Budget 2.5 Suspension Setup From Icon

Perusing shock offerings, I stumbled upon an interesting setup from Icon: a budget 2.5 shock coil over that is currently on sale for $349 a pop, down from $524. Enter the EXP series Coilover.



What's so special about the EXP? I have no idea. But lets call it the Bilstein 5100 of the 2.5 world. I'd normally award that title to the Bilstein 6112, but it comes with a proprietary coil that can't be changed out for a heavier coil. While it is probably just as difficult to change spring rate on the factory coil, we are simply reusing it, just like the Bilstein 5100.

Also mimicking the 5100 style, the shock is ride height adjustable from stock height up to 2.25" using cir-clips and reuses the factory top hat.

Unlike the 5100, it's obviously a 2.5" shock, utilizes an anodized aluminum body, PTFE spherical bearings, and is fully rebuildable/revalvable. Well, at least they say it is. I've heard that line before, and while technically true, it's not always easy to find a shop that can actually rebuild or revolve a shock. Oh, and it's ok per Icon to use factory wheels and tires.

So what about the rears? I don't see an EXP offering, but the closest 2.5 Icon offering is a non-reservoir IR Series. Same aluminum body, but poly bushings. Appears to be a good match, but what do I know.



Jack-It Suspension has the rears on sale for $717 for the pair with a $50 off $500 coupon, dropping the price to $662.45. Shipping is free, as it is from Icon for the EXP fronts, coming to a grand total of $1360.45 before the tax man gets his cut. As far as I've seen, that's about entry level pricing for a good set of 2.0 front coilovers.

Notice I said GOOD front coilovers. Are the Icon EXP's any good? I dunno. Maybe. Maybe not. Scouring the inter-webs, I'm not seeing much about them other than a new Bronco hitting the launch button at the dunes... a few times. I don't plan on doing the same thing, but I guess it's good to know that it's possible? Hopefully that means they are somewhat robust.

Why am I looking at these?

- They are the only 2.5" shock I've seen that can be run at stock height (6112's lowest setting is .75" which measured closer to 1.25" after settling)

- 650 lb/in coil can be a little light for heavy loads, IMO, unless damping is increased, which can have it's own drawbacks. 6112's and most other 2.5 options use a lighter coil successfully, but ARB, OME, etc often use heavier duty coil. I can't tell you which is necessarily better, but I intend to find what works better for me.

- I am of the opinion that a 2.5 body shock is much better suited to the size of our vehicles and the damping needs of dirt roads and heavy loads.

- External reservoirs are awesome, but they take up room and often require different wheel backspacing. I like my stock wheels.

- Pricing is 1/2 to 1/3 (or less) of other 2.5 setups that require other upgrades and higher lift heights. I realize those things are often highly desirable - and I'm not disparaging them, as a leveled stance on 35's looks great - but that fills the "want" category much more than the "need" category for me.

I've tried several different setups, some with satisfactory results, some with lackluster results especially for the money. I haven't tried Icon's yet, so I figured why not. I'll be pairing them with a simple add-a-leaf in the rear or a modified airbag setup for medium loads on my '21.

I'd love to hear some thoughts on the Icon setup above. I've already ordered them so I will certainly post up my thoughts once they show up.

 

Santa showed up the other day. Rears went on tonight. Fronts gonna have to wait a few days..

Fronts



Rears



Factory TRD 4600’s next to the 2.5’s



2.5 installed

 

Lot of good info, how many miles on your front shocks? Seems like you have to reuse your coils if I'm reading you post correct, that was a concern for me and I know sourcing a like new oem coil is not that easy. It's always fun to see new products and I agree with you on wanting a 2.5 diameter shock body, one of the reasons I did go either Eibach. I went with the 6112/5100 combo from @memario1214 and he did assemble the fronts so my total cost was less then your posted price of (1360+tax). My big worry, I knew I wasn't willing to use a spring compressor (I know my skill and luck and it would have gone badly) and it didn't trust a lot of shops near me, plus I didn't want to reuse the coils if had. So getting a front shock that was assembled and I just had to slap in was up there for me. I did the install myself in my driveway, so I also didn't want to have to remove parts to take them somewhere because if issues arose I did not want to be stuck.

But! All that said, you picked was seems like a great option for you, I'm by no means throwing shade just pointing out some of my thought process when I changed my suspension since this thread seemed to be about providing info and view points.


Pic of 6112 next to TRD Sport (I had Colton powdercoat the coil on the 6112, cause why not lol)

 

Depending on what you want for the rear, the RAS may fit your needs. You do gain about .75" in the light load setting, more if you set it for heavy but have an empty bed. I liked it for the easy of install and how I can adjust it without removing the leafs. It might fit your needs better than an add a leaf, but you will have to look into your needs to see if airbags would suit you better.

 

No shade taken

This truck has 63k miles on and the front coils seem to be in good shape. Rears springs, not so much, but front coils appear to have retained very close to original ride height. Though I agree with your concerns with reusing the factory coils.

Here was my thinking on this system: unwritten rule for suspension on these trucks seems to be buy the largest diameter shock you can afford (as @ColoradoTJ put it in another thread). I've run 6112's on my other truck for over 100k miles and currently have a set installed right now until my DK2.5's show up. The larger shock body of the 6112 works as advertised and has taken quite a bit of use from me - both daily driving, towing and hauling, cornering twisty mountain roads, and bombing down forest roads. They've taken them in stride and I got my monies worth out of them.

But the 5160 rears that are paired with them are still 2" diameter, although with a reservoir for more fluid and better fluid cooling. According to Bilstein (taken from their podcasts) the motion ratio up front is ~1.7:1 whereas the rear is closer to 1:1, so the fronts basically REQUIRE a larger body to create the same damping profile as a 2" rear shock. The deemed the 5160 sufficient for most users running 6112 fronts and matches the damping abilities of the 6112 even though it has a smaller working piston. I don't disagree with this and their logic makes sense.

However... a pickup truck has an inherent front-heavy bias due to the (usually mostly) empty bed. My truck bed is virtually NEVER empty and is occasionally close to the rear axle rating, especially when towing, so I find a 2" rear shock wanting on some occasions. This became VERY obvious to me when I swapped out my old 6112/5160 combo for Eibach's pro kit on my '13. Both the front and rears were way to soft and wallowy for my truck. Inspecting the 6112/5160's that came off, the 5160 shafts had some minor bluing, the seals were leaking, and the shock squealed as you you cycled the shock absorber. The 6112's were also leaking but not terribly, but the bushings were destroyed; they fared much better the 5160's.

I replaced the Eibachs with another set of 6112/5160's, but wasn't as happy with the new revision.

So I searched for a 2.5 body shock and ended up with Dobinsons. The fronts were backordered but the rears were in stock. There was a HUGE improvement with just the rears. The fronts showed up, some stuff happened like {REDACTED} and I decided to search for another option.

Enter my '21 tundra and I figured I would start out with a 2.5" shock body setup rather than work through 10 different iterations like the '13. I still use the '13 daily; the '21 will be it's replacement, but doesn't work as hard for now. Knowing that a 2" rear shock would be insufficient for how I use my truck, I happened upon some non-reservoir 2.5" body shocks from Icon that had me intrigued. Price point was great so I decided to see how they compare to the 6112/5160 - mostly the 5160 half of that equation.

One of the faults of the 6112 in my book is the lack of a 700 lb/in coil. Like I said, my truck is heavy and requires upgraded sway bars to make it handle. I used the same sway bars with the Eibachs, so I know I need BOTH sway bars and larger diameter shocks. I can put a 700 lb coil on most other coilover setups like Dobinsons, Fox, King, etc, but they come in at a much higher price point. I don't thrash the truck enough to require remote reservoirs on a large body shock, so those are mostly extra features I don't really need; but I thrash it enough to know 2" shocks are insufficient. So a non-resi 2.5 was what I went looking for.

The front 2.5's are also non-resi, and retain the factory 700 lb coil, which I appreciate. And I can run them at STOCK HEIGHT, which is very difficult to do with most other 2.5 shocks even if they say 0-2" or 0-3" of lift. That was one of my issues with the Dobinsons.

I couldn't find much information on these Icons, so I figured I've give them a try. If they are junk, I'll find something else. But how am I going to know unless I try? No offense to a large number of users on the forum here as I'm not pointing fingers at anybody, but my truck isn't a toy/weekend warrior/bro-dozer/mall queen/shiny trophy for my coworkers to ogle while they drool over a $5k suspension that handles speedbumps and potholes totally rad-like. I have different needs for my truck suspension, so I figured I'd try something different

 

Thanks for the suggestion. A RAS setup is on my shortlist. Since I need to replace the springs, I ordered a set of 5 leaf HD springs that have been discussed in a couple of threads recently. I'll dig up a link and post it. One I get a shell ordered (debating between cab height and mid-rise) and a bed slide installed, I'll have a better idea of what else needs to be done, but I expect the HD leaf pack to accommodate the shell and bedslide. I've been tossing around the idea of a smaller rolling sleeve airbag on a custom mount that I can swing out of the way. But RAS would be much simpler. I just need to figure out if they can handle the loads I will eventually need them to. I've heard a mixed bag on that front - that they handle trailers up to about 5k with ease, but beyond 7k they are overwhelmed. I don't know how true that is, but I may just need to spend the coin and find out for myself.

 

Following

 

Fronts went in tonight. Not quite buttoned up yet (just installed a TRD front sway bar and have some new RCI skids to hang) so no test drive yet. The front coilovers are a bit unique...

Went from this...


...to this...



A couple of notes about the Icon coilovers:

- they use a circlip to locate the spring perch, just like a Bilstein 5100 or 6112. However, unlike those two shocks, this circlip is a royal PITA to install. Good luck NOT scratching the shock body like the instructions say! Might have helped if I had a different set of circlip pliers; I had to modify a set of Irwins so that they would open just a tiny bit more just to get the clip over the shock body, then use two picks and my man-hands to pry the clip open just enough to slide it down to the grooves. I set it at stock height. Yep, I'm lame like that.



- The kit reuses most of your stock hardware and bushings; the only thing it doesn't reuse is the metal portion of the top hat. You have to press out the bottom bushing from the top hat with either a press or a socket and hammer and press them in to Icon's kit. Not a huge deal, but adds a little time. You even reuse the top nut on the shock stem, which I've never had to do with a new struts, so I thought that was weird.

- Hers the big thing: YOU NEED TO FLIP THE COILSPRING OVER TO INSTALL IT ON THE SHOCKS BODY. Normally, the pigtail is the on the bottom of the spring and mounts to lower spring perch, but to clear the 2.5" body, you have to flip the spring over with the pigtail up. Icon's new top hat accounts for this. The rubber isolator that is usually between the top of the spring and the top hat is now on the spring perch.





- You have to grind away a little bit of the lower shock leg pocket on the the lower control arm. I had to do this on my Dobinsons, but had to get fairly aggressive with the Icons.

- The lower shock leg has two different thickness spacers on the bushing. The thicker bushing goes towards the front of the vehicle.

- There is a little finish collar deally at the top of the spring, sammiched between the top hat and the coil bucket. I used it to clock the top hat and lower leg bushing correctly while finishing up on the spring compressor. After I disassembled the factory spring and shock, the reassembling the new unit, I set the finish collar on top of the assembly. Since it only fits the top hat one way, you know that the Icon logo is facing out (the factory top hats have an arrow indicating which side is out). With the coil spring slightly compressed, you can then clock the spring and shock body correctly for install.

Overall, install wasn't bad. Took some head scratching for the first side until I quickly realized the coil spring was flipped over. I also fought the circlip for a bit, so a good, larger set of snap ring pliers would be helpful. The snap ring doesn't have holes drilled for the pins on most snap rings pliers, but I suppose there is the appropriate tool for it somewhere. I guess Milwaukee doesn't make it because didn't have that tool, but made due anyways. We'll see how it rides tomorrow I'll put some miles on it Monday and should get a good idea for the handling. I should be adding a little weight to vehicle next week as well, so we'll see how it handles loaded up with gear, too.

 

Thanks for the update. Let us know how they ride!

I would also use the stock height setting, i'm looking for a better ride more than a lift. Have you measured the ride height yet after they settled to confirm if they remain at stock height (or close)?

I had a set of Icons on a 5th gen 4runner, i really liked them.

 

Following. I posted a little while back about downgrading from my Radflo 2.5's to 6112's, but this peaks my interest. And for the record, the reason for the downgrade is the Radflo's have already been rebuilt once under my ownership, and the adjusters are seized preventing any adjustment.

 

Initial Impressions

Took it for a quick drive around the block. The digressive damping is apparent but not overbearing. They are similar to 6112’s but with some obvious (to me) differences. The vehicle feels very planted and solid. Cornering is great. Small bump compliance is more muted than 6112’s; larger movements are obvious and quick and maybe a touch sharper than 6112’s. Large movements are smooth and well controlled. Railroad tracks are smoother, cracks in the asphalt are still there but a little less sharp. There’s a section of pavement just down the road the road from me that has been patched and fixed no fewer than a dozen times in the last year so it has become akin to a washboard. They are redoing the entire road this summer so they understandable haven’t completely replaced the section, but it has popped a few tires and broke a few rims at its worst. Anyways, that section is the smoothest it’s ever been, which gives me high hopes for their ability to blast down dirt roads.

Damping is well controlled: bump, movement to absorb bump, movement back to static.

It feels as if the valving is a little softer initially but because it uses the factory spring rate, it isn’t “plush” or boaty feeling - which is a good thing in my book. The rears feel a little over-damped for an empty truck and has a little shimmy/chop in some instances. However, my springs are also sagging and hitting the overloads quickly (new springs sitting on the shop floor) and the shimmy is a familiar issue to me that comes from the rear bushings when it’s below 20*. A Toyota master tech rode around with me one wintry day a while ago and confirmed that to me, unsolicited. So I’ll be swapping poly bushings in the new springs. So it may not actually be the rear shocks; and I’m adding a shell and a few other things to the bed, so the rear shocks should be perfect. I hope.

Fender height from hub was about 22.5” after my quick jaunt. I seem to recall stock height around 22-22.25”. So I’d say that’s right in stock height territory. A few more miles and they might settle right back in.

Bottom line - initially - is that the ride is much improved over the stock Bilsteins (low bar, I know). They are digressive with positive feedback but a marginally smoother ride than other shocks I’ve used in this price range. I’ll need more miles to know how I really feel about them, but so far so good.

 

Thanks for the write up. I’ll be needing new shocks very soon. I’ve been kicking around the 6112, Eibach (current shock), and Dobinsons. I’ll add these to the list.

 

Just a suggestion that may be helpful, I added Wheeler's Superbumps to my front, I'm very happy with them. They help a lot with the harsher bumps. I put them on right before a 2500 mile road trip through southern Colorado and Utah with a stop in Moab. My girlfriend and Son both commented on how much nicer the truck rode. I've got a set to put on the rear when I pull my air bags off and put my RAS on.

 

Thanks for the suggestion. I went with some bump stops from Perry Parts. I have used them on my other vehicles with satisfactory results. If you look closely at the finished picture above, you can see it hiding between the shock body and knuckle.