Icon 2.5 Extended Travel vs. Bilstein 5100

[rossgoldie]

I am currently running Bilstein 5100's, but I am doing a lot of reading (for the future about the Icon 2.5 Series Extended travel shocks and coilovers and I have just a quick question I cannot seem to find a definitive answer on.

How much more travel does the 2.5 "extended travel" Icons have vs. the Bilstein 5100's? (with and without the Icon uniball UCA's)

 

[turbo8]

About an inch more. You will need the uppers arms and diff drop spacers.

 

[D Farms]

are you sure? whats the stroke length of the icons? im getting a solid 10" of travel out of my tundra 5100s.

 

[rossgoldie]

are you sure? whats the stroke length of the icons? im getting a solid 10" of travel out of my tundra 5100s.

Are you saying the icons have more than an inch extra of travel?

 

[BigFishAllDay]

Some relevant info, quoted from my build thread....

Link to quoted post

Last week, I started playing with the front suspension again, and installed some new goodies.

Before I got started, I figured I'd take some comparison shots of the three different front setups that I've run.

All three setups are within a few MM of each other with regard to fully extended length. Only the Icons are touted as "extended travel", however all of these setups could be labeled as such with regard to down travel. The longest of the three is actually the TRD Tundra/5100 setup, which is a few MM longer than the other two. I didn't take measurements, but I would assume that the compressed lengths are similar as well.

 

[A.Wilson013]

Some relevant info, quoted from my build thread....

Nice post, BFAD. I have been SLACKING on reading build threads lately, so I missed that one before.

I'd be interested to know how much up travel those 5100s and toytecs can achieve... I have put the body of my coilover all the way down into the very bottom of the coil mount on my ICONs.

I think it's important to note, however, that travel isn't the only reason for running the 2.5" diameter suspension setups... They're a night and day improvement (in mine, and everyone else I know that has made them change's opinion) over the 5100 and Toytec setups.

 

[D Farms]

I have shortened my bump stops quite a bit, and i have tubbed to completely clear 35s up front, and then on top of that i have 3" of body lift up front, and they are close to rubbing at full stuff. you can see here. obviously the ride is not as good as something like an icon or king shock though. makes one hell of a budget shock though.

 

[absalom]

Nice post, BFAD. I have been SLACKING on reading build threads lately, so I missed that one before.

I'd be interested to know how much up travel those 5100s and toytecs can achieve... I have put the body of my coilover all the way down into the very bottom of the coil mount on my ICONs.

I think it's important to note, however, that travel isn't the only reason for running the 2.5" diameter suspension setups... They're a night and day improvement (in mine, and everyone else I know that has made them change's opinion) over the 5100 and Toytec setups.

Agree completely. Riding in a full 2.5" ICON truck absolutely ruined my 5100's for me. They ride like trash in comparison. Wish I had known this before picking up the Billie's.... lol. Won't make the same mistake with the Land Cruiser...

 

[JayRolla]

Agree completely. Riding in a full 2.5" ICON truck absolutely ruined my 5100's for me. They ride like trash in comparison. Wish I had known this before picking up the Billie's.... lol. Won't make the same mistake with the Land Cruiser...

I had total different feeling riding in an icon setup. My feeling was glad my $800 setup feels great compared to a $3000 setup. Lol. It did feel better at 50mph on a small dirt road though. Glad I don't go that fast on the trail. Then I might upgrade.

 

[rideexileex]

I had total different feeling riding in an icon setup. My feeling was glad my $800 setup feels great compared to a $3000 setup. Lol. It did feel better at 50mph on a small dirt road though. Glad I don't go that fast on the trail. Then I might upgrade.

Ha, my thoughts exactly...

 

[Dezert4Runner]

Travel numbers aside, the bigger differences between a 2.5" c/o vs 5100's are:

* increased oil capacity to minimize fade (only a factor in prolonged high speed use). You can also add external reservoirs also to increase the oil cooling capacity.

*rebuildability -these are, in theory, good for the life of your vehicle!

*spring selection - you can get almost any spring rate and spring length you want when adding skid/ bumper/ winch weight. Spring length can help take some preload off your c/o's (which will make the ride smoother) by going from a 13" default coil to a 14" coil.

*more adjustability for fine tuning ride height

Having both, I'd pick my 2.5 SAW's over 5100's. The price difference is staggering though! Just a few highlights in difference I thought would be good to know for anyone reading this.

 

[snivilous]

Travel numbers aside, the bigger differences between a 2.5" c/o vs 5100's are:

* increased oil capacity to minimize fade (only a factor in prolonged high speed use). You can also add external reservoirs also to increase the oil cooling capacity.

*rebuildability -these are, in theory, good for the life of your vehicle!

*spring selection - you can get almost any spring rate and spring length you want when adding skid/ bumper/ winch weight. Spring length can help take some preload off your c/o's (which will make the ride smoother) by going from a 13" default coil to a 14" coil.

*more adjustability for fine tuning ride height

Having both, I'd pick my 2.5 SAW's over 5100's. The price difference is staggering though! Just a few highlights in difference I thought would be good to know for anyone reading this.

You're also missing tuning, since you can rebuild them you have endless tuning possibilities. If someone takes the time to fine tune a shock it will outperform any king or icon shock that's just been bolted up and not specifically setup for that vehicle.

 

[JayRolla]

One thing I thought was kind of crazy, ICON recommends rebuilding after 15k miles for offroad use.

Is this normal or can they go longer like 40k miles if mostly street?

 

[Dezert4Runner]

You're also missing tuning, since you can rebuild them you have endless tuning possibilities. If someone takes the time to fine tune a shock it will outperform any king or icon shock that's just been bolted up and not specifically setup for that vehicle.

How did I miss that?!

One thing I thought was kind of crazy, ICON recommends rebuilding after 15k miles for offroad use.

Is this normal or can they go longer like 40k miles if mostly street?

My Sway Away's have at least 45k and are just now at the point that they could use a rebuild. I bought them with around 35k on them, and the previous owner ran them hard on a DD turned trail rig and they definitely have been put through the ringer.

 

[theizzardking]

One thing I thought was kind of crazy, ICON recommends rebuilding after 15k miles for offroad use.

Is this normal or can they go longer like 40k miles if mostly street?

i recently switched from radflo's to icons, but more or less the same thing in design, i got about 40~50K out of the radflo's before they needed to be rebuilt, daily driver with heavy weekend logging road use and some light wheeling on occasion.

you'll get quite a bit more out of them for just street use, the 15K is basically heavy use in high cycle, high speed type driving.

 

[JayRolla]

i recently switched from radflo's to icons, but more or less the same thing in design, i got about 40~50K out of the radflo's before they needed to be rebuilt, daily driver with heavy weekend logging road use and some light wheeling on occasion.

you'll get quite a bit more out of them for just street use, the 15K is basically heavy use in high cycle, high speed type driving.

Sweet. Its a DD but he will take it out almost every weekend. Mostly rock crawling with some high speed offroad use but not much options in CO for that.

 

[theizzardking]

Sweet. Its a DD but he will take it out almost every weekend. Mostly rock crawling with some high speed offroad use but not much options in CO for that.

yep, basically mirrors my own use. you should expect about 40~50k out of them, maybe keep your old shocks so you have something to run on for a few weeks when you have the icons or the like out for rebuild, i was in that situation and just ended up just buying another set of coil overs (hence the switch from radflo to icon) , i now have my radflo's sitting in a box and I'll probably rebuild them over the winter, don't get stuck with nothing to drive in the future if you decide to send your shocks off for rebuild...not a big issue if you plan on rebuilding the shock yourself...

... i hope that made sense. lol

 

[JayRolla]

yep, basically mirrors my own use. you should expect about 40~50k out of them, maybe keep your old shocks so you have something to run on for a few weeks when you have the icons or the like out for rebuild, i was in that situation and just ended up just buying another set of coil overs (hence the switch from radflo to icon) , i now have my radflo's sitting in a box and I'll probably rebuild them over the winter, don't get stuck with nothing to drive in the future if you decide to send your shocks off for rebuild...not a big issue if you plan on rebuilding the shock yourself...

... i hope that made sense. lol

That makes a lot of sense!!

But again he can just drive his old 1990 Eagle Talon AWD making 400+whp and yes I would rebuild them myself.

 

[masphx]

Another thing to consider is on road driving. My icons feel very planted on the road. Helps with body roll. I have less body roll with my icon lif (2-3 inch higher) t then I did with my stock suspension. Also less body roll then the ss 1.2 set up. Dips or speed bumps are fun to take at 40mph also