Overlanding suspension?

[slomatt]

Finally someone that understands. the guy that posted said he has the money set aside why would you not get the best you can afford? There is nothing wrong with making due with what you have but there is also nothing wrong with buying nice things I get the feeling a lot of people here think something is wrong with you if you worked hard and bought nice top end stuff for your rig

I'm not sure "making due with what you have" is fair statement here. There are many people who could afford to buy all the big $$ gear for their trucks, and choose not to for various reasons. If someone wants to spend the money on a top end suspension then great, that's their prerogative. I don't think anybody is saying that is wrong. What I'm saying is that I don't want the OP to think that a top end suspension is necessary (as opposed to nice to have) for "overlanding", and that they have an opportunity to save some of their $5k budget to spend on other things.

 

[Highplainsdrifter]

Finally someone that understands. the guy that posted said he has the money set aside why would you not get the best you can afford? There is nothing wrong with making due with what you have but there is also nothing wrong with buying nice things I get the feeling a lot of people here think something is wrong with you if you worked hard and bought nice top end stuff for your rig

I'm not sure "making due with what you have" is fair statement here. There are many people who could afford to buy all the big $$ gear for their trucks, and choose not to for various reasons. If someone wants to spend the money on a top end suspension then great, that's their prerogative. I don't think anybody is saying that is wrong. What I'm saying is that I don't want the OP to think that a top end suspension is necessary (as opposed to nice to have) for "overlanding", and that they have an opportunity to save some of their $5k budget to spend on other things.

Agree to disagree

 

[tjZ06]

I'm not sure "making due with what you have" is fair statement here. There are many people who could afford to buy all the big $$ gear for their trucks, and choose not to for various reasons. If someone wants to spend the money on a top end suspension then great, that's their prerogative. I don't think anybody is saying that is wrong. What I'm saying is that I don't want the OP to think that a top end suspension is necessary (as opposed to nice to have) for "overlanding", and that they have an opportunity to save some of their $5k budget to spend on other things.

That's totally reasonable.

-TJ

 

[MOAK]

I would tend to agree for the most part. Some very smart engineers figured out all that stuff, and my second guessing them is bound to develop problems of my own making. I do, however, plan on a small lift just to offset the added bumpers and skid weights. That being said, I do plan on spending lots of time off pavement but very little time crawling over rocks! I will opt to just go around them instead.

You have a lot of research to do. Simply adding a small lift does not offset extra weight we’ve all added to our vehicles. Instead of looking for a “lift” be looking for upgraded spring rates. The Australians get it right, as there is Old Man Emu, Dobinson, and a couple others that market not “lifts” but suspension upgrades. If you have an additional 400 lbs at each axle, then you need a spring designed to support that extra weight. Spend a thousand or so for an Aussie kit complete with gas shocks. I gotta say, my OME kit has done well for over 200,000 miles. I just replaced the first OME shocks two years, or 30,000 miles ago. The old one were still good, I just did it as a PM. Finally, keep it simple . Those reservoir shocks are cool and I’m sure they work really well, but does one really want to be rebuilding them every 50,000 miles or so? Just my 02cents based upon nearly 35 years of doing this thing that is now named overlanding.

 

[slomatt]

Agree to disagree

Fair enough, though I'm curious what part of my post you disagree with?

 

[MOAK]

[QUOTE="Highplainsdrifter, post: 497268, member: I get the feeling a lot of people here think something is wrong with you if you worked hard and bought nice top end stuff for your rig
[/QUOTE]
You’re right, if someone chooses to spend their hard earned money on nice things, that’s fine. But once in a while can we just all admit that some things we all spend money on are foolish and stop pretending that they are not? I spend more money on model trains than I do on the maintenance of my vehicles. I admit the foolishness all of my hobbies. Even if I had access to unlimited funding I’d be hard pressed to spend 5 thousand or so on a suspension system designed for what 99% of everyone on these forums does not do, nor encounter. I know a guy up on the Puget Sound that has that kind of money. He spent multiple thousands on two different high end suspension systems. We went wheelin together. (It’s on YouTube) after the run he asked what suspension I was using. I told him about it. The very next month he was installing his third, final and least expensive suspension. Did this JKU driver add to the economy? Heck ya! Go for it! Just don’t take ones self so seriously. Keep a sense of humor and just admit it is foolish money spent.

 

[Highplainsdrifter]

[QUOTE="Highplainsdrifter, post: 497268, member: I get the feeling a lot of people here think something is wrong with you if you worked hard and bought nice top end stuff for your rig

You’re right, if someone chooses to spend their hard earned money on nice things, that’s fine. But once in a while can we just all admit that some things we all spend money on are foolish and stop pretending that they are not? I spend more money on model trains than I do on the maintenance of my vehicles. I admit the foolishness all of my hobbies. Even if I had access to unlimited funding I’d be hard pressed to spend 5 thousand or so on a suspension system designed for what 99% of everyone on these forums does not do, nor encounter. I know a guy up on the Puget Sound that has that kind of money. He spent multiple thousands on two different high end suspension systems. We went wheelin together. (It’s on YouTube) after the run he asked what suspension I was using. I told him about it. The very next month he was installing his third, final and least expensive suspension. Did this JKU driver add to the economy? Heck ya! Go for it! Just don’t take ones self so seriously. Keep a sense of humor and just admit it is foolish money spent.[/QUOTE]

When you admit your gas shocks didn’t last for 200k maybe I could take what you say seriously. thank you for proving my point and saying I’m a fool for buying nice suspension

 

[madcratebuilder]

You have a lot of research to do. Simply adding a small lift does not offset extra weight we’ve all added to our vehicles. Instead of looking for a “lift” be looking for upgraded spring rates. The Australians get it right, as there is Old Man Emu, Dobinson, and a couple others that market not “lifts” but suspension upgrades. If you have an additional 400 lbs at each axle, then you need a spring designed to support that extra weight. Spend a thousand or so for an Aussie kit complete with gas shocks. I gotta say, my OME kit has done well for over 200,000 miles. I just replaced the first OME shocks two years, or 30,000 miles ago. The old one were still good, I just did it as a PM. Finally, keep it simple . Those reservoir shocks are cool and I’m sure they work really well, but does one really want to be rebuilding them every 50,000 miles or so? Just my 02cents based upon nearly 35 years of doing this thing that is now named overlanding.

I'm in this tribe. I started off with a "level" kit, lift the front 1.75". As I have added weight I found the rear springs not up to the task. I've since added adjustable coilovers, UCA's and Timbren bump stops on the front, removed the front sway bar. On the rear I have a add a leaf, Timbrens and I moved the shocks to the outside of the frame rails. I'm happy with the increase in ground clearance, 2+ lift and lower shock mounts out of the way, truck drives like oem.

 

[MOAK]

You’re right, if someone chooses to spend their hard earned money on nice things, that’s fine. But once in a while can we just all admit that some things we all spend money on are foolish and stop pretending that they are not? I spend more money on model trains than I do on the maintenance of my vehicles. I admit the foolishness all of my hobbies. Even if I had access to unlimited funding I’d be hard pressed to spend 5 thousand or so on a suspension system designed for what 99% of everyone on these forums does not do, nor encounter. I know a guy up on the Puget Sound that has that kind of money. He spent multiple thousands on two different high end suspension systems. We went wheelin together. (It’s on YouTube) after the run he asked what suspension I was using. I told him about it. The very next month he was installing his third, final and least expensive suspension. Did this JKU driver add to the economy? Heck ya! Go for it! Just don’t take ones self so seriously. Keep a sense of humor and just admit it is foolish money spent.

When you admit your gas shocks didn’t last for 200k maybe I could take what you say seriously. thank you for proving my point and saying I’m a fool for buying nice suspension
[/QUOTE]
I know, I am really bummed every time I have to remove and replace things. Why, only last week I had to replace a 24 year old Denso windshield washer pump. Why couldn’t the cheap designers at Toyota build a pump that lasted 50 years? And just two days ago I replaced my Denso alternator which was new from 2005. Dude, much of what I say on these forums is tongue in cheek with a large helping of ironic humor. The only thing I take seriously is reliability (why we use the KISS methodology with just about everything related to our vehicle, trailer & camping gear) and our safety when we tour alone, to some of the most remote spots in the lower 48.

 

[Highplainsdrifter]

You’re right, if someone chooses to spend their hard earned money on nice things, that’s fine. But once in a while can we just all admit that some things we all spend money on are foolish and stop pretending that they are not? I spend more money on model trains than I do on the maintenance of my vehicles. I admit the foolishness all of my hobbies. Even if I had access to unlimited funding I’d be hard pressed to spend 5 thousand or so on a suspension system designed for what 99% of everyone on these forums does not do, nor encounter. I know a guy up on the Puget Sound that has that kind of money. He spent multiple thousands on two different high end suspension systems. We went wheelin together. (It’s on YouTube) after the run he asked what suspension I was using. I told him about it. The very next month he was installing his third, final and least expensive suspension. Did this JKU driver add to the economy? Heck ya! Go for it! Just don’t take ones self so seriously. Keep a sense of humor and just admit it is foolish money spent.

When you admit your gas shocks didn’t last for 200k maybe I could take what you say seriously. thank you for proving my point and saying I’m a fool for buying nice suspension

I know, I am really bummed every time I have to remove and replace things. Why, only last week I had to replace a 24 year old Denso windshield washer pump. Why couldn’t the cheap designers at Toyota build a pump that lasted 50 years? And just two days ago I replaced my Denso alternator which was new from 2005. Dude, much of what I say on these forums is tongue in cheek with a large helping of ironic humor. The only thing I take seriously is reliability and our safety when we tour alone, to some of the most remote spots in the lower 48.[/QUOTE]

not understanding what your saying sorry I’m not very smart and sometimes quite foolish, let’s just say we will not see eye to eye and leave it at that

 

[MidOH]

2.5 resi shocks aren't needed if you aren't going to be pushing the truck hard anywhere. There's plenty of 2.5's out there that are setup to work no better than a smoothie 2.0 shock.


This time around, I saved a ton of coin by just settling for Fox 2.0's.

 

[Rambler]

I have been looking into icon suspensions. I was contemplating a stage 6 as that final part to my FJ Cruiser build. Then I saw a video that talked about your suspension not being as important as your tent and how overland vehicles usually dont need a crazy suspension because you arent crawling. I added at least 1000lbs to my truck. Bumpers, winch, roof top tent, custom cabinets, dual battery set up, jack, traction boards.etc etc etc.

Should I still go with an Icon set up? I left $5k in my budget. Is there a better use for that money? I am new to all of this and have never been a "car guy", so I am looking for sound advice. Thanks.

@Odinsink, I have to echo @slomatt, he has some good points. I hope I can add some additional insight to help with your decision as I did a lot of reasearch before I went with Icons on my Tundra: coilovers, UCA's, rear shocks, and RXT leaf pack. First, I too added a lot of weight and I regularly drove long distances on rough dirt, gravel, and unimproved roads at a moderate speed. I wanted a bit more ground clearance while maintaining its road worthiness and safety at highway speeds as this is my daily driver too. I enjoy working on my truck and do most of the maintenance and mods myself. Icons are essentially plug and play which allowed me to upgrade the suspension in my driveway, saving $$$ in labor. The adjustable coilovers give me a bit more lift in the front and the leaf pack keeps the rear up with the added weight. I chose these leafs over OME because I didn't believe their 2-stage system was what I was looking for. I knew how much weight I was carrying and Icon's leafs could essentially tell me how many leafs to incorporate to give me an approximate ride height given the payload. The adjustable valving also improves the ride both on and off-road over stock. I have about 8K miles on them with no complaints yet. I once met a guy who had a 4 Runner with Icons. He complained that they leaked and swapped them out for some Kings. As I recall, the only thing he did himself was wash and vaccum, nothing wrong with that. True that most of our mods don't increase the GVWR, but the upgraded suspension gives me peace of mind that the vehicle can safely handle the added weight while improving on and off-road performance. My family's safety came first, followed by function over form.

 

[madcratebuilder]

We are excited to welcome you to the Timbren family! If ever have any questions about your current products or need help with our product lineup please feel free to reach out! Happy overlanding!

Your off road bump stops are getting popular on the ZR2 forums, I've had mine just over a year now and very happy with them.