Am I crazy to want a mild long travel setup on a 80% road DD 4Runner?

mparker

New member
FWIW I did a "mid travel" setup on my first gen tacoma that spent most of its life on pavement. It was my DD as well as road trip mobile for climbing trips, most crags don't really need a very off-road capable vehicle.

2004 Tacoma 4x4, Icon 2.5 extended travel, Icon billet UCA, Icon remote resi rear shocks. I did it at about the same time you did when the stock suspension started to wear out. Did it perform well? Yes. Was it a good value? No.

The only issue is that the truck is being handed on within the family and having the Icons rebuilt or the uniball replaced in the UCA isn't something you can have addressed at any shop.

Good info. I can’t do UNIBalls because of the winter weather and road salt.

And shock rebuilds are an inconvenience too. For that reason I’ve also considered Bilstein 5100s and be done.
 

christsay

New member
If it is spending most of its time on pavement the shock rebuild interval may be the time you go between replacing the 5100s. It's also not that big of a deal if you can either rebuild them yourself or have someone local that can.

One thing you should not do if you put aftermarket coilovers on is get rid of your old coilovers. You will want something to roll around on while you get the aftermarket coilovers rebuilt. At least on the trucks you can roll around without rear shocks.
 

Tex68w

Beach Bum
Another vote to avoid Icon. I'd love to go LT on my GX but the added complexity, expense and somewhat added maintenance have me holding off. A mid travel setup is a nice middle ground and probably more along the lines of what you and I really need. For 90% of us, a simple, non-rebuildable kit is more than we will truly ever need, but I understand having upgraditis and always wanting to strive to be better. I am happy with my Ironman Foam Cell Pro kit but if I had to do it all over again I would likely have gone with the Toytec BOSS or Dobinson MRR kits instead.
 

direwolf82

Active member
Going long travel in the rear is nice but can open up a can of worms. Extended brake lines, drive shaft rubbing on gas tank skid when articulated. I 100% planned on going that route but after seeing some of the maintenance involved with a good friends, I like not worrying about it. Mid travel up front, all day long though.
I was just curious about the extra maintenance for a long travel rear?
Is there more than just the install issues? I haven't seen or dealt with one in real life but I was tentatively thinking about doing it, definitely want to know the cons first though.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
 

mparker

New member
I was just curious about the extra maintenance for a long travel rear?
Is there more than just the install issues? I haven't seen or dealt with one in real life but I was tentatively thinking about doing it, definitely want to know the cons first though.

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

As far as I know you would have shock rebuilds every 50k or so, possibly pivots to grease on linkages? Maybe added U joint inspections of your?
 

direwolf82

Active member
As far as I know you would have shock rebuilds every 50k or so, possibly pivots to grease on linkages? Maybe added U joint inspections of your?
Thanks, that's not bad at all. Doesn't sound like too much extra work at all really and the more I'm under there the better my chances of finding an issue in my driveway than breaking it on the trail anyways so I'm good with that.

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4000lbsOfGoat

Well-known member
I'm seeing a lot of Icon hate here so I'll throw in and say that I love mine! :D
That being said, they are *adjustable* - compression up front and compression\rebound in the back. Given that you are asking your rig to do a lot of different tasks, under differing loads, you are never going to find a valving that is perfect across the range. If you're tooling around off-highway you'll want everything as soft as possible. Daily driving you'll want it somewhere in the middle. Extended road trip with passengers\gear you'll want things stiffened up. Rather than looking for extended travel (which will only be useful in very limited situations) I'd recommend looking for shocks that are adjustable to serve a wider range of uses.
 

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