I got a big ole shipment of shiny Icon stuff today and finished up my rear suspension today.... The front is getting the whole shebang next weekend...

WOW! I'm assuming this was a custom setup from Icon. That's gonna be one amazing ride.

Thanks man! Ya, This is the same gear Jason Demello (Demello Offroad) had on his last FJ cruiser. He took care of ordering it for me, very helpful dude.

I can't wait to see how this turns out as I just bought a 2011 trail edition myself

Very nice! Looking forward to the front build and all your details

Awesome can't wait to see it all in...what were you upgrading from?

On the rear I had the King 2.5 Resi compression adjustables which were absolutely outstanding shocks but there were a couple things about them that I was unhappy with. I was running a 1.5" coil spacer in the OEM spring as well, that was replaced with the ICON 2" coil.

The front currently has a set of fox 2.5" resi c/o's and TC upper arms. Again, great shocks but a couple things about them that I personally don't care for. These are being replaced with the 2.5 Icon extended travel resi c/o and a secondary resi bypass with TC's boxed lower arm.

I expect a bit of fabrication here and there but the install should go pretty smooth! Next weekend! I will be sure to make a nice write up in case any one else is interested in going this route.

Been looking at the Kings and the Icons. Can you tell us specifically what made you unhappy with the Kings? How about the Fox c/o's?

Once you get the icons on would you give us a review of the differences between the performance of each brand? (i.e., high and low speed ride firmness, on and off road performance, handling, etc.) It would be nice to hear from someone who has actual experiences with both the Icons AND the Kings.

Specifically what I did not like about the rear King shocks:

The shock itself is fantastic, but King needs to do a little more in the way of R&D with their valving. I didn't run these shocks for too long but in the time I did have them, I ran them over just about every type of terrain imaginable from the dunes in the desert, hard pack desert, some rock crawling, and lots of street driving. The valving never seemed correct to me which became even more noticeable when running over terrain fast in the desert. The compression valving specifically was valved too stiff, even with considerable extra weight on my rig. On top of this, I had the reservoir model with the adjustable compression. I was never able to run them on any setting other than the softest setting on the compression adjuster. I debated on popping them off and having ORW re-valve them, but its such a pain and unless you have the resources to re-valve / re-charge the shocks yourself, it could get expensive real quick after you play with the valve stack a bit. Not something I was willing to do.

Soooooo. I spoke to numerous people in the industry for literally hours and hours about this problem and most all were not surprised in the least at the issue I was having. Not to deter anyone from purchasing OEM replacement shocks from the "big" vendors" ie. King, Fox, Sway Away, but here is what was common among all my conversations. These major shock mfg's like King and Fox make absolutely phenomenal hardware, on any given day of the week one or the other could arguably be the best in the industry however these companies were built around making shock absorbers for race cars, not oem street trucks. That being said, it is believed that they simply do not spend the time or money on the r&d to tune these OE replacement shocks as a company such as Icon would. Icon builds their equipment from the ground up with a specific vehicle in mind. Some people may not fully realize what is involved in tuning a shock, there are hundreds and hundreds of variables from the shim thickness, stack formation, diameters of the shims, placement in the valve stack, the charge pressure, and then there progressive and digressive valving, flutter stacks, etc.

To summarize, the kings were good but I did not feel like they were what I wanted. I have had the rear Icon bypass's on for 2 days now and havnt even started to tune them (going to wait until the front is done) and I already can tell a huge improvement.

Again, this is based on my personal experience. No plugs for any brand, I am far from a brand loyalist as I have ran shock offerings from Fox, King and now Icon. I researched and researched some more and spoke to people with true "experience" in the industry and formulated a decision based on this and my personal experiences. Other's perceptions of what works and doesn't may vary.

That's what she said

Thanks for the info, it's good to know. Frankly, I expected the Kings to be fine around town with a harsher ride in the rough due to the progressive valving (at least that's what I'm told they have), but it sounds like it was harsh everywhere.

Looking forward to a comparison once the Icons are installed.

SoCalTrail- I work in the offroad industry and you are 100% correct about King, Fox, etc not spending the R&D time it takes for vehicle OEM replacement suspension or ATV/UTV OEM replacement suspension. I've had that same thought for years now. They just don't have the time/capability/desire to put the man hours in it takes to dial in OEM suspension setups. It's a huge undertaking and I don't blame them.

One thing I'll add to the mix, Bilstein uses proprietary, patented valving that mades King, Fox, etc look simplistic. I wish they made some of their off road coil overs that would fit our vehicles. Bilstein is a multi-million (billion?) dollar international mega company that has the resources and the exclusive technology. A industry friend of mine that works for Bilstein is developing Ford Raptor suspension that's OEM replacement and incredible. Actually come to think of it maybe I'll talk to him about the 4R/FJ market...

Anyways, what adjustments do those Icon bypass rear shocks have? Do they ride amazing on the street and more amazing off-road? How much are they?

SoCalTrail,

What size bump stops do you need with those? The ICON extended travel shocks that are part of their kits supposedly need different bump stops to prevent bottoming out and damaging the shock.

Day 2... Almost done with the front suspension. Full write up to come. Lots of work!!!!!

A work of art!