Guys with icons ?

[DylanICON]

Hi Dylan,

Great write up, nice to see the angle you were coming at it with.
Just to clarify, in the above statement you are referring to the bottoming piston, no ?

So far what I'm seeing is the icons being great at high speed rolling terrain style stuff. Excellent bottoming resistance, and little body roll, which inspires confidence at very high speeds.
No need to fear that g out hiding over the next hill.
The spring rate is a bit too high for square edged stuff though, I've found myself looking for the ejection handle a few times now when slowing down into braking bumps. The front almost seems to become frozen and just skip across the top of the small chop, giving little to no control (or braking ! ). That could be a function of the digressive compression/rebound too though...
Basically big stuff is no problem, small sharp edged stuff is very uncomfortable. More so than with the stock shocks.

When running the progressive leafs, the spring rate differences are obvious front to rear.
The front feels noticeably harsher everywhere. You can feel the rear working smoothly while the front end stays high in the sky and feeds back a lot more of the bumps.
I'd be tempted to try a lighter spring rate, and maybe lighter compression/ rebound damping with progressive leaf packs out back. And let the bottoming piston do its job on the really big stuff.
That'd hopefully bring the front compression adjusters into a more useful range too.
But heck, I'm tuning for me here.
They might be perfect as is for you dudes hopping more rounded chop and sand dunes down there...

Thanks again for your input Dylan.



Tomorrow the rpg/fox's go on.
Unfortunately my rear is also making fragged carrier bearing noises, so I'll be doing those tomorrow too if I can find the parts in town.
Going to be a long day...

NTM:

Good info!

Braking bumps are always hard to sort out. I don’t think the truck and especially the steering is tough enough to be subjected to too much of that in general.

Features are features, tuning is subjective and a preference. We have the most features so finding what you’re looking for is more likely to be obtainable given more features by which to get there.

Let’s get those shocks back here and I’ll see what I can do.

 

[wanderfalk]

Do Fox or Icon shocks have a progressive coil over spring option? can one be custom made?

 

[Wilson]

awesome info guys. I've come to the conclusion it comes down to preference. so get out there and drive ride whatever you can to compare. I'm still very interested in the op preference. there is no reason to disrespect his decision this is his thread after all.

 

[Huck]

You can surely have a custom progressive coil spring made. And Wilson's right it comes down to presence and technology. Which you prefer.

 

[ntm]

You can surely have a custom progressive coil spring made. And Wilson's right it comes down to presence and technology. Which you prefer.

Well, the important thing for me is a wide performance envelope. That makes tuning to a specific person's needs less critical.
And let's face it, our needs aren't the same every day.
I want to blast whoops, run twisty fireroads at mach chicken, float across washboard at 20 mph and crawl through frozen ruts at 5mph.
Whichever set of coilovers does the best at covering all the bases without giving up too much in any other area wins for me.

I'll be as objective as possible, I'm sure it'll be interesting.
I know for a fact that each brand has strengths and weaknesses.
Hopefully this helps folks pick the one that's right for them.

 

[Off Road WannaBe]

Well ntm once you get the icons off I'm hoping iv got my fingers crossed once you have the icons off you end up shipping them back to Dylan too see what he can come up with for your situation. I run pretty much the same terrain here on the east coast in NB I'm loving the icons but to be able to maximize for our different needs would be the cats ass...

Sent from my BlackBerry 9800 using Tapatalk

 

[ntm]

Small delay here, I've been hearing some grumbling from the rear.
Did a rear end rebuild in my driveway yesterday, joe dirt style !
Found this on the drivers side carrier bearing.
Suspicious, as I had ford change an axle seal three weeks ago. The axle bearings were fine, just a bit of sand build up killed the seal.
I'm thinking some kind of debris got into the rear when they pulled the axle to change the seal.


Coilovers are half on now...

The icons may go back for a revalve if I'm not happy with the fox's, but I suspect the spring rate is 90% of my issue.

 

[mkelly984]

Great write up, just curious, what are your plans with the set you don't choose?

 

[ntm]

Sell them most likely.

 

[ntm]

Fox's are in.
Did a couple of quick offroad runs and some around town driving, and I can say they are indeed very different.
Spring rates are more balanced front to rear for sure.
I'll spend the day tomorrow running them on the same choppy roads as the icons saw at lower speeds, then hit the same high speed offroad loops.