Aftermarket Suspension Long-Term Quality (Fox, Bilstein, etc.)

Buy once, cry once.

That’s it.

 

Depends on how long you plan on keeping the rig. If any extended length (4+ years) just go full King/Fox/Icon. In 4 years pop them out yourself, send in for a rebuild and slap back in.
Not only do you get to appreciate the thousands of miles of quality ride, but you save on a full suspension replacement.
Did this with my Icons years back. They paid for themselves vs the Bills/OME setups I ran for thousands of miles prior.

 

I have 80k on my Kings now. Rebuilt about the 60k mark. No issues what so ever

 

That is pretty awesome.

 

If you will be off-roading your rig all the time then I would say go with the best you can find. Most of us don't do that. My old Tacoma had Bilsteins on it from the factory when I got it in 2005. Those same shocks were on it when I sold it this year with 180,000+ miles on them and they never leaked and still worked pretty well.

When someone complains of a bad product you first need to qualify how it was used/misused by them and then decide on whether that apples to what you intend to do. For the record I am also contemplating a leveling kit and I chose to go with FOX 2.5's. Probably more than I will ever need as I very seldom go off road.

 

I'm running 275/70R18 Ridge Grapplers.

I'll be honest, I know a set of Kings is more than I need. I don't wheel hard, but I enjoy driving "spirited" on the dirt and gravel trails that I do find, and enjoy higher speed desert stuff (again, just from what I've gotten my feet wet with so far).

My concern is more focused on the balance of quality vs. cost. I don't want to save money first order, but be behind the ball on enjoyment of the truck and ownership cost in the long-term, know what I'm saying?

However, I do tend to overbuy when it comes to truck/bike/moto stuff. I don't know if I justify it, but I have fear of being left unhappy with a set up that took my time and money. I should add that I have had this backfire. I have spend WAYYYY too much money making my racing bicycles light, and honestly, it doesn't really matter. It was marginal improvement past a certain inflection point for an extreme cost (relatively).

I'm trying to figure out where that point is on the diminishing returns curve is when it comes to truck suspension. Probably no simple answer, and something I will need to explore through trial and error.

 

Moving up to a 2.5 coilover is a huge improvement over stock. Rezies and clickers are marginal* improvements over the 2.5.

 

So you're saying the 6112 is a big jump, beyond that clickers and bypass are for those who really drive hard offroad and put the truck through it's paces?

 

My boys OME has been on for 61000 miles, with no problems. It was installed 8 years ago.

 

I can’t speak to the remote reservoirs with personal experience, nor clickers, but the 2.5 diameter from any manufacturer is light years above the stock shocks, even the stock Bilsteins if equiped.

 

Yes. If you have a budget any 2.5 should be at the top of the list.