balakay
BabyMax
That's who I had planned to go with until I found a deal on the Kings. Good choice.
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- Thread starter Mitt78
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That's who I had planned to go with until I found a deal on the Kings. Good choice.
PSU Taco85
Well-Known Member
I've had my Icons for roughly 7 years maybe 30k miles, never had any problems with them. Maybe I got lucky. The only time I've fucked with mine was about 3 years ago I swapped to 700 lb/inch springs from the 650 ones that come stock. I have the Icon "sock" on mine and it stays garaged so I don't know if that has anything to do with it but I don't plan on lookin at them for a long time, I'm sure they are due for a rebuild though!
The majority of the people having repeat problems are all purchases within the last two years. There seems to be undersized shock shaft issues, or gasket issues, or some other QC issue that they keep trying to chase. I know the assembly I picked up out of the box was leaking like a stuck pig and it had not even been mounted yet. The leak was where the remote resi line connected to the shock body. The line was most likely cross threaded. Either way - as much as they cost that should not have shipped out and there is no way it went through a cycling test without leaking like that.
Mitt78
Sanford and Son was my Sesame Street
The first two rebuilds on my passenger side was just a typical rebuild with gasket replacement. This last time I had the shock shaft replaced. There was significant wear damage to it on one side of the shaft from it cycling.
italynstylion
Well-Known Member
Sorry just seeing the tag on this....Thanks Zech.
Yeah I'm getting rid of mine next week. Pulling the trigger on a Fox 2.5 setup with DSC adjusters. I agree with Zech, the Icons of old seemed to be VERY good. However, the icons of 2 years ago and newer are blowing up like crazy. I was really amped about my setup when I bought it. We had a build day at Aaron's place and Zech and Blake came over to help out. We tore down the entire truck and THEN opened the box...big mistake. As Zech eluded to in an earlier post, red shock oil all over the inside of the box. So we legitimately had to put the truck back together with the old coil overs in place. Needless to say, I was NOT happy.
After getting the coil overs back from Icon I popped them in. Easy. Fast forward about a month later I notice the front left has totally shit its guts out the bottom. Hadn't even been off road yet. Only reason I didn't blow my lid on that one was because I was leaving the country for a week and sent it out the day before I left and they shipped it back before I returned. So the truck wasn't really "down" for any time that mattered to me.
There were a few other issues I've had regarding the bushings for the UCAs and the sway bar relocate block that were NOT Icon's fault. With that in mind, I've had to get in touch with Icon about a million times and I want to make it VERY clear. No matter the issue or the circumstance, Scott Spiva has ALWAYS responded to me and ALWAYS picked up the phone or called me back. His customer service is top notch. If it weren't for him, I'd have ditched these long ago.
After the issues I've had I can say that currently all is good and the shocks have been reliable since being rebuilt. That being said, I'm still ditching them for a Fox 2.5 DSC setup. This is more for personal reasons than anything else. Anyone who knows me understands that my truck legitimately looks like a mostly stock truck and is driven daily. I have 150k miles and I'm not stopping there. But get me off road and I'll be the first one dying to tackle even the really sketchy shit. The truck is an animal. And that's what I expect from the truck, I'm unwilling to give up daily comfort but I want savage awesomeness offroad when I wheel; aka having my cake and eating it too. That's where the Fox setup comes in. The Icons use a digressive valving that is harsh on the road because the initial damping is VERY high on initial impact. The exact opposite of what you want on the road. The Fox setup is a progressive which is better for on-road driving. But the magic is in the DSC adjusters. Yes, Icon and King also have damper adjustment knob equivalents but they only adjust damping softer or firmer. The Fox adjusters have independent adjustments for both high and low speed damping firmness. They are the only ones that have this to my knowledge. This means I should be able to enjoy on-road comfort and then dial in different damping for when the truck is off-road or weighed down on demand. They are also the only ones to use viton seals as standard where other brands may only offer it as an upgrade.
After talking with Andrew from Accutune Offroad I've come to the conclusion that I'll never be happy with an off the shelf setup. I expect way too much out of the truck. Having someone like them understand how I USE the truck and what I'm expecting and then custom tuning spring length/force and damping characteristics is the ideal solution in my opinion.
Yeah I'm getting rid of mine next week. Pulling the trigger on a Fox 2.5 setup with DSC adjusters. I agree with Zech, the Icons of old seemed to be VERY good. However, the icons of 2 years ago and newer are blowing up like crazy. I was really amped about my setup when I bought it. We had a build day at Aaron's place and Zech and Blake came over to help out. We tore down the entire truck and THEN opened the box...big mistake. As Zech eluded to in an earlier post, red shock oil all over the inside of the box. So we legitimately had to put the truck back together with the old coil overs in place. Needless to say, I was NOT happy.
After getting the coil overs back from Icon I popped them in. Easy. Fast forward about a month later I notice the front left has totally shit its guts out the bottom. Hadn't even been off road yet. Only reason I didn't blow my lid on that one was because I was leaving the country for a week and sent it out the day before I left and they shipped it back before I returned. So the truck wasn't really "down" for any time that mattered to me.
There were a few other issues I've had regarding the bushings for the UCAs and the sway bar relocate block that were NOT Icon's fault. With that in mind, I've had to get in touch with Icon about a million times and I want to make it VERY clear. No matter the issue or the circumstance, Scott Spiva has ALWAYS responded to me and ALWAYS picked up the phone or called me back. His customer service is top notch. If it weren't for him, I'd have ditched these long ago.
After the issues I've had I can say that currently all is good and the shocks have been reliable since being rebuilt. That being said, I'm still ditching them for a Fox 2.5 DSC setup. This is more for personal reasons than anything else. Anyone who knows me understands that my truck legitimately looks like a mostly stock truck and is driven daily. I have 150k miles and I'm not stopping there. But get me off road and I'll be the first one dying to tackle even the really sketchy shit. The truck is an animal. And that's what I expect from the truck, I'm unwilling to give up daily comfort but I want savage awesomeness offroad when I wheel; aka having my cake and eating it too. That's where the Fox setup comes in. The Icons use a digressive valving that is harsh on the road because the initial damping is VERY high on initial impact. The exact opposite of what you want on the road. The Fox setup is a progressive which is better for on-road driving. But the magic is in the DSC adjusters. Yes, Icon and King also have damper adjustment knob equivalents but they only adjust damping softer or firmer. The Fox adjusters have independent adjustments for both high and low speed damping firmness. They are the only ones that have this to my knowledge. This means I should be able to enjoy on-road comfort and then dial in different damping for when the truck is off-road or weighed down on demand. They are also the only ones to use viton seals as standard where other brands may only offer it as an upgrade.
After talking with Andrew from Accutune Offroad I've come to the conclusion that I'll never be happy with an off the shelf setup. I expect way too much out of the truck. Having someone like them understand how I USE the truck and what I'm expecting and then custom tuning spring length/force and damping characteristics is the ideal solution in my opinion.
Oswego
n00b
make sure you take some extra steps to thwart corrosion on those Fox's. I like Fox and would have gotten them up front in addition to the rear Fox suspension I have, but their corrosion resistance is by far the worse of the big 3 and I was supper happy with my Kings up front so I got the newer version of them. That said I just sanded off the clear coat on my Fox rear shocks and painted them myself. I know it sounds crazy to have to prep/paint expensive shocks, but 4 years later and they still look brand new while others that got them at the same time look like they are 20 years old due to rust.
Not a fan of the Fox shocks. I blew my 2.0 rears after a year of having them on the truck and one Colorado trip. They did not provide the dampening or ride comfort I was looking for.
If you have a long bed or carry a lot of weight on the rear of your truck/SUV, then you need to cough up the extra money for 2.5" rear shocks. The extra beefiness if well worth the cost in terms of ride comfort and being able to beat on them off-road under a heavy load.
Oswego
n00b
Ill find out soon. May have had them for 4 years but truck is dormant so never even broke them in 100% yet or the Dakar's they are going to need to help. Think I got the 2.0's, but can't be sure. With my shackle flip the choices were few and far between unless I wanted to go 100% custom.
italynstylion
Well-Known Member
Yep, I'm going with the 2.5" setup. Additionally, the guys at Accutune said they can convert the Tundra rear shock to work with the Tacoma which gives an extra inch of shock travel. Also a bit beefier too. I have the Dakar pack so that will be a welcome addition. I'll try and keep an eye on the corrosion; thanks for the heads up. I'll be sure to ask about that before I pull the trigger.
Mitt78
Sanford and Son was my Sesame Street
What was the issues with your UCA bushings? I just had to replace mine.
I haven't ever had good customer service from Icon. In fact the last time I had to deal with them they kept trying to get me to pay for things they said they would cover. When I finally got to talk with Scott Spiva he still tried to get money out of me and I told him to keep the shock and ill just post about what transpired. He got pissed and said the shock would be shipped that day.
Silverback
Lima Gulf Bravo Foxtrot Juliet Bravo
Tell me more about this Tundra shock conversion.
Silverback
Lima Gulf Bravo Foxtrot Juliet Bravo
What bumps are those (too lazy to search).. appear to be Icon.
balakay
BabyMax
Call up Accutune. They can do all kinds of neat stuff. Like retrofitting Fox adjusters to Kings :drool:
Silverback
Lima Gulf Bravo Foxtrot Juliet Bravo
I don't want to call someone who will tell me what I want to hear.. I want to hear from someone who has first hand experience from said source.
tex
That's Mr Asshole to you
Then let Steven try it out and report back so your truck can get an upgrade to make the garage smile.
Oswego
n00b
I got 12" shocks in mine without relocating anything. Lost some uptravel, but now I have so much droop if I don't add limit straps Ill pull my e-brake cable out. Also had to get even longer extended rear brake lines so I don;t rip them out. E-brake cable if needed for driving is the rear travel limiting factor. Pull too much and it locks up the back wheels. Pull further and you no longer need to worry about them locking up
I have not even broken this "system" in yet so I'm not sure how much Ill like the loss of up travel or how hard it will be to modify my bump stops so they can take a real hit....right now I just have them mocked up with some spacers I made. Time will tell.
FOX-980-24-637
Remote Reservoir w/ Stem Top 12.0"
Ext. length 31.19
Col. length 19.19
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CowboyTaco
Well-Known Member
If I ever dump my ToyTec suspension I will go to Kings. I just need a few investments to really pay off.
It's not like our Toyota E-brakes actually do anything sadly...I got 12" shocks in mine without relocating anything. Lost some uptravel, but now I have so much droop if I don't add limit straps Ill pull my e-brake cable out. Also had to get even longer extended rear brake lines so I don;t rip them out. E-brake cable if needed for driving is the rear travel limiting factor. Pull too much and it locks up the back wheels. Pull further and you no longer need to worry about them locking up
I have not even broken this "system" in yet so I'm not sure how much Ill like the loss of up travel or how hard it will be to modify my bump stops so they can take a real hit....right now I just have them mocked up with some spacers I made. Time will tell.
FOX-980-24-637
Remote Reservoir w/ Stem Top 12.0"
Ext. length 31.19
Col. length 19.19