Ride Quality of Icon?

[DannyLlama]

Also see RiDE's build >

http://www.toyota-4runner.org/5th-gen-t4rs/107174-ride-toyota-4runner-build-2011-le-zombie-crusher-11.html

He seems to love it and looks nice!

 

[jangoforhire]

Wow, lots of info here. Thanks for all the posts guys!

The King setups look good, but to be honest, I like the look of the ICON's better, and would rather go with something that more people on here have tested and can give positive reviews about.

To the OP. I ran a 3 inch lift on my 4th gen for a while with the stock upper control arms and it drove ok but not great. It took some effort to change lanes on the highway and wasnt quiet as stable. I ordered Light Racing UCAs because my ball joints went out on the stock set. Now the truck drives ten times better. I would highly recommend ordering a set of upper control arms to go with your icon lift. It will keep the steering characteristics much closer to stock and make it much more enjoying to drive. Also, you will spare some labor costs and another alignment if you install all the parts at once.

Good luck with the build!

This is great info, I was really curious if new UCA's would really have THAT much of an effect on the ride quality, and I guess this confirms it! I'll have to grab a set of them os well.

limamike Those Light Racing UCA's look great! I was so close to jumping in on that GB, but just wan't sure yet and didn't want to be stuck with a pair of UCA's I didn't like.

So I think you all have convinced me about the ICONS!

Here is my plan:
ICON Remote Res CO's up front.
ICON Piggy-Back Res Shocks in the back. (ordering today)
ICON 2.5" Springs
Somebody's UCA's (suggestions? I can't see how the $1300 ICON pair could possibly be worth it, unless they could make my T4R hover...)
-----
Do I need the rear trailing arm kit? Or could I just add it on later. I have been following RiDE's build for a while and I know he didn't get these. I honestly do not even know what these are for.

Do to money limitations (I am still in college after all), my plan is to buy the components over time (probably 3-4 months) as opposed to one large purchase. I think I am going to call up metal-tech today and get some of those piggy-back res rear shocks sent my way! I will also inquire about the extreme weather plating option when I call.


Thanks for all your guys help!

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

Socal I can't wait to get your impression of the Omega Bypasses. That is some SWEET hardware! I currently have the old-style icon mono-tube rear shocks. if I end up doing a rear bumper I may look at those in the rear or trying to get the piggybacks custom valved to handle the extra weight. ~$800/shock for the Omegas is a little rich for my blood!

I am super stoked to get ahold of em, running around on the stock shocks with Icon rear coils reallllly sucks compared to what I had before. I'll be sure to do a good review on em when I get them all dialed in.

 

[SOcalTRAIL]

Wow, lots of info here. Thanks for all the posts guys!

The King setups look good, but to be honest, I like the look of the ICON's better, and would rather go with something that more people on here have tested and can give positive reviews about.



This is great info, I was really curious if new UCA's would really have THAT much of an effect on the ride quality, and I guess this confirms it! I'll have to grab a set of them os well.

limamike Those Light Racing UCA's look great! I was so close to jumping in on that GB, but just wan't sure yet and didn't want to be stuck with a pair of UCA's I didn't like.

So I think you all have convinced me about the ICONS!

Here is my plan:
ICON Remote Res CO's up front.
ICON Piggy-Back Res Shocks in the back. (ordering today)
ICON 2.5" Springs
Somebody's UCA's (suggestions? I can't see how the $1300 ICON pair could possibly be worth it, unless they could make my T4R hover...)
-----
Do I need the rear trailing arm kit? Or could I just add it on later. I have been following RiDE's build for a while and I know he didn't get these. I honestly do not even know what these are for.

Do to money limitations (I am still in college after all), my plan is to buy the components over time (probably 3-4 months) as opposed to one large purchase. I think I am going to call up metal-tech today and get some of those piggy-back res rear shocks sent my way! I will also inquire about the extreme weather plating option when I call.


Thanks for all your guys help!

Looks like you have a nice plan!:wink2:

Upper arms - I run Total Chaos Arms and am perfectly happy with them. others run the Camburg arms, another good option, and Light Racing arms seem to get nothing but good reviews. All three will accomplish what you need, it comes down mainly to whether or not you want to ditch the ball joint like the Light Racing Arms run and go to a Uni-Ball like the Camburgs and TC arms run. Both have their "plusses and minuses".

Rear links - In my opinion, the only reason to upgrade your rear links is for strength. After upgrading the rear links, the mounting points then become the weak link and should be beefed up as well. There are ALOT of pics on the FJ forum showing dudes who have chewed the OEM rear lower links up after a casual encounter with a rock. The aftermarket offerings all provide adustment to account for a pinion angle that is out of whack, or a few other things related to rear end alignment. Rear and alignment is a non issue in 90% of cases unless you get into a real extreme rear end lift, say... 4" or more. I currently run the full set of adjustable rear links that I fabricated myself with reinforced mounting points, there is no way you would catch me spending the $1300 that TC charges for a rear link kit. My advice, unless you are doing some serious rock crawling / boulder hopping, save your money on the rear links unless you want the "bling" factor. The OEM links will serve you fine for most all offroading and dont require the maintenance that the aftermarket links do.

Hope that helps.

 

[jangoforhire]

Looks like you have a nice plan!:wink2:

Upper arms - I run Total Chaos Arms and am perfectly happy with them. others run the Camburg arms, another good option, and Light Racing arms seem to get nothing but good reviews. All three will accomplish what you need, it comes down mainly to whether or not you want to ditch the ball joint like the Light Racing Arms run and go to a Uni-Ball like the Camburgs and TC arms run. Both have their "plusses and minuses".

Rear links - In my opinion, the only reason to upgrade your rear links is for strength. After upgrading the rear links, the mounting points then become the weak link and should be beefed up as well. There are ALOT of pics on the FJ forum showing dudes who have chewed the OEM rear lower links up after a casual encounter with a rock. The aftermarket offerings all provide adustment to account for a pinion angle that is out of whack, or a few other things related to rear end alignment. Rear and alignment is a non issue in 90% of cases unless you get into a real extreme rear end lift, say... 4" or more. I currently run the full set of adjustable rear links that I fabricated myself with reinforced mounting points, there is no way you would catch me spending the $1300 that TC charges for a rear link kit. My advice, unless you are doing some serious rock crawling / boulder hopping, save your money on the rear links unless you want the "bling" factor. The OEM links will serve you fine for most all offroading and dont require the maintenance that the aftermarket links do.

Hope that helps.

Perfect, exactly what I was looking for. I am going to go ahead and skip on the rear link kit. I will put that money towards those CO's! Now I just have to decide on those UCA's. I will starting searching some threads...

 

[Beakerbox]

Very informative stuff here. It answers a question I had in another thread about a quality suspension. Looks I might go for icon too. Thanks for the insight everyone!

 

[jangoforhire]

For anyone who is interested. I just got off the phone with Brandon at Metal-Tech and he said that the Extreme Weather option only applies to the front CO's and costs $100 more. Just let them know at the time of ordering that you want this option.

 

[jangoforhire]

Ok guys. Thanks for all the help so far. I have the two piggy-back reservoir shocks, and the 2" rear lift springs here already. I am going to be ordering the front CO's soon (or maybe a gobi stealth...but thats another story).

Anyway, I am still on the fence about the ICON rear links (Upper Rear Trailing Arm Kit, Lower Rear Trailing Arm Kit, and Rear Adjustable Pan-Rod Bar Kit) and the front Uniball UCA's. Can someone go into detail about just how much maintenance I would have to do if I replaced them with all ICON parts?

I don't off road all the time, but I still want the strongest possible suspension. And I also want it to look good. But the extra ~1000 for the rear links is a little steep.

 

[JAF707]

I just had extended travel Icon fronts, and Icon billet UCA bought from Metal Tech and installed by Brandon and there guys. In the rear I have spacers from the rev tech lift that came with the truck, will soon change out to the extended travel rear Icon/Metal Tech custom extended rear set up they have on there FJ. Instead of the rear arms I would look at SOcal's build and get the TC lower non extended arm. I am not sure if his is the +2 set up or not. Icon now offers tubular arms at a decent price wheelers off road has the billet one for $1050. Brandon at Metal tech should be able to match.

 

[limamike]

I just had extended travel Icon fronts, and Icon billet UCA bought from Metal Tech and installed by Brandon and there guys. In the rear I have spacers from the rev tech lift that came with the truck, will soon change out to the extended travel rear Icon/Metal Tech custom extended rear set up they have on there FJ. Instead of the rear arms I would look at SOcal's build and get the TC lower non extended arm. I am not sure if his is the +2 set up or not. Icon now offers tubular arms at a decent price wheelers off road has the billet one for $1050. Brandon at Metal tech should be able to match.

Out of happenstance I ended-up buying my entire suspension out of Metal Tech because of a group buy for UCAs and a President's Day sale for my Icons. Brandon was always professional and quick to ship. They'll definitely be getting more of my business in the future.

 

[jangoforhire]

I just had extended travel Icon fronts, and Icon billet UCA bought from Metal Tech and installed by Brandon and there guys. In the rear I have spacers from the rev tech lift that came with the truck, will soon change out to the extended travel rear Icon/Metal Tech custom extended rear set up they have on there FJ. Instead of the rear arms I would look at SOcal's build and get the TC lower non extended arm. I am not sure if his is the +2 set up or not. Icon now offers tubular arms at a decent price wheelers off road has the billet one for $1050. Brandon at Metal tech should be able to match.

I will check out the TC stuff. I have seen the ICON tubular arms but usually like to see some reviews before I buy. I am sure they are quality though. Also, can you link me to the deal on the billet UCA's? The ones I found here <a href="http://www.wheelersoffroad.com/2010upicon4runner.htm">here</a>are more than $1050.

And I agree about Metal Tech, they helped me out with some special orders to ICON.

 

[phillyd2]

I'm going to humbly disagree on the lower links. While my tires may be on dirt over 50% of the time I don't climb rocks, well - not on purpose, and have already dinged one enough to replace mine. I was lucky enough to find new All Pro Upper and Lower links for a steal but them retail as well as others are nowhere as expensive as Icon but a very worthy upgrade if you spend time off road. Like the FJ, our lower links are very easy to bend.

That said, I would be very hard pressed to shell out that kind of coin for the Icons.

 

[zidaro]

The ones I found here <a href="http://www.wheelersoffroad.com/2010upicon4runner.htm">here</a>are more than $1050.

they had them priced at $1050 last week.