ICON Suspension DIY installation

[KodeRush]

I finally finished my ICON suspension installation by myself on my 2011 Limited. It’s about 3” lift in the front, and 2” lift in the rear. The ICON suspension is stiffer than the XREAS, I have less body roll in turns, and less brake nose dive. Haven’t tried real off-road yet, just tried to run over some concrete parking stoppers in the parking lot, it’s much easier and feel much better than doing this with XREAS. I'm very happy about the result.

The installation was not as hard as I expected, just lots of work to do. Some steps were a little bit tricky. Other than those, it's kinda straight forward if you follow the Toyota Factory Repair Manual, ICON and LightRacing UCA instructions. And it’s a one person job, my wife only periodically came and checked if I’m safe and still alive.

A bit about myself, it's my first time to install suspension and I had zero experience before. As hobbies, I do some woodworking, electronics, I can built deck, fence, etc, so kind of handy, but pretty amateur. So a newbie should be confident to handle this job.

Ok, without further ado, let’s get to the business. My truck is a black 2011 Limited with XREAS. The parts I put on are:
ICON Extended Travel Remote Reservoir Front Coilover Shock Kit (SKU: ICON-5-8747)
2010+ 5th Gen 4Runner Extended Remote Reservoir Coilovers

ICON 2003-Current 4Runner Rear 2.0 VS Series Shocks (SKU: ICON-5-6505)
2003-Current 4Runner Icon 2.0 VS Series Aluminum Rear Shocks

Light Racing UCA (SKU: LR-25480)
Light Racing Upper Control Arms - FJ Cruiser/4Runner - Metal Tech 4x4

ICON 03-Current 4Runner 2" Lift Rear Coil Springs (SKU: ICON-5-2700)
03-Current 4Runner 2" Lift Rear Coil Springs - Metal Tech 4x4

Before started, you need to get some tools. Some decent jacks, jack stands, assorted sockets and wrenches, torque wrench are necessary. A rolling board will be very helpful. I think the only tool I specifically bought is the tie-rod puller. You may also need a 32mm socket for UCA tie-rod top nut, but I haven’t bought it yet, just let the dealer shop to tighten it to specification, because I don’t think I need to tighten that nut in a while. Some other tools may include impact driver, crowbar, protection goggle, head lamp, gloves, WD-40, Loctite(thread locker), etc.

Some of my tools:


I’m not gonna go with every detail of each step, I just want to list some tricky/confusing/important steps.

The first thing is to jack up the truck. Because you are gonna jack it up pretty high, you’d better do it in several steps. Jack up front a couple inches, then rear, then front another couple inches, then rear... It’s much stabler and safer.


Taking off the upper control arm first will make taking off front shock easier. There shouldn't be any problem taking that long pivot bolt out(You may need to move a AC pipe a bit in engine bay to get the right hand pivot bolt out, that’s easy).

Now use the tie rod puller to disconnect UCA and steering knuckle. My tie rod puller didn't fit, so I had to use angle grinder to modify it to use. So please buy a U-shape puller, not this A-shape type puller.


Compare the factory UCA and LR UCA, LR UCA has much more inner clearance for the coil and hose for remote reservoir.


After taking off some underbody cover, sway bar, you can start taking off the front suspension. Don’t freak out about the XREAS and disconnecting those valves. That’s super easy. Because when you loosen the valves, they shut off automatically, it’s like valve stem on wheel.


Notice the centre pin of the valve.



I don’t know how about KDSS, but on XREAS, sway bar does NOT need to be relocated, just sandwich the bracket between sway bar and frame in original place. The remote reservoir fits pretty tight on the right side as our washer fluid reservoir takes a lot of space. But it’ll fit anyways. On the left, the bracket doesn’t fit very well, so I had to do some Dremel work to enlarge the mounting hole.

 

[KodeRush]

Factory v.s. ICON


Make sure enough clearance among remote reservoir hose, UCA and coil.


Rear suspension is much easier. Disconnecting the XREAS valve.




Taking out the rear spring was actually very easy, DO NOT follow the repair manual about disconnecting the brake line, drain the brake fluid, etc. Just take off the rear sway bar, and use a jack to raise one end of the axle, then the spring on the other side can be taken out by hand. BE CAREFUL with all the brake tubes, you need to loosen some brake tube bracket to give rear axle some extra stretching.


Compare


Because the new rear spring is longer, you need a bottle jack for extra extension.


Now rear spring and shock in place.

 

[KodeRush]

Now it time to take off the XREAS reservoir and tubes.


Disconnecting the valve.


The front segment of the XREAS tube stuck between the body and frame.


And Repair Manual tells you to cut the tube and get a new one. DON’T do that. You can loosen the body mount nut and use a crowbar to leverage the body from the frame a little bit, so you can take the tube out in one piece. I used a jack and a block of wood to lift the crowbar.


A comparison of XREAS centre reservoir and ICON remote reservoir.


XREAS tubes

 

[KodeRush]

Before & After






The alignment sheet

 

[MeBe4running]

What a great write-up! Thanks for taking the time! :clap2:

 

[GrantK]

^^^ What he said! ^^^

 

[Vegas]

Well done sir!

 

[sandcrawler]

nicely done! enjoy the sweet ride! :bravo:

 

[mace.]

Great job!!! How long do you think it took you from start to finish?

 

[Jono.ful]

All the lumber kinda scares me a little, but otherwise good job

 

[scjo06]

Great job on the install, your setup looks nice!

Hypothetical question. If you had the KDSS, would you still have tackled the DIY approach? Im not questioning your skills, as you seem to have moved through the install relatively easy. Just wondering if it would added to the :frusty: factor?

 

[KodeRush]

Great job!!! How long do you think it took you from start to finish?

Thanks! I took more than 20 hours to finished this.

 

[KodeRush]

All the lumber kinda scares me a little, but otherwise good job

You mean the lumber under the jack stand? No worries, I specifically made those lumber base and they look ugly, but pretty sturdy.

 

[KodeRush]

Great job on the install, your setup looks nice!

Hypothetical question. If you had the KDSS, would you still have tackled the DIY approach? Im not questioning your skills, as you seem to have moved through the install relatively easy. Just wondering if it would added to the :frusty: factor?

Thanks!

I'm not sure about KDSS, but XREAS added some pain on my ass already. I spent quite amount of time dealing with the XREAS, it's probably the same effort in dealing with KDSS.

 

[KodeRush]

What a great write-up! Thanks for taking the time! :clap2:

^^^ What he said! ^^^

Well done sir!

nicely done! enjoy the sweet ride! :bravo:

Thanks guys, your trucks look awesome too!

 

[Okki]

Thanks! I took more than 20 hours to finished this.

What spring weight did you go with? 600, 650, 700? what's your take on the ride difference between the XREAS and the Icon's?

Thanks!

Okki

 

[1engineer]

Great job on the install, your setup looks nice!

Hypothetical question. If you had the KDSS, would you still have tackled the DIY approach? Im not questioning your skills, as you seem to have moved through the install relatively easy. Just wondering if it would added to the :frusty: factor?

KDSS stays on with a lift so there is no reason to remove it. KDSS does not hook into the shocks that need replaced so it would be as easy as an SR5 version to upgrade. XREAS is the toughest. Good job OP!

 

[Batang.Gapo]

Awesome write-up!!!

 

[harper7]

Thanks guys, your trucks look awesome too!

Great write-up . I see you were busy and skipped alot of steps! lol That's what happens seems to happen to my write-ups as once I get started ,I'm in the zone and forget about pics. I managed to get those XREAS lines out of 2 installs without messing with the body mounts. It was tight but they came out with a little persuasion .

KDSS stays on with a lift so there is no reason to remove it. KDSS does not hook into the shocks that need replaced so it would be as easy as an SR5 version to upgrade. XREAS is the toughest. Good job OP!

You do have to remove at least one side of both the front and rear KDSS bars to get enough travel to get the CO's and shocks out. The hard part is to get the KDSS bars reattached and the KDSS TE was by far the hardest for me as I've actually lifted all 3 models .The key is not to let the front actuator extend and it shouldn't be as hard.Some,lately have strapped it up so it can't extend which I didn't know at the time and the front was very hard to get reattached to the LCA. Took 2 jacks and a punch to get it to line up.The Limited's Xreas are just time consuming to take off,not hard and SR5's are a piece of cake.

 

[1engineer]

Great write-up . I see you were busy and skipped alot of steps! lol That's what happens seems to happen to my write-ups as once I get started ,I'm in the zone and forget about pics. I managed to get those XREAS lines out of 2 installs without messing with the body mounts. It was tight but they came out with a little persuasion .



You do have to remove at least one side of both the front and rear KDSS bars to get enough travel to get the CO's and shocks out. The hard part is to get the KDSS bars reattached and the KDSS TE was by far the hardest for me as I've actually lifted all 3 models .The key is not to let the front actuator extend and it shouldn't be as hard.Some,lately have strapped it up so it can't extend which I didn't know at the time and the front was very hard to get reattached to the LCA. Took 2 jacks and a punch to get it to line up.The Limited's Xreas are just time consuming to take off,not hard and SR5's are a piece of cake.

You are right Gary! What I MEANT to say was the complete KDSS assembly did not have to be removed such as the accumulators, lines and sway bar actuators and will still be part of the suspension after the lift, unlike XREAS.