Icon 2.5 Initial Thoughts

Well it has been about month since I installed my Icon's up front and back with out anything extra and kept it a "leveling" kit height



Now while I do plan on going to a 3" lift up front and changing out the rear leafs to a dakar, I can tell you my initial thoughts are full thumbs up! The truck handles any bump without feeling like Im going to throw my back out!!!

On highspeed towing you dont feel anything, having towed now with the stock shocks and bags and than with the icons it was night and day the difference. The tow was smooth, the suspension actually dampened versus having the bags do all the work.

On highspeed gravel without a load behind a it gets a little softer as your get faster but that is a typical digressive, i will probably switch this out eventually to a progressive setup but Ill give it an honest go over the next 6 months to a year

On regular everyday driving its worth every penny, im no longer afraid to hit a pothole granted I think this has a lot to do with going to an 18" rim and tire versus a 20" rim and tire. However the overall bounciness of the truck is gone, we have some what ill call california pavement with felt like washboard here due my climate and i've noticed its almost all but gone!!!!

My only regret was screwing up the order and getting just smoothbodies versus a piggyback or remote resi rear shock. The front is a RR setup, I want to get the CDC now and play with that!

 

Thanks for the review brother. Glad you like them. I'm not really in the market for suspension but I try to keep an eye on reviews for down the road. I often see guys posting on other pages about having to rebuild their Icons and Kings. What I don't know is how those guys drive their trucks and how hard they beat on the suspension. Please keep us updated as the time goes on.

 

I still stand by rebuilding shock is better than paying full price to replace a shock..... having been there time and time again i'd rather buck up and rebuild em in my shop than have to pay for a whole new shock assembly

Ill keep it updated but my guess is ill get around 1 to 1.5 years between rebuilds

 

I agree, especially if you have the means and ability to do the rebuild yourself. I'm just curious how long until that happens and what conditions they were under in the meantime.

 

Depends on road conditions/ miles driven in a year

Very important in winter to keep them as clean as possible and wash them regularly

 

its going to be a matter if the center disk/piston can be changed or not and than playing with the shims to get the valving where I want it, If I cant ill probably end up with a king or ads shock setup

the other thing is if I keep up with just washboard style driving what I mainly have locally there good chance Ill digressive and change the preloads up a bit, Ill add a quick intial shim to remove the digressive at the start, kind of give me say first 15% is linear, and like all digressive right near the last 3 or 4 mm of compression get it super stiff again


my guess is without tearing it apart right now, Ill able to use who evers center disk in whatever shock, but that will all be hypothetical until i tear it apart

 

and for those who are total on the digressive versus linear and progressive etc....

a digressive piston has a lower fluid rate which in theory is better for slower driving but as you speed it allows more fluid through until you hit what well call the dead zone which in theory is like a blowoff and dampens the shock hardcore so if you hit a rock or a bump you dont feel it as much

where as a linear shock is linear, if you hit a rock youll feel it depending on your valving, if you have a good compression with a flutter stack set-up and a lighter rebound you might not feel it as much, most out of the box valving setups are not flutter stacks and usually a medium/medium setup

 

What is your rear setup joe? Will you need those extended airbags in the back for the dakars? Im debating air bags as welll.... as my truck sags a good 1,5 inches maybe even two with the sleds behind it.

 

right now stock leafs with a standard riderite bag and a airlift wireless air setup, + a set of smooth body 2.5 icons

i may be able to get away just a spacer but I wont know until i change up the rear...... My guess is I should, the factory height the bags did not limit travel, the rear axle actually had to be lifted back up for both stock and new rear shocks even with the extra travel from Icon

Im still waiting on my guy from Airlift to get me all the info on his "heart" line which have a longer suspension travel allowance, my guess is though 75 psi max pressure which is like a 4000 lb extra load assistance

 

Gotcha

 

well I did some high speed blasting yesterday and I can say the front performed magically!!! However the rear needs some work hahahaha

this is partly due to my current configuration of all the extra weight and no lift in the rear, however overall I cant complain. Ill be posting an actual build thread so Ill have more information on my plan forward from there

 

I'd like to do a stage 2 or 3 icon kit somewhere down the road with a + 1.5 to 2 up front. Although I have no idea about linear or digressive. I've got reading to do. I'd like a set up that I can drive a dirt road at a reasonable speed without getting jarred to death. I'm not into high speed off-roading. Anything off-road for me is slow and steady. (Probably because I'm in the East. It's just not safe to do out here. Trees like to jump out in front of you.)

 

Than icon out of the box will work

Or get the jberry special kings