Helping selecting a suspension

[Thorgan112]

King, Icon, Fox......

So I recently just posted up a thread about how I want to upgrade my suspension in order to gain more space for my tires, as well as some more down travel. I went and spoke to RMS offroad in long island on sat, and well, long story short, it was basically a wasted visit. The guy told me to send him a list of parts I wanted and he would quote me on how much to install them. So my 120 mile trip was pointless.

Here are my questions though:

1) I had mentioned to him that I got hit by a drunk driver right in the passenger side wheel two years ago, and that my fram actually got a bit bent from it. He told me I should go to a frame specialist before doing anything and that it would cost anywhere between 1200 and 3k depending on if there is something wrong. He thinks there is something wrong because my passenger side cam bolts (eccentrics), both the front and back one, are completely maxed out at the 3:00 position. IS THERE ANY TRUTH TO THIS? does that potentially indicate an issue? The truck currently pulls to the passenger side, but only started doing it after I put on the larger wheel about 3k miles ago.

2) I am looking to compile a list of parts to get, so I can send this guy over the items and see his quote. He highly recommended King parts over fox, I want to use either king, fox, or icon, (I do a lot of highway driving as well, so need something good for that). I want to get some good bypass coilovers for up front, and then a good set of bypass shocks for the rear with a decent coil. I want to have nice ride on the road, but also the ability to go offroad. (yea I know, I want it all). I was also thinking about the total chaos long tavel kit for the UCAs and LCAs.

Any suggestions on which models to buy would be great!

I am trying to spend about 5k installed, which is sort of making it a tight budget for what I am asking, I may have to spend a bit more. But its either this or I am selling and buying something else, which will cost me even more, so this seems worth it.

 

[Thorgan112]

Anybody?:help:

 

[MStudt]

Any particular reason you want long travel? What kind of wheeling? The TC kit will have you close to $2500 alone, and that doesn't include everything else you'll need. You'll need shocks front/rear, and rear springs. I know I'm missing some items too. This is going to put you around in the ballpark of maybe $4k; if not more. Any option might find used parts on the forums and building from there.

 

[Thorgan112]

Any particular reason you want long travel? What kind of wheeling? The TC kit will have you close to $2500 alone, and that doesn't include everything else you'll need. You'll need shocks front/rear, and rear springs. I know I'm missing some items too. This is going to put you around in the ballpark of maybe $4k; if not more. Any option might find used parts on the forums and building from there.

It doesn't have to be long travel to be honest, the more I look into that the more problems I think I am going to run into, I have been looking at the king coilovers 3.0 with 18" of travel, I think that is more than enough. And yeah I am planning on spending around 5k but I don't wanna really go over that, so I was aiming to shoot for the 4k ballpark figuring it'll end up running over. I just don't know what suspension parts to get yet.

 

[MTD]

 

[Thorgan112]

So I did a search and read a bunch of threads, and read the difference between Icon Fox and King, and came up with the only big difference between them was really the valving, and how icon is digressive as opposed to the other two which are progressive vales, but apparently you can get custom valving from king anyway, so most of what I saw said that did not even matter. I also saw a bunch of people having issues with the base plate of the shock tower on icons breaking on them. I read up on reservoirs, and understand how they allow you to adjust the dampening of the shock by allowing a certain amount of oil to bypass the piston within the reservoir. I read another thread on multiple shocks and installing an aftermarket shock tower.

So PLEASE, before you assume I did not do a search, just ask politely. My problem is trying to figure out what would be best for my needs. And when I say "Best" I mean which models. I am pretty certain I wanna go with king suspension parts after reading up on the three. But now I am lost on whether to get the 2.5 or 3.0 coilover, and also whether I should get the 16" or 18" option. In the rear I am not sure if it good to run the same shock as up front of if I should have a different model? I spoke to one person who told me if you put too stiff of a coil in the back as well as a shock that doesn't compress that easily you can increase your likelihood of rollover when hitting a bump because the back end will tend to jump more.

I'm just asking for a bit of advice.

 

[MTD]

So I did a search and read a bunch of threads, and read the difference between Icon Fox and King, and came up with the only big difference between them was really the valving, and how icon is digressive as opposed to the other two which are progressive vales, but apparently you can get custom valving from king anyway, so most of what I saw said that did not even matter. I also saw a bunch of people having issues with the base plate of the shock tower on icons breaking on them. I read up on reservoirs, and understand how they allow you to adjust the dampening of the shock by allowing a certain amount of oil to bypass the piston within the reservoir. I read another thread on multiple shocks and installing an aftermarket shock tower.

So PLEASE, before you assume I did not do a search, just ask politely. My problem is trying to figure out what would be best for my needs. And when I say "Best" I mean which models. I am pretty certain I wanna go with king suspension parts after reading up on the three. But now I am lost on whether to get the 2.5 or 3.0 coilover, and also whether I should get the 16" or 18" option. In the rear I am not sure if it good to run the same shock as up front of if I should have a different model? I spoke to one person who told me if you put too stiff of a coil in the back as well as a shock that doesn't compress that easily you can increase your likelihood of rollover when hitting a bump because the back end will tend to jump more.

I'm just asking for a bit of advice.

Only you can know what will be best for you. From your research you should have enough information to make an informed decision. Frankly i think you know what you want, but need affirmation and attention from others to feel confident with your choices.

My .02 is the digressive valving on the icons rides much nicer at high speeds (dunes) For your situation there is no need for custom valving and possibly even remote resi systems. And if you want the best dont even bother looking at 2" setups for the front.

and are you setting up shock hoops in the rear for coilovers. i dont understand what you mean by "same model" the front and rear of the 4runners are completely different setups.

 

[MTD]

just reread that, you mean make or brand not model...

 

[snivilous]

Okay, regardless if you searched research the hell out of everything and when you think you know it research more. You are asking way too big of questions considering the advice you're asking for. You should do enough research where when you ask for advice you are shooting down advice because you already researched everything and think you found every corner of knowledge out there.

A 2.5 shock is hard enough to fit, let alone a 3.0 COILOVER? And you said an 18" travel bypass?? Questions questions questions... To start, do you know the travel of a stock shock? Then how big a shock you can fit in the stock location? Then what is required to fit an 18" shock, let alone a bypass, let alone a 3.0? Why do you want a 3.0? Do you think a 2.5 won't give you good enough cooling? Have you ever destroyed a 2.0 or overheated it anyways? Have you done that with a 2.5 then? I'm a believer that you upgrade after your other shit breaks, I'm doing a long travel setup with 2.5 shocks because I blew out two 2.0s and literally snapped the welds on a bilstein 2.0. What kind of offroading do you do? How often? How fast? Bypasses probably won't even be noticeable onroad or going slow. Have you done cooling calculations on dual vs signals shocks and damping ability? There's a big difference from a single 2.5 coilover and a 2.0 coilover and 2.0 secondary shock. The stock rear geometry barely works at 12" of travel, you need to fix that too, so what rear suspension geometry will you run?

Sorry if I'm being a dick but you are throwing ideas around that you don't seem to have researched, I didn't start asking questions about designing my actual A arms until like 2 months after researching and multiple designs, and have only posted like three threads ever asking for help since all the info is out there and you just need to read it and find it. You need to sit down and browse this, dezert rangers, pirate, coilover bible, etc. unless you just have deep pockets and don't care what someone does to your truck and just want some 3.0 quad bypassed 18" kings.

 

[Thorgan112]

just reread that, you mean make or brand not model...

I worded that poorly, I mean the same shock. So whatever shock I get with the coilovers in the front, should I run the same shock in the rear?

 

[MTD]

I worded that poorly, I mean the same shock. So whatever shock I get with the coilovers in the front, should I run the same shock in the rear?

Brand, yes. Valving will be different but that should be set up for you. If I were in you situation i would call king, fox, or icon and ask for the shock they have valved already. They all have a Full set of shocks for the 4Runner ready to go.

so in short no

 

[Thorgan112]

Okay, regardless if you searched research the hell out of everything and when you think you know it research more. You are asking way too big of questions considering the advice you're asking for. You should do enough research where when you ask for advice you are shooting down advice because you already researched everything and think you found every corner of knowledge out there.

A 2.5 shock is hard enough to fit, let alone a 3.0 COILOVER? And you said an 18" travel bypass?? Questions questions questions... To start, do you know the travel of a stock shock? Then how big a shock you can fit in the stock location? Then what is required to fit an 18" shock, let alone a bypass, let alone a 3.0? Why do you want a 3.0? Do you think a 2.5 won't give you good enough cooling? Have you ever destroyed a 2.0 or overheated it anyways? Have you done that with a 2.5 then? I'm a believer that you upgrade after your other shit breaks, I'm doing a long travel setup with 2.5 shocks because I blew out two 2.0s and literally snapped the welds on a bilstein 2.0. What kind of offroading do you do? How often? How fast? Bypasses probably won't even be noticeable onroad or going slow. Have you done cooling calculations on dual vs signals shocks and damping ability? There's a big difference from a single 2.5 coilover and a 2.0 coilover and 2.0 secondary shock. The stock rear geometry barely works at 12" of travel, you need to fix that too, so what rear suspension geometry will you run?

Sorry if I'm being a dick but you are throwing ideas around that you don't seem to have researched, I didn't start asking questions about designing my actual A arms until like 2 months after researching and multiple designs, and have only posted like three threads ever asking for help since all the info is out there and you just need to read it and find it. You need to sit down and browse this, dezert rangers, pirate, coilover bible, etc. unless you just have deep pockets and don't care what someone does to your truck and just want some 3.0 quad bypassed 18" kings.

OH MY COILOVER BIBLE, so much info!!! fair enough, thanks for the reference

 

[downpour11]

Yeah you threw me off when I read 2.5, 3.0, 16 or 18" travel shock.... and still ifs. For reference I am running 2.0 12" in the front and 2.0 14" in the rear. Most people will never need more than a 12".

Am I missing something to where you think you can fit those on your truck without a full SAC?

For IFS I think you'd be looking at a 2.0 6" travel coilover. Also not sure why you would need a bypass shock if you're not hitting it hardcore off road. I know a lot of people running regular 2.0 and 2.5 air shocks with no bypass just fine.

 

[drewm]

Agreed with downpour, the most you can fit on the front is around a 6" travel shock with IFS which gives around 9-10" of travel, your stock rear can probably only take around a 8-10" travel shock just like what Radflo runs on the 4th and 5th gen bolt on applications which are similar.

Unless you plan to angle grinder cut your top shock mounts off your frame and custom build and weld on new extended top shock mounts for front and rear shocks, nothing longer will fit. By going custom like this you will also need to plan for the increased stroke with different designs of suspension arms, links and lines, plus also body clearance for the increased stroke meaning custom front fenders and cutting of rear fenders. You're going to go over budget just on the body parts.

If all you really want to do is run bigger tires, why not search this forum for other 3rd gen members running 35"s and copy their setup?

Also keep in mind that regearing to run 35"s will probably cost you around $2k by itself.

 

[downpour11]

If all you really want to do is run bigger tires, why not search this forum for other 3rd gen members running 35"s and copy their setup?

Also keep in mind that regearing to run 35"s will probably cost you around $2k by itself.

His setup is already pretty dialed to run 35's easy.

But yeah, no way you'll be running dual rates or even be able to get an 8" in there, even then you will have no up travel. You're looking at a long travel setup or a straight axle swap, and that $5k will easily turn into $10k overnight.

 

[Brique]

Ok, so i could be totally mistaken and need education but isn't a long travel setup with kings primarily intended for high speed off-road? From your location out east i would think that mudding and rock crawling would be your normal terrain. Am i wrong on that?