Talk me into an LT coil over.

[wfo9]

My TC + 2 should be here any day. Won't start the install for a few weeks as I'm still trying to decide on coil overs and I have another project with my trail rig going right now. But want to get the rest of the parts ordered. I spent this much.. might as well go all in.... :frusty:

Right now I'm pretty set on sticking with ICON. Here is my reasoning. I feel the road manners will be better with digressive valving. No swaybar is going to be sketchy no doubt about it... and I figure the ICONs with CDC adjustment should at least allow me to keep it somewhat road friendly with a decent platform on initial travel. Then I could dial down the CDC for offroad. I may even go back to running a rear factory swaybar or do an anti rock in the rear at some point. The rear factory bar with extended links only hurts articulation an inch or two ... and it is a noticeable improvement on on the road when no front swaybar is in place. I've driven many miles this way trying different configurations.

BTW, I may be selling my custom front swaybar disconnect setup. Still not sure, yet. I like it so much that I may just go back to it and sell the LT setup if it is not meeting my on-road requirements.

I'm questioning my sanity for doing this in the first place, but I got the itch and it needs to be scratched. Not really a smart move, but it is where I'm at.

My other options under consideration are.
King, Fox

I know the kings would be buttery smooth offroad, but I'm mostly concerned about the on-road manners as I know any of these LT coil overs should be amazing offRoad.

What I don't know is how good/effective any of the adjustable shocks are in terms of making a noticeable difference when cranked up for increased dampening. I basically want something that can really be tuned vs just a mild tweak.

Fox DSC claims 25% with separate high and low speed adjustments.
ICON and King I think mainly provide low speed control with the adjuster, so that makes me think the Fox might provide more actual adjustment.

Just figured I would ask to get one last set of opinions before placing an order.

Oh yea, if anyone has amazing pricing ... I'm all ears....

 

[honda250xtitan]

I hope you go with 8" kings/Fox's regardless lol.


From what i've gathered the clickers/cdc/whatever you wanna call it are meant for fine tuning, and MOST (i know, you're not the average mall crawler) leave it set in the middle after a couple weeks. The Fox ones do seem to provide more adjustment then either king/icon, but i still think its meant for fine tuning. I honestly feel like Ben at Filthy motorsports would be able to give you the best answer other then an engineer at king/fox/icon.

I've ALWAYS seen that Kings are the most "plush" on road, and still take the abuse offroad. As you know, icon runs a digressive valving as opposed to king's "progressive" Fox is the same as King. My Fox 2.5's on my titan with no sway bar were a bit stiff for daily driving, but at speed off road they were glorious. Fox has sh1tty valving out of the box compared to king. Which is why i'm probably going with Kings for the 4runner. Plus Fox customer service is less then ideal usually. BUT in your case, wider track, no sway bar, the icon digressive valving might be the ticket like you said.

[email protected]

Isn't lawndart running a +2 kit?

heres a BRILLIANT idea...run your hyro bump stops at the horrible location of constantly riding the LCA. that way they act as a sway bar lol. and set your limit straps wayyyyy to short so the droop is contained. lol.

Like i said earlier, just get the 8" kings in custom colors with finned resis and the clickers. Wont the bypass shocks be able to help with the sway are does all the valving get changed to accomadate the extra shocks next to the coilovers? (yes you'll get bypasses up front eventually lol)

 

[JSparky]

heres a BRILLIANT idea...run your hyro bump stops at the horrible location of constantly riding the LCA. that way they act as a sway bar lol.

...interesting

 

[honda250xtitan]

...interesting

I've seen guys set their cans up like that.:der:

 

[wfo9]

I hope you go with 8" kings/Fox's regardless lol.


From what i've gathered the clickers/cdc/whatever you wanna call it are meant for fine tuning, and MOST (i know, you're not the average mall crawler) leave it set in the middle after a couple weeks. The Fox ones do seem to provide more adjustment then either king/icon, but i still think its meant for fine tuning. I honestly feel like Ben at Filthy motorsports would be able to give you the best answer other then an engineer at king/fox/icon.

I've ALWAYS seen that Kings are the most "plush" on road, and still take the abuse offroad. As you know, icon runs a digressive valving as opposed to king's "progressive" Fox is the same as King. My Fox 2.5's on my titan with no sway bar were a bit stiff for daily driving, but at speed off road they were glorious. Fox has sh1tty valving out of the box compared to king. Which is why i'm probably going with Kings for the 4runner. Plus Fox customer service is less then ideal usually. BUT in your case, wider track, no sway bar, the icon digressive valving might be the ticket like you said.

[email protected]

Isn't lawndart running a +2 kit?

heres a BRILLIANT idea...run your hyro bump stops at the horrible location of constantly riding the LCA. that way they act as a sway bar lol. and set your limit straps wayyyyy to short so the droop is contained. lol.

Like i said earlier, just get the 8" kings in custom colors with finned resis and the clickers. Wont the bypass shocks be able to help with the sway are does all the valving get changed to accomadate the extra shocks next to the coilovers? (yes you'll get bypasses up front eventually lol)

No bypasses planned at this point. Don't plan on high speed stuff.

Yep, not thrilled with fox customer service, but I do think they probably provide the most adjustment with the dials.

I'm on ICON now and really like it overall. It's not quite as plush as what I have felt with kings, but I'm also not really looking for plush. Especially not what I really want without sway bars.

Too bad there is no such thing as coil over rentals/demos. It really would be the ideal way to sell this stuff.

 

[LawnDart]

Kings. The ICONs just aren't even in the same league.

 

[2011T4RLE]

Honestly, put the rear bar back on if you do anything. From the sounds of it you have already talked yourself into it already. As far as LT coilovers basically everyone run Kings. I imagine that is for good reason. I personally will never need an LT set so I cannot give my personal experience.

 

[nb rob]

A big part of the plush king ride is the softer coils. The standard coilover comes with 550lb springs. I'm sure you'd want a stiffer spring anyway to accommodate an aftermarket bumper, etc. This is no problem for King, and is just a phonecall away.

I had fox on a prior vehicle-- customer service wasn't great.
King on the other hand, what a world of difference. I've been on the phone with them twice. No attitude, super-helpful.

Fox might make a good product, but I want somebody to stand behind my thousands of dollars of suspension components. Good luck getting fox to do that. Or even getting someone on the phone that gives a rats ass about you and your consumer grade coilovers.

 

[LawnDart]

A big part of the plush king ride is the softer coils. The standard coilover comes with 550lb springs. I'm sure you'd want a stiffer spring anyway to accommodate an aftermarket bumper, etc. This is no problem for King, and is just a phonecall away.

I had fox on a prior vehicle-- customer service wasn't great.
King on the other hand, what a world of difference. I've been on the phone with them twice. No attitude, super-helpful.

Fox might make a good product, but I want somebody to stand behind my thousands of dollars of suspension components. Good luck getting fox to do that. Or even getting someone on the phone that gives a rats ass about you and your consumer grade coilovers.

Brett King personally handled our order, and asked a ton of questions and provided a ton of feedback on how our shocks would be built.

My only regret was not doing the custom anodizing on mine, I just didn't have the coin to drop on 2000+ dollars worth of custom colors. Plus the King "blue/silver" is pretty iconic.

 

[Jetboy]

Coilover air shock. Tuning nightmare - which is pretty much standard procedure on mountain bikes, but the strip down to adjust is way easier on the bicycle. But... you can have a pretty nice air bump stop built in to your coilover. If I had the time/$ to do it, I'd consider running them on my front end. I've been thinking for a while about putting low pressure air shocks on the rear to run along with the coils for on-the-fly height adjustment (yeah I'd run air instead of nitrogen).

Smart money is probably on just regular coilovers though. Just a thought.

 

[honda250xtitan]

2010 + Toyota 4Runner King Shocks OEM Upgrade Kit - $1,424.95 w/ Free Shipping!

scroll down, theres a video, under the video are links to jump to different sections of the video. well worth your time IMO. I've been "into" coilovers for a few years now and the video was still pretty sweet. he even talks about them weird air shocks lol

i'd honestly call king, fox (good luck lol), or ben at filthy motorsports. they'll know more then random strangers on a forum; for the most part.

Fox is doing a bunch of rearranging on the business side, maybe when they get settled it'll be better.

 

[wfo9]

2010 + Toyota 4Runner King Shocks OEM Upgrade Kit - $1,424.95 w/ Free Shipping!

scroll down, theres a video, under the video are links to jump to different sections of the video. well worth your time IMO. I've been "into" coilovers for a few years now and the video was still pretty sweet. he even talks about them weird air shocks lol

i'd honestly call king, fox (good luck lol), or ben at filthy motorsports. they'll know more then random strangers on a forum; for the most part.

Fox is doing a bunch of rearranging on the business side, maybe when they get settled it'll be better.

Thanks for the link.. .I will contact these guys. I like what he has to say...

I'm absolutely not the type of person who will buy something just because it is all the rage and popular.. I turn every wrench and weld every bead on all my rigs... I want a balanced trail/road setup.

I've done a lot of 2wheel business with fox in the past. No a fan of their customer service at all. They do build a good product, but just don't like the company.

I have 0 complaints with ICON. Work amazingly well for mixed use IMHO.

I'll post back when I make a decision.

 

[JSparky]

Brett King personally handled our order, and asked a ton of questions and provided a ton of feedback on how our shocks would be built.

My only regret was not doing the custom anodizing on mine, I just didn't have the coin to drop on 2000+ dollars worth of custom colors. Plus the King "blue/silver" is pretty iconic.

Blue and orange is a great combination, imo. Flip side of that coin is 2k is a lot to spend on a nonfunctional appearance.. I wouldn't think twice about the decision you made.

 

[honda250xtitan]

Thanks for the link.. .I will contact these guys. I like what he has to say...

I'm absolutely not the type of person who will buy something just because it is all the rage and popular.. I turn every wrench and weld every bead on all my rigs... I want a balanced trail/road setup.

I've done a lot of 2wheel business with fox in the past. No a fan of their customer service at all. They do build a good product, but just don't like the company.

I have 0 complaints with ICON. Work amazingly well for mixed use IMHO.

I'll post back when I make a decision.

ICON's OEM replacement kits are second to none. thats their bread and butter. I think King will have more options for a LT kit though.

regardless, can't wait to see it all come together.

 

[4Running303]

2010 + Toyota 4Runner King Shocks OEM Upgrade Kit - $1,424.95 w/ Free Shipping!

scroll down, theres a video, under the video are links to jump to different sections of the video. well worth your time IMO. I've been "into" coilovers for a few years now and the video was still pretty sweet. he even talks about them weird air shocks lol

i'd honestly call king, fox (good luck lol), or ben at filthy motorsports. they'll know more then random strangers on a forum; for the most part.

Fox is doing a bunch of rearranging on the business side, maybe when they get settled it'll be better.

I bought my Kings from Ben at FilthyMotorsports. He's local for me, but that doesn't matter cause they ship direct from King. He is VERY knowledgeable and can walk you through what measurements to take. I appreciated the fact that Ben didn't try to up-sell me anything...he listened to my plans and told his thoughts.
Custom orders (which you will be doing custom with King) do take time...and Ben is one of King's higher volume dealers. It may take him some time to call you back or return an email...at first I was annoyed when my order took twice the quoted time and then it was "lost" in the King warehouse for a few days. Ben tracked it down, and it was shipped expedited by King.

Good dealer and knowledgeable...don't hesitate to call him.

 

[DannyLlama]

Can someone give scenarios to where an LT is "needed" not nice to have? I have been wondering this a while and haven't had the courage to ask lol

 

[Jetboy]

Can someone give scenarios to where an LT is "needed" not nice to have? I have been wondering this a while and haven't had the courage to ask lol

If you want tires larger than 34 inches it's pretty hard to do otherwise.

 

[wfo9]

Can someone give scenarios to where an LT is "needed" not nice to have? I have been wondering this a while and haven't had the courage to ask lol

Need is a strong word... I would say "highly desirable" in two main scenarios that are not all that common for a 5th gen...

1.If you ever wanted to run some trail like the rubicon and wanted to have hopes of keeping up with solid axle rigs and taking similar lines. The increased wheel travel opens up many possibilities for what a rig can do and maintain stability and traction. It's still not as good as SAS when it comes to extreme trails..., but it is a move in the right direction.

2. If you ever wanted to do any high speed desert type stuff. You need the travel and improved motion ratios to take the abuse. The shocks angle out more and are longer overall allowing for lighter springs and better dampening....

For number #1 the increased droop/articulation and wider stance is mainly what you are after, for number # 2 its the increased up travel and piston travel in the shock that allows big hits to be soaked up.


More suspension travel is simply addictive when you get into extreme terrain. It turns a big obstacle into FUN! :beer:

There are some big downsides that come with it... It's clearly not for everyone.

The 5th gen platform itself is pretty limited by the body and clearance (gas tank...) when it comes to extreme offroad use. So I feel it is kind of a dumb move overall. But... I like doing stupid things sometimes. I don't need to drive the truck daily or anything.. It's more of a toy, so toys need to be played with and its fun to learn and try different things.

 

[DannyLlama]

^ thank you sir.. Good luck with your journey

 

[HTXpro]

I won't even be in the market for high end coilovers for the next 1-2 years, yet for some reason I watched that video all the way through. I now know what and from where I'll be ordering when I take that step.