Walker Evans coilovers vs.... everything else

[richyrich307]

Looking for a few people who have some experience with the walkers. Would love to hear the good the bad and the ugly about them. Any comparisons to the competition would be great to. Icon, SAW, Fox ect.. By the way they are going on my 05 4runner and they walkers I am looking at are the 2.5's

 

[richyrich307]

Looking for a few people who have some experience with the walkers. Would love to hear the good the bad and the ugly about them. Any comparisons to the competition would be great to. Icon, SAW, Fox ect.. By the way they are going on my 05 4runner and they walkers I am looking at are the 2.5's

 

[MAC4Runner]

I do not have 1st hand experience but I've heard Walker's have a tendency to need to be rebuilt often. If it were me and I wanted remote reservoir shocks I would lean toward Icon. If you don't need remote reservoir I'd go with Sway-a-Way (SAW) or ICON.

HTH

 

[rook]

I dont believe I've read of anyone posting about Walkers over here or over at 120.

If you could give us an idea of what type of a build-up you have in mind it may help with other recommendations.

 

[richyrich307]

Yea I guess that would definitely help. My build up is leaning towards as much offroad ability as possible, well as much as i can with retaining IFS. Doing front and rear air locker. A total lift of 5", 3.5" suspension 1.5" BL. 35" km2's "running bump stop extenders". all pro upper a arms, upper and lower allpro rear links.. the list goes on and on but you get the idea. MACrunner stated that he as hear the walkers have a tendency to need to be rebuilt often, however i have heard the same thing about the Icons. Also I have heard the have a tendency to leak. From what I understand about the Icons is that the are a good high speed shock, meaning that they perform best at higher speed offroad trails (aka desert racing). I have been told that they are a much stiffer shock perviding a much rougher ride. Im not looking for a great smooth driver on the road but that is just what I have heard. From what I have heard about the Walkers is that they are a much softer shock which seems to me would be more suited for the slower offroad crowd. (rock crawling). Honestly I am not sure about anything I have heard a different story from everybody, and since you cant always get the exact facts i guess the next best thing would be opinions which I am very open to. Thanks guys

 

[richyrich307]

Hey Rook I was looking at your offroad pics, very nice ny the way, and i noticed your wheels. Those arent 16" are they?

 

[rook]

I'm running ICON's and they are a little firmer, but the overall quality of the ride is preserved due to excellent damping. In fact they handle better than oem, even with XREAS.

Most coilovers for our trucks have spring rates from 600-700 lb/in. If you are going heavy up front (full steel bumper with winch) you may want to consider SAW 700lb coils for the FJ. Or go with the big boys such as FOX or King. there are a lot of options available.

Here is some other 4Runner specific info.

Fitting 35's will require cutting back and re-welding the front body mounts.

You will need to reinforce the passenger differential mount. Especially if you add a front locker. There have been documented failures costing several thousand to repair. http://www.toyota120.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3102&highlight=failure

 

[BlairB]

My thoughts are you do not need remote reservoir coilover system since as you stated you are doing slow rock crawling. Where rem res really shine is in long fast runs, where heat build up becomes an issue. Since rem res have both more fluid and more surface area they have much better cooling than non rem res shocks so they do not fade as quickly. I think for your purposes, a normal non remote reservoir coilover (SAW, Icon, Camburg etc...) will be fine.

 

[richyrich307]

Yea that definitely makes sense as far as not even running remote reservoir coilover for what I am looking to do with the truck. The 2.5 coil from walker evans is not a remote reservoir coilover though. I guess guess what I am really looking to hear is what is best overall... The Icon, the SAW, or the Walkers. I know it is a very difficult question to answer and I probably wont even get the answer just opinions... which are still good. Also I am not positive but allpro offroad told me that I would be able to run the 35's if I was running the 3.5 suspension lift with the bumpstop extenders and a 1.5 BL. and of course the correct amount of BS on the wheels. The front will also be fitted with a shrockworks bumper which also free's up a bit of space.

 

[rook]

I guess guess what I am really looking to hear is what is best overall... The Icon, the SAW, or the Walkers. I know it is a very difficult question to answer and I probably wont even get the answer just opinions... which are still good. Also I am not positive but allpro offroad told me that I would be able to run the 35's if I was running the 3.5 suspension lift with the bumpstop extenders and a 1.5 BL. and of course the correct amount of BS on the wheels. The front will also be fitted with a shrockworks bumper which also free's up a bit of space.

You're off to a good start with the research. Here are some builds with 35's


35's on a 4Runner

315/70/17