Ironman 4x4 Suspension

You can just use the two best springs. The threaded collar can be used to tune the preload. I don't know why they make 4 springs with slightly different lengths...

 

I never heard that they made 4 different lengths. As far as I recall, they made the driver side spring slightly longer to account for the "toyota lean". And I think the struts themselves are somehow directional? Something to do with the lower mount and how it is attached at an angle, or off-center or something? Or maybe I'm thinking of the rears..

Anyway, I just checked and both of my driver's side coils are the ones already rubbing on the shock body. So no chance I'm going to get away with not renting or buying a spring compressor.

 

The only difference in the coils is a little length. You can simply adjust the collar instead. Spring preload will be the same in either case. They took down the Tundra stuff from their site, but as I recall the left side was 10mm longer, and the heavy load adds 5mm. So if you want to use both right side coils, then move the collar up 10mm for the one you mount on the left.

Yes, the rears are offset, but I don't think there is a difference between left or right... just flip them around. The fronts are not offset.

If yours are like all the others I've seen, then remember this:
1) the coils will tend to bow towards the high point of the lower ramp, and rub on the opposite side.
2) the coil will tend to bow outward slightly because of the lift. This is true of any lift due to the angle on the upper mount.

So when you mount the springs, put the high point of the ramp on the inside (about 180 degrees opposite the way IM shows), and position the spring outward as much as perch-clearance will allow. You still want the pig tail tucked in next to the ramp. The further you get from that the worse the bow will be (I tested this).

You can make sure the spring hangs down towards the side you want, by supporting the tophat bolts and the lower shock on boards or books or whatever. So when mounting the spring, the outside of the shock will be up. Spring will be hanging down as far clearance allows. High point of the ramp will be down. Pigtail tucked in where it belongs. Carefully release the coil and make sure nothing shifts.

See what that gets you...

 

Good stuff man.
Here’s a picture from their website

 

Exactly which spring compressor did you use? I just rented one from O'Reilly and it was too chunky to fit between the coils. Checked Autozone and NAPA as well, they all have the same exact tool that won't fit.

 

Use a wall mount.

 

I have no idea what that is.

I just looked it up. Yeah I'm not going to spend $900 just for this.

 

This one... but if you are adjusting to > 2.5" of lift I don't think it's long enough.

$29 BTSHUB 280mm Hook Spring Compressor Tool Heavy Duty, Strong and Durable Spring Compressor

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08BBQ2N1P

Maybe these would work in that case:

Coil Spring Compressor Tool or Strut Spring Compressor with 2 Steel Jaw Claws to Wrap Coil Spring Heavy Duty Spring Compression 370mm Drop Forged Spring Compressor Tool Automotive

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BR8BBZ...3b7-38e862d72276&s=automotive#customerReviews

 

Well I don't plan on taking the springs off. I just need to squeeze them down enough to where I can clock them on the mounts. So I ordered the first set. That second set had some pretty scary looking pics in the reviews.

 

That will probably work. Starting with a free spring would be tough, though. Be sure to disassemble and grease those really well before using. Also put tape on the coils.

Regarding the others, ya I saw that!... but reviews were generally good. I saw a couple mentions of people being happy with them on big truck springs. They are cheap enough; could also buy 2 sets and put 3 or 4 of them on a spring to be sure.

 

Buying more than one set hadn't even occurred to me. That's a pretty damn good idea.

 

Spent the last two days installing the kit. The rear went smooth as butter. Everything bolted right up, no issues.

The front however.. Jesus.. The front...

Following along on the Ironman4x4 America installation video and things just aren't going well. That ratchet strap trick Wags uses did NOT work for my Tundra. I could not get the LCAs low enough to install the new coil overs using just the strap. I had to use the strap, tighten it to the point where I thought it was going to snap, then use my jack under one LCA to pull even more on the opposite LCA. That finally allowed me to get the passenger coil over in place.

Which is where I had another issue. The bonehead that assembled the coil over had the top hat installed about 15 degrees off, meaning the lower shock mount wouldn't seat in the bracket. Nothing I could do except bust out the pipe wrench and give it a good hard twist. I'm sure the piston will be fine right?

So I got the passenger side installed. On to to the driver side. The side where the worst bowing was happening in the coils.. I did my best to fix te bow using a spring compressor and it did help, but it was still pretty bad.

But that's not even the worst part. Did you know the top hats are directional? I didn't know that. And it seems the bonehead that assembled my driver's side coil over didn't know that either because he installed it 90 degrees off from where it was supposed to be.

That meant I had to lift and hold that heavy ass coil over up, trying to line up studs with holes that had no chance of lining up, well over a dozen times before I finally realized the top hat was directional. Then I had to do it 3 more times before I finally got it to line up. But guess what now? The lower shock mount is 90 degrees off from where it needs to be to fit in the bracket. Thanks bonehead at Ironman4x4 America who put this thing together.

At this point my back was killing me from lifting that coil over at nearly full arm's length 20 times, so I quit for the night. Tomorrow I'm going to go at it with the pipe wrench again, finish installing everything, get the truck on its own weight, torque it all down, and take it off for an alignment.

Then if/when the actual good coil overs arrive, I am going to go over them with a damn magnifying glass and micrometer to make sure they are 100% perfect before I even attempt to install them. Because I don't want to go through this again. I am legitimately relieved that Ironman4x4 is taking this issue seriously and not selling these kits anymore until they fix the problems.

Oh, and did I mention I dropped one of these heavy ass coil overs on my finger? Yeah. Right on the fingernail. Crushed it between the lower shock mount and the LCA. Two hours later and it still hurts.

What a great day.

 

Ya, it's a pain in the ass to install coilovers... especially with minimal tools and no lift.

When you adjust your springs then the tophat position is going to move, anyway... don't think you can pin that on IM. The shock spins on the shaft very easily. I installed my springs (4 times!) and I think only one of them was "perfect" and did not require tweaking to get the lower mount in the LCA.

The ratchet strap works great if you loosen your rear LCA bolts. I couldn't get it to move far enough otherwise. Also the ratchet is good for pulling the UCA down to get the LCA-hub bolts back in. The LCA bolts need to be loosened for alignment, anyway. You can eyeball the alignment really close BTW, so long as you get the truck level.

 

I can understand the top hat moving a few degrees one way or the other. But being 90 degrees off is a manufacturing error.

 

Here are a couple tips that I found from disassembling my front end way too many times last year. I did all of this solo as well.
- Loosen the the front LCA bolts before trying the ratchet strap method. Like mentioned above your LCA will not move enough without at least one LCA bolt being loose. I choose the front bolts because I felt they were easiest to reach
- Use another ratchet strap to help lift the coilover into position. Don't worry too much about the lower eyelet position at this point. This should help free up a hand to align the 4 top hat studs into the frame as you tighten the ratchet strap
- Once you've got the top into position you can now install the 4 nuts on the top hat. Don't tight all the way down yet. Just keep them snug
- Then I just used a large prybar to rotate the lower eyelet into alignment

 

I found that the Tundra jack handle worked fine... and ratchet straps are very useful!

Also if you aren't installing UCAs, the easy way to separate the UCA from the LCA is to remove the two LCA-hub bolts on each side. Don't need to take anything else apart.

 

I never thought to try the jack handle. Good tip!

 

I realized the next day (today) that the reason it was so difficult for me to lower my LCAs was because i forgot to disconnect the sway bar...

 

Doh! Well, mine was off (and still off) and I still needed to loosen a couple LCA pivot bolts, so...

 

Finally done. Doesn't look all that different to me but it definitely feels "better" as far as ride quality while driving around my neighborhood. Even with the front sway bar removed to make room for the future 37s. Sure handled the speed bumps better.

Also noticed the front tires are "sucked in" more than before, which makes sense but i didn't really anticipate it.

The truck tracks straight as an arrow but I'm still going to get an alignment as soon as i can.

Lastly, torquing those nuts to 144ft/lbs and 173ft/lbs and whatnot while lying flat on my back with my arms over my head, under the truck, which despite the lift still barely has room for me, was not fun. But somehow i managed.

I was really hoping to get more ground clearance than i did. But i guess that will have to wait till the tires come in.

 

If you didn't install UCAs, adjust the rear LCA cams to push out as far as they'll go. You may not need to adjust the fronts; check that the tires are vertical. Then eyeball your toe.

Ya, I love the ride of these things on rough roads, and even on very twisty mountain roads, I don't miss the swaybar at all.

 

Just got mine installed last week and the ride quality is great. The only thing that has be worried is how close the strut is to the spring. Might need to contact customer service soon.

 

After watching Tinkerer's Adventure's latest video on the Foam Cell Pro I want some. The only thing is that I don't have an offroad rig anymore and I don't intend to build the longbed out for overland travel. I want to keep stock sized tires and no/very low lift front (no lift rear) with the goal being a smoother ride across potholes and the occasional washboard forest service road. Advantage of serviceability without needing nitrogen filling setup and testing for possible use on next tundra build.

That being said, with all the issues of the long and supposedly low spring rate ironman coils buckling, has anyone found an alternate coil to fit? Do factory coils fit on the ironman strut base? The top should fit given it's an oem tophat right? Digging into coil specs now to compare to the eibach 3" springs I have sitting in the garage.

 

I would not buy FCPs for smooth riding. The have high, digressive damping... they are best for rough roads and handling. You'll feel smaller bumps more.

If you still want them, use the coils they spec, since I doubt any others will match the lower ramp properly, or be large enough in diameter. Eibach 3" springs will definitely not work. They don't buckle; that isn't the problem at all.

 

Wait and see if you actually have contact, and if you do, try the method of spring install I mentioned above.

 

From riding on different shock brands I actually prefer digressive valving, just seems more intuitive to me. Anything on these rough patched up potholed roads will be better than factory shocks! But alas, ironman america has pulled all FCP coil options from their website due to the issues described in this thread (bowing = buckling) so I wasn't easily able to find FCP coil specs and they didn't seem interested in sharing with me either. They confirmed OEM coils won't fit but didn't say why, can't really confirm without measurements.

They said they would relist the coils once the issue was resolved but still don't plan on having any low/no lift options. edit, got measurements I need to continue my search.


Edit: Looks like toyo63a measurements from a 200 series landcruiser fitment will get me close. Does anyone know the free length of toyo63b? That's the product page they pulled. Through their customer support chat feature they told me these coils wouldn't work for Tundra shock but couldn't tell me why and to go look for products from a different manufacturer since they don't offer a coil to suit my needs. Great support so far!





Duh, toyo63b measurements from @Piki above, nice! thanks!

 

there is maybe a hair of space

 

Yes, and both are bowed towards the outside and the high point of the lower perch. This can be "fixed" by turning the spring and lower perch ~180 degrees, and making sure your spring is positioned as far to the inside as possible.

 

Well, if that is your goal, I have a spare set of brand new foam cell pro fronts I am looking to sell.

The coils are bowed, but a little bit of time with a spring compressor can sort that out. And you'd need a spring compressor to release the tension to adjust the ride height anyway since you don't want a lot of lift. And I am sure that lowering the ride height would go a long way towards unbowing the springs as well.

On the set that I installed in my Tundra, I got rid of as much of the bow as I could with a set of spring compressors, then I installed the coil overs in the truck, putting the bow towards the truck, which caused the lower shock mount to kick out away from the truck once I snugged down the tophat nuts. Then once I pushed the lower mount into the bracket on the LCA, it took a lot of the bow out of the coils.

I don't think it is worth even attempting to fit some other springs on a FC shock. It is easier to just "fix" the spring that is on there already.