Suspension Swap
Winter is the time of the year I prefer to use to rethink the Fj. What gear proved itself worthy this past year? What could be improved? What could be faster? Traveling with a small SUV poses certain issues for building an expedition vehicle, especially when you stick a big ole Snomaster in the back!
First off. ICON suspension. I decided to get rid of it. Except for the Overlander rear springs, which I have actually have good luck with. My reasons for switching away from ICON is leaking issues. For more information on ICON shock leaks, google just that. They seem to have WAY more issues with shock leaks than other manufacturers. They will all produce a bad batch from time to time, but this seems to be a long lasting theme. Do your own research into this of course.
King suspension.A few horror stories exist out there, but for being one of planet Earths biggest shock manufacturers they really don’t have many bad reviews.
So here we are. I decided on a full King 2.5” shock lift all around. I did decide on the adjustable remote reservoirs after a bit of research. Some people say they aren’t necessary, but I had to completely replace my expensive ICON suspension with another companies expensive suspension, so I wanted to get a bit ahead. I use my Fj offload a lot, so I went ahead and justified the bit of extra cost. I bought these from State48Overland. CALL THESE GUYS! I have bought a lot of gear from a lot of places, and have never recieved as good of service as I got from these guys. They called me several times to update me on my order (mine took longer due to the 700lb springs I requested). Top notch, seriously.
The King compression adjusters have over 20 click settings. All the way down I can feel a bit more body roll (no front sway bar) and turned all the way up it rides like a dream on the street. Until I get these out on a trail, I really can’t comment on how much it will be noticeable when I really want a softer ride.
On top of the suspension I ordered some Durobumps bump stops. These are awesome! These are dual rate, which means they are softer until about halfway through, and then the rubber gets more dense and stiffens up. Less intense hits are softened with the soft part of the rubber, while a hard hit will be slowed down significantly and be far less jarring than the factory stops ever could be. Hauling ass through the dirt of Moab will be a far more comfortable experience from here on!
