IFP is better than 6112 or a TRD PRO Fox takeoff.

in terms of rear I imagine it may not be worth putting something top of the line if not having a tower relocate to match.

regarding rebuilding, maybe it’s worth getting something cheaper and compatible to have on hand (6112/5160 if stock travel) to swap in and out for rebuilds to keep the truck driveable.

 

As far as price, I have found the non-resi version for right at $1,100 from a couple vendors. That's a pretty good deal I believe.

 

Crawled under the truck and took some measurements.

Have a 2" lift on truck.

Actually found the UCA markings, they are an older model SPC - combined tubular and flat, no grease zerks. I'll put some pics.

Also found a broken CV boot... FML.

So... I think I may go the route of replacing my radflo 2.5 with something new - probably fox. Replace the CV axle, then get the truck aligned and shocks tuned. I think that's going to put me in the 4K range for cost. I called a local shop for the job and they quoted me 6.5K (no CV axle replacement) - which is not worth it for me. around 4 and a several hours of self labor... I think it is.

 

Thanks for all the opinions. I bought the fox coilovers.

So far I've got the front installed. I had 2" lift to get go and did not adjust, ride height is within a 1/4" (slight increase). Going to let them settle and see if I need to do anything.

Of interest I found my UCA on the passenger side had lost it's nut and washer... I spoke to SPC and they are sending me a replacement washer (apparently it's something special). They also said they've discontinued the bushings for the old style and have an upgrade program for new arms, around $250 to upgrade. I'm holding off as I've seen a lot of negatives about the new x-axis bushings. Seeing as I've been driving around like this for awhile and the bolt doesnt seem to be moving, I'm going to keep tooling around town this week until I can fix it.

Once I get the rears on I'll update on ride

 

Nice! Did you get them revalved before installing?

 

I didn't. Installed them straight out of the box. Didn't adjust anything and ride height stayed the same with a 2" lift.

Got the rears on over the weekend.

Didn't notice much with replacing the coilovers, the rear shocks helped a lot. These do look nice. For those that have these, I could not get the rear reservoir to install like the picture in the directions with the hose pointed up on the reservoir. I wonder if there was a design change?

The old radflo coilovers are ripe for a rebuild so I'll probably just list those for sale and see if anyone wants em.

 

You can carefully rotate the hose connection at the reservoir to change the orientation of the hose. Be careful not to loosen too much and lose oil, or tighten too much and damage the aluminum body on the reservoir.

 

I feel the same. I have the Performance Elite series, tuned through AccuTune. AccuTune was great to work with, but what I got for the money just doesn't feel worth it.

I had OME Nitrochargers front and rear with an AAL.
Now, with the PES, I have the ICON RXT leaft at option 2.

Does it ride better? Yes. It takes bumps a bit better (not as harsh). But I could've easily lived with my OME's for less. I also have my PES dialed down all the way to soft.

I installed the PES myself, with spring compressors for preload adjustment. I mean, it was a good project to do, but I wouldn't do it again for the results I got.