Suspension redux

I ended up taking my truck to a 4x4 shop near me to have them do all this work. I supplied all the parts and for $753 OTD they installed the following:

• ICON CO's
• OEM outer tie rods
• OEM lower ball joints
• SPC UCA's with upper BJ's.
• energy suspension steering rack bushings
• alignment

Overall I feel that's a fair price for the work they did. He said the driver side tie rod was a nightmare to remove. Apparently it was either over torqued at one point or just seized in place. That alone took them a long time but he didn't charge me more than the already agreed upon price. I'm somewhat glad I didn't attempt it. I'm disappointed I didn't do the work myself but I'm learning having the right tools and perhaps a helping hand makes all the difference. Next time I'll be more prepared.

This shop didn't have anything positive to say about ICON which was interesting. They claim every ICON product they see ends up leaking from the lower seal and that they are notoriously "soft".

I'm happy the truck is now level and it rides better than it ever has. It's too soon to tell if it's a night and day difference but it's certainly better than it was. I want to hit some forest roads soon to see how they do.


Unfortunately, I now have a new issue. As soon as I tried to leave the shop I had a loud noise and brake pedal vibration when stopping. I took it back and had an employee ride with me. He has a 1st gen as well and immediately knew it was the ABS kicking in. Apparently my left front wheel speed sensor didn't like being unplugged and plugged back in. I'd like to hope they didn't damage it. It's not doing it all the time and only at low speed but it's enough to be annoying. Oddly, the ABS light is not on. The owner also said this may be happening because the ICON's are too soft and as the truck nose dives it's triggering the ABS. I really doubt that.

Sorry for the long post. Here are a few pics.











Wheels and tires next!

 

Wow that labor price is amazing.

Glad you’ve gotten things put back and drivable.

Bummer on the sensor.

 

Yeah I thought the same considering $100 of that was the alignment I was going to have to pay for anyways.

 

Would have been double that here with island pricing.

That suspension work is hard stuff. Best to pay the pros especially with those low prices.

Hope the sensor wire is the problem and not a tone ring.

 

You need to pull out that sensor and clean it off then reinstall. Mine does that sometimes and goes away after I clean it. Worth a shot!

 

Double check that the little bolt on the sensor is snug. Might even have gotten some dirt on the plug when it was off, might need some electronic cleaner or even maf cleaner to give it a spray with and let dry for a few hours.

I don't agree with the idea that it's the front end dropping causing the brake to act up. Odd theory.

Looks really good, your upper arms have a nice angle and the axles don't look very angled from that view. Nice setting on the height.

 

I was thinking I'd try that tomorrow. Is it similar to cleaning a MAF sensor in that you can soak it or is this too electrical for that? Just wondering how I should clean it.

 

I wouldn't soak it. Look at it and you can try wiping it off with a clean rag. If that does nothing then give it a squirt with a cleaner, maf cleaner should be fine. Let it dry for about and hour and put back in, make sure the bolt is snug.

Shouldn't be the ring, those are pretty hard to damage.

 

Just wipe it off with a rag.

 

I agree. I thought it was strange. He seemed eager to blame Icon.

 

Maybe he just dislikes Icon. I'm thinking a little dirt or grease got on a sensor up front. That would make the most sense l.

If that does nothing, look for your brake proportion valve and move the nuts up a bit. The change in ride angle could be putting more pressure on front brakes, moving the nuts upward could relieve that.

 

While watching YouTube videos on how to do my front end work, at least one video said you had to be careful that the ABS sensor was properly seated in its socket before tightening down or it could be damaged by tightening the bolt.

 

Just a few thoughts now that I have around 100 miles under the new set up. My driveway has a huge bump where it meets to road to keep water moving down the street. When I would hit this at an angle in the past my entire truck would rock side to side few times. These ICON's are like "bitch please."They simply don't allow it. I also hit some of the notorious pot holes near my house and noticed a substantial improvement.
The truck feels different with the sway bar off. I don't hate it but I'm anxious to see how it feels with it back on. The Moog Sway bar links that I ordered only came with 1. I'm going to return this and go with something else.


Yesterday I ended up cleaning both wheel speed sensors. The one thought to be the problem(driver side) looked fine. The passenger side had some gunk on it which I cleaned. Despite that, the problem remains although it's really rare. It only happens at very low speed, as I'm coming to a stop while the wheel is turned. I'm going to give it a few weeks and see if it goes away.

It's interesting that after doing work like this the truck develops new noises. As I come to a stop it's making some noise in the front that's hard to describe. It does it every time and it definitely wasn't like that before. When you have a 17 year old truck every new noise is concerning.

 

My 01 made all kinds of random ass squeaks and noises in the front end. I spent some time under there replacing parts and greasing joints but ultimately I decided it is what it is.

I'm liking what you got going on under there

 

I found a seller on eBay selling an OEM wheel speed sensor for $50. They are $200 everywhere else.

I'm going to give this a shot and see if this solves my problem. I'm guessing it was damaged somehow.

I was trying to trace the path last night. I can see the wire runs up the spindle and across the UCA and then disappears. Does anyone know where the other end connects? I'm assuming this shouldn't be a difficult swap.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/183810472140

 

Keep us posted regarding how you like the icons. I'm currently considering either ICONs or an OME setup for the front. Really want to try the icons but haven't found a lot of info regarding how they handle in our trucks so this thread has been helpful!

 

This should be their slogan.

 

So far I love them. I was also looking hard at the OME setup. I bet you would be happy with either.