Icon 2.5" C.O. Review

Well, about 7 months on the truck, and driver side is completely blown and feels like Jello and passenger side is leaking oil. I've had it up in Tahoe about 10 times and offroad maybe another 3 or 4 times. So fairly light offroad use with most of the miles on road. I'd estimate about 12-15k miles.

That's pretty terrible if you ask me...does anyone want to trade me front struts? I'm also looking for a set of loaners while I send these in for rebuild. Let me know if you have anything.

That suck to hear. i just installed the front coilover and the rear 2.5. I would like to know how ICON responses to you displeasure. Honestly I'm expecting at least 2 year out of them or 30K miles before they need servicing.

I have only driven on mine for a day. So far love them. I have hit some pretty nice dips on the city streets. No need to slow down now :)
 
lol oh it happened. Here you go.

IMG_2879.jpg~original

Question here. Is there supposed to be a LEFT and RIGHT coilover? I'm asking because the pivot of the coilover doesn't appear to be parallel with the suspension arms.
 
I have a set of stock struts with 3" spacers you can borrow while you're getting yours rebuilt. They will definitely work while yours are out for rebuild. I'm in Santa Cruz if you want to pick them up.
 
Question here. Is there supposed to be a LEFT and RIGHT coilover? I'm asking because the pivot of the coilover doesn't appear to be parallel with the suspension arms.

Dunno if there is a specific right and left, but yeah the top mounting block does not look like it is installed right. The slot in the block should be pointing straight out from the wheel well (It is on mine).

It may or may not be a real problem as the ball joints can move in any angle to a degree, but too much movement and the shock will hit the sides of the mounting block which would not be good, if it bound I could see that causing premature stress and wear on the shaft bushings...

Here is a picture of mine:
20150225_134743.jpg

There is some room for it to move sideways if it needed to but not a lot. No idea how far it moves when in use.
 

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lol oh it happened. Here you go.

IMG_2879.jpg~original

You definitely installed them wrong. The one in this picture at least, and I would assume the one on the driver side is misaligned as well.

Question here. Is there supposed to be a LEFT and RIGHT coilover? I'm asking because the pivot of the coilover doesn't appear to be parallel with the suspension arms.

Dunno if there is a specific right and left, but yeah the top mounting block does not look like it is installed right. The slot in the block should be pointing straight out from the wheel well (It is on mine).

It may or may not be a real problem as the ball joints can move in any angle to a degree, but too much movement and the shock will hit the sides of the mounting block which would not be good, if it bound I could see that causing premature stress and wear on the shaft bushings...

There is some room for it to move sideways if it needed to but not a lot. No idea how far it moves when in use.

These guys ^^^^^ are definitely onto something. An install on a 3rd gen should look like this....

14_zpsae902fd7.jpg~original
 
I don't have the directions in front of me but during install read 'face the port 15 degrees from front. I installed mine like the PO has his.
 
I don't have the directions in front of me but during install read 'face the port 15 degrees from front. I installed mine like the PO has his.

I'm gonna say that's more than 15 degrees. Having just installed these things I know exactly what you're talking about in the instructions... and I believe it says "charge ports rotated 15 degrees toward the front".

However there is no way to get them aligned precisely 15 degrees toward the front of the rig... the top hats just won't allow it. If you take a second to think about how the coilover and the suspension arms move as the suspension cycles, there is only one way to mount them that makes any sense.
 
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I don't have much understanding of this but just followed the directions as best as I could. If I have the change things around I will. The picture ICON provided at that point of the install is a Joke! Both my friend and I where confused.

So this guy has his installed wrong also...

And these guys...

That's funny man... their instructions were pretty vague, and I spent a fair amount of time scratching my head as well. This thread got my wheels turning too, so I started searching around and I found that same article from the fourwheeler website and saw that they had theirs installed the same way as the OP. I also dug up NateMob's install pics....

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/3rd-gen-t4rs/133632-natemobs-dd-build-12.html

And it looks like his are cocked forward in the same way, but not to the same degree. He's got the older DR versions, though.

I'll admit, I could be wrong, but TO ME it makes more sense to mount them the way that I did, that way they coilover can freely pivot in a parallel arc with the control arms.

So who's going to be the first one on the phone with Icon?
 
yea, it looks like its more of a 30 degree, or close to 45 in some install pics. I haven't installed coilovers on a truck before, just making observations. But i would definitely be worried about internal stresses. There's no way they designed it to be so cock-eyed, there's no reason for it.
 
Too late...:zoom: Call placed and email sent w/a link to this thread.

They said they'd get back to me by the end of the day today.

Welllllll....did they get back to you????


Seems odd to me that they wouldn't make it more clear in their instructions if so many people install them incorrectly. Would a fix just be swapping driver with passenger?
 
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The issue seems to be a different in the bolt hole pattern on the frame between the generations.

Looking at all the pics it seems like the only thing that would straighten it out would be a different upper mounting plate. Maybe Icon makes a different one? Or maybe they really do want you installing it that way (but with the slot facing forward) In which case I assume they know that during the full articulation of the lower control arm the change in angle of the shock isn't enough to cause it to contact the sides of the slot at the top.

I'd just call icon directly tomorrow and verify :)
 
I just emailed Icon about this a few weeks ago. I have a set of Donahoe labeled Icon's I pulled off my Tacoma before I sold it and am getting ready to install them on my 2000 Runner. They responded that there is absolutely no difference in their shocks between the Tacoma's and the 4Runners, even though the top hats are drilled differently. I didn't like that answer and plan on drilling new holes for the top plates in my Runner.


Me: Message:
I've got a set of (Donahoe labeled) 2.5" coil overs for my 2001 Tacoma. I'm pulling them from that truck and moving them to a 2000 4Runner I just bought. I noticed the bolt holes in the coil buckets on the 4Runner are turned slightly than the taco, which will position the pivot points on the coil overs at an angle instead of straight out the side like they sit on the taco. Is that ok, or is there different top hat for a 4Runner application. Thanks for the help.

Their response: They are the exact same coilover. They should bolt right in.
Thank you,
Todd McNulty

Curious what they tell you.
Mike
 
Welllllll....did they get back to you????

Seems odd to me that they wouldn't make it more clear in their instructions if so many people install them incorrectly. Would a fix just be swapping driver with passenger?

As a matter of fact, they did...

Long story short, directly from Icon... It doesn't really matter which way they are installed. Either one will be just fine.

They called me back about an hour later, after having reviewed the thread and the pictures of the way that we all had the coilovers mounted. They told me that the way [MENTION=71420]masphx[/MENTION] and [MENTION=79790]cstraface[/MENTION] mounted their coilovers is technically correct, and in accordance with the instructions. They went on to say that the way I mounted mine was also just fine. Basically, if you were to swap the coilovers from left to right in the installs where the charge port is cocked forward, you would end up with an install like mine. The guys at Icon told me that in either of the two positions shown in this thread, the upper mount on the coilover has enough flexibility to account for the limited amount of movement that occurs at the upper mount in our application (3rd gen 4Runners & 1st gen Tacomas).

I went on to ask what they thought about the cause of the early failure that [MENTION=79790]cstraface[/MENTION] experienced. Their thought was that he got a "bad apple", and that despite their attention to quality and precision, no product can be 100% free of defects across a large production run. They reminded me that all of their coilovers carry a 1 year warranty against leakage and manufacturing defects, to account for these types of problems. So, it's probably best that you call them, cstraface, and see what they can do for you being that you've only had them on the truck for 7 months. I'll bet that you are taken care of with a free rebuild.

I just called the number on the website... (951)689-ICON, and a real person picked up in two rings. No press 1 for, press 2 for... it just went straight to a human.

Well, about 7 months on the truck, and driver side is completely blown and feels like Jello and passenger side is leaking oil. I've had it up in Tahoe about 10 times and offroad maybe another 3 or 4 times. So fairly light offroad use with most of the miles on road. I'd estimate about 12-15k miles.

That's pretty terrible if you ask me...does anyone want to trade me front struts? I'm also looking for a set of loaners while I send these in for rebuild. Let me know if you have anything.

If you still want to trade, I'll take the Icons off your hands and send you a set of Toytec coilovers with 650lb springs... straight swap. What do you say?
 

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