Suspension Kits For Rebel Off-road ride height

[knightjp]

I currently have a 2014 Ram 1500 SLT. I want to give it a suspension that is about as equal in height to a 2017 Ram Rebel on its off-road setting.

From this video, it looks like the 2017 Rebel in off road mode is about 3" lift over stock.


I don't want to use spacers or anything like that and whatever I put, I would like to retain the same payload and towing capacity.
So far the only kits that I have heard that does that is the one from ICON.. But I am not sure what kind of a lift does this kit give over factory?


Does anyone know of any other kits?

What is the best recommended suspension lift for a Ram 1500 without dropping the front diff, and retaining the same payload and not using spacers..?
Yeah... I know that it sounds impossible, but I am sure that must be a kit out there.

 

[BOWERSFJ]

Bils up front at 2.8” setting, and a 1” or 1-1/2” Daystar poly spacer in the rear ... Payload all remains the same ... Probably a good time to upgrade UCA’s and rear shocks


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[kurek]

I currently have a 2014 Ram 1500 SLT. I want to give it a suspension that is about as equal in height to a 2017 Ram Rebel on its off-road setting.

Does anyone know of any other kits?

What is the best recommended suspension lift for a Ram 1500 without dropping the front diff, and retaining the same payload and not using spacers..?
Yeah... I know that it sounds impossible, but I am sure that must be a kit out there.

I used the Mopar P5155797 kit which lifts the front just a little under 3" and the rear about as much. It doesn't use spacers and since Mopar endorses it there's some expectation that it's engineered to about OE standards. It increases rear suspension travel by about an inch and includes bumpstop extensions to accommodate this & larger tires if desired.

The lift is nice on its own but later I added lift-specific upper control arms and a rear track bar relocation bracket, both of which I feel improved the truck's stability slightly.

I cannot compare this lift with others first-hand as it's the only one I have installed and driven but I can report that it tows (7200lb is the most I've towed with this truck) without drama and works well in cross country interstate drives as well as the roughest terrain I care to take a fullsize truck through.

The big Icon kit is surely better at absorbing large bumps but I'd also suspect it's considerably more money.

At the moment I'm not at my home PC so I don't have photos to share of my truck but here is one I found through google wearing the same lift, that's about what you can expect from it.




Edit: this assumes you're talking about a 4wd truck; 2wd has entirely different front suspension.

 

[ram1500rsm]

I currently have a 2014 Ram 1500 SLT. I want to give it a suspension that is about as equal in height to a 2017 Ram Rebel on its off-road setting.

From this video, it looks like the 2017 Rebel in off road mode is about 3" lift over stock.


I don't want to use spacers or anything like that and whatever I put, I would like to retain the same payload and towing capacity.
So far the only kits that I have heard that does that is the one from ICON.. But I am not sure what kind of a lift does this kit give over factory?


Does anyone know of any other kits?

What is the best recommended suspension lift for a Ram 1500 without dropping the front diff, and retaining the same payload and not using spacers..?
Yeah... I know that it sounds impossible, but I am sure that must be a kit out there.

He did Icon Stage 5 on that 2nd video.
You can do the same Icon 1.5" rear springs and Icon UCAs he did for example, but since you asked for the best, Kings 2.5 COs and rear 2.5 rear shocks will be just that. You gain front Reservoirs and front CDC. You can do the same with Fox or the same also with Radflo and their 2.5 coilvers/shock performance options. You can also use the same springs but go with JBA UCAs or Zone. You can mix and match there are no rules and all have their benefits, all are quality products made in USA so you can't/won't go wrong with any of them.

The icon springs will allow more weight without sagging like the stockers do under load.. Unfortutanely we're stuck with no so great payload numbers because of our stock GVWR. It's what is. The icon springs will carry more weight with less sag compared to the stockers plus they're progressive and longer which makes them good for offroading and overlanding assuming you don't need more than 1-1.5" lift in the back.

Have fun bro and don't be affraid to ask.

 

[knightjp]

@BOWERSFJ I'm looking for something that does not have spacers.

Thank you for the info @kurek & @ram1500rsm. Certainly worth considering. From the Mopar one uses spacers as well and again, I'm not into that. I've also heard that the Mopar kit is more of an appearance package compared to the stuff from Fox, ICON and Kings.

From what I have been told most suspension kits focus on off-roading and reduce the payload over stock.

I'm mostly looking for a 3" lift kit (without spacers) that will retain the stock payload capacity and towing of my SLT. Increasing would be preferable than reducing it.
So far ICON is the only one that I have heard of that will retain the stock payload while giving the truck a lift. But Will the Icon Stage 5 give me the 3" inch lift?

I've heard about the King shocks and quite a few people swear by them. I don't know if they have a kit the similar to the ICON Stage 5.

 

[kurek]

From the Mopar one uses spacers as well and again, I'm not into that. I've also heard that the Mopar kit is more of an appearance package compared to the stuff from Fox, ICON and Kings.

I have the Mopar kit and it does not use spacers; except that the rear axle bumpstop landing pads are extended with spacers. Front lift is achieved with coil lower mount relocation on the strut (same as the Fox/Icon/Kings) and rear lift is achieved with longer progressive coil springs (which I suspect are literally rebranded Icons) along with brackets that relocate the sway bar end links, brake/ABS lines, plus longer rear shocks that have a bit over 1" more total travel than stock. It is not an appearance package. Where it differs from the race brands is in quality and tuning grade of the shocks themselves and little else.

Here is a photo of my 1500 towing ~7200lb with quite a lot of that weight on the tongue, and a bed full of camping gear.


The installation manual published by Chrysler does not mention any change to payload or tow capacity.

I don't have a dog in this in any case, what you buy is of no consequence to me but it's reasonable to have the facts straight.

 

[ram1500rsm]

@BOWERSFJ I'm looking for something that does not have spacers.

Thank you for the info @kurek & @ram1500rsm. Certainly worth considering. From the Mopar one uses spacers as well and again, I'm not into that. I've also heard that the Mopar kit is more of an appearance package compared to the stuff from Fox, ICON and Kings.

From what I have been told most suspension kits focus on off-roading and reduce the payload over stock.

I'm mostly looking for a 3" lift kit (without spacers) that will retain the stock payload capacity and towing of my SLT. Increasing would be preferable than reducing it.
So far ICON is the only one that I have heard of that will retain the stock payload while giving the truck a lift. But Will the Icon Stage 5 give me the 3" inch lift?

I've heard about the King shocks and quite a few people swear by them. I don't know if they have a kit the similar to the ICON Stage 5.

That's because King is King
Joking asides, what makes the Icon stage 5 kit ?
http://iconvehicledynamics.com/shop...dodge-ram-1500-suspension-system-stage-5.html

Icon 1.5" rear springs, part# 212150
Icon Delta Join UCAs: part# 218550DJ
and 2.5 CO's front 2.5 piggybacks rear shocks with RES and CDC. Keep in mind the Icon front CO's for the RAM 1500 application don't include reservoirs nor a CDC option. They say is because they don't have space to allocate a hose and the RES. I think it's a mistake they're making not adding those as their competition does and nobody seems to have any issues running them, heck i run my Kings with 37's pretty much like that dude in the video you posted with the Icon setup (that truck has been an inspiration for my build) and i have yet to rub the RES with those big tires

I think Icon make good kits, i had their Toyota Taco stage 5 before and they have a lot more options in that application for sure but they don't offer RES and CDC front for the CO's in the RAM so this time i didn't look at them and went straight with Kings.


King, Fox and Radflo OE kits don't include UCA's or the rear springs like Icon do, just the 2.5 Coilovers for the front and the 2.5 rear shocks, but they all give you a reservoir for both their CO's and rear piggyback shocks, and you have the option to choose CDC or not.
all you have to do is add your choice of UCA and rear springs.

For Rear springs you have:
Icon 1.5" part# 212150
Bilstein 1" part# 36-286539
Mopar 2" (Superlift make this springs, part# SLF-140)
Eibach 1" , part# E30-27-001-02-02
Carli 0.5" , part# CS-RAM15MRC-14-R
There are more coil springs in the 1" category but they're shorter than stock, designed more for work than fun, shorter springs with longer shocks don't mix well...

I tried the SLF-140 springs as i was looking for more offroad performance. if you're setting the truck for offroading they are really long, so you can get 29-30" rear extended shocks which is awesome for more rear suspension travel. I was looking to replace my 27" extended King rear shocks with 29" ones and those coil springs came handy but after installing them i found out they're not exactly a coil spring you want for overlanding (my truck is setup with a little more of that in mind) They sagged their full 2" in a matter of 3 days for me so i returned them very quickly.

Plus when you see people racing their chit and posting this, you don't want to have the same ocurrence... check post # 11 here.
https://www.ramforum.com/threads/upgrading-from-bilstein-to-fox.132275/


So what can you have asides from Icon kit?

Kings:
http://www.kingshocks.com/products/oem/ram-trucks/

If you want custom valving, you can get them from Filthy motorsports, just tell them what mods do you have in the truck and how much abuse you're going to give it and they will fill in the blanks for you. Keep in mind they also offer even more performance if you want to use shocks with internal bypasses (IBP's) or external bypasses. Sky is the limit here.

https://www.filthymotorsports.com/King_OEM_RAM_1500_Shocks_p/king-25001-207.htm

Same with Accutune, and they offer Kings and Fox with custom valving. they also have IBP's, bypasses ect etc.
https://accutuneoffroad.com/product...ucts/dodge/ram-1500/dodge-ram-1500-2016-2009/

Thuren makes custom valving for the RAM 1500 using Kings as well
https://www.thurenfabrication.com/p...suspension-systems/thuren-ram-1500-kings.html

And Carli makes a more complete kit with Kings, UCA's and rear springs, but their rear springs are supposed to be just 1/2" higher than stock.
https://carlisuspension.com/product...stems/dodge-1500-performance-2-5-system-2009/

Fox
https://www.ridefox.com/subhome.php?m=truck&make=Ram&model=1500+&year=2014&position=ALL

Radflo
https://www.radflo.com/c-47-jeep-truck-suv-shocks-shocks-by-make-dodge-ram.html

All of them can make you IBP's and external bypasses, i'm just listing what they offer off the shelve for the RAM 1500.

All these kits do use front coilovers and they're good for 2-3" lift, just crank them up and up she'll go, follow the manufacturer recommendation on how much preload you can add before you added too many turns into your coilovers to go up, and don't exceed 3", i'm setup for 2.75" and still have room to go higher, you'll get better performance at 2.5" though because the CO's will have more travel up/down, but you can definetely go higher. They should all be extended travel (1" more extension than stock) or at least i can vouch for the King CO OE setup being extended travel.

You can get the UCA's from Icon or any other vendor you like, Zone, ReadyLift, JBA, CST, Total Chaos, Maxtrac, BDS, etc etc. You have different BJ styles and bushings to choose from, Uniballs are best for offroad/racing performance as they can take more abuse, but the standard BJ (like Zone) do last longer with zero maintenance, just less pivoting performance. Icon Delta joins and JBA have both nice joints, Icon have poly bushings which can be a little noisy if you don't keep adding grease to them. JBA's use elastomer bushings better than poly in the noise deparment and i think no maintenance. Zone have standard rubber bushings, they last long and requiere no maintenance but the bushing tend to flex like a mother facker offroad, poly or heims will keep things where they need to be with less flex or no flex, more noise though but what the heck i'm not driving a little princess here hahaha. Never had the JBA version so i can't tell you if that bushing will flex like standard rubber or not but they're noise free and in theory require no maintenance? i'm just waiting for my Zone UCA's BJ to say goodbye before i'll replace them with something different, that might take a good while but i'm not in a rush.


If you're setting the truck for max bashing/race, then you have UCA uniballs with heims, and long travel complete kits, noise will be through the roof but when you're setting things up for max bashing/racing, noise is not a concern and it's understood you'll have plenty of it to enjoy , IBP's will be quiet as stock, external bypasses will click like mfackers.
Dirt King https://dirtkingfabrication.com/collections/ram and
Gor Racing, https://gorracing.com/t/race
all 3" of native pure suspension beef.

Enjoy whatever kit you go with, and post some pics and impressions once you're done. We love pics around here hahaha.

 

[joshuaeb09]

Bilstein 1" part# 36-286539

As @hodge-xj and I can attest to they actually really shine when you add the Daystar spacer and pair them with a good enough shock. With my rear kings the ass end is just damn near perfect off and on road. I do have the modded sumo's as a progressive stop/slight extension, but he doesn't and has still had good things to say with that spring/spacer configuration.

You have different BJ styles and bushings to choose from, Uniballs are best for offrad/racing performance as they can take more abuse, but the standar BJ (like Zone) do last longer with zero maintenance, just less pivoting performance. Icon Delta joins and JBA have both nice joints, Icon have poly bushings which can be a little noisy if you don't keep adding grease to them. JBA's use elastomer bushings better than poly in the noise deparment and i think no maintenance. Zone have standard rubber bushings, they last long and requiere no maintenance but the bushing tend to flex like mother fackers offroad, poly or heims will keep things where they need to be with less flex or no flex, more noise though but what the heck i'm not driving a little princess here hahaha. never had the JBA version so i can't tell you if that bushing will flex like standard rubber or not but they're noise free and in theroty require no maintenance. i'm just waiting for my Zone UCA's BJ to say goodbye before i'll replace them with something different, that might take a good while but i'm not in a rush.

I'm loving the JBA's with my King's. So far no noise, but I do hit the grease fittings every once in a while since they're easy. Haven't really beat the hell out of them, but doing stupid **** like 70+ in washed out gravel or getting some small air time I've been more than pleased. The down travel is stupid and I can just about access my adjustment collars without taking off the wheels running my Toyo 315/70R17's so that's a nice little bonus.

 

[novelmike]

In my opinion, the Bilstein lift is sorta like a spacer. They just compress the coilspring to make it stiffer to gain lift and a spacer compresses the entire strut. Both of them do not offer any real performance gains. And the Bilstein is still considered a strut and not a coilovers shock.

The reason nobody makes a 3” lift for the Ram 1500 is because of the liability that will come with it. It puts added stress on the front driveshafts/CV joints because of the angles it creates at 3”
Icon sorta advertises 0-3” but I believe they recommend the 2.5” setting.

A LOT of people on here have the Bilsteins set at their max setting- 2.8 And someone with Bilsteins can chime in with if they received more of less than 2.8” What I am getting at is although Icon, FOX, King, etc do not recommend setting their coilovers at 3” of lift, with the amount of people running Bilstein at the 2.8 setting (nearly 3”?) i have not heard many people complaining about issues with the drive shafts or CV problems. But you definitely want to upgrade your control arms if you are shooting for 3” of lift for alignment and stock ball joints most likely cannot handle 3” of lift.
Go with a coilover (your pick on brand) set it a 3”. New control arms for the front (Total Chaos, JBA, Icon) Get a quality rear coil spring and matching brand shocks for the rear and be done with it!

I have the FOX 2.5” coilovers with the DSC adjusters on the front of my Ram. So speaking from experience adjusting the preload from the factory setting of 2” of lift to about 2.5-2.75” of lift did not have a negative effect on ride quality. It improved it. FOX in my opinion come a little soft from the factory.
I’m also using JBA control arms. I chose those over the others because of their ball joint. Very strong and can be swapped in in a pinch with a Moog ball joint that almost any parts store keeps in stock. JBA makes the BJ in house, a Moog BJ will fit it also. But the JBA is much, much better.
I did not want to have to deal with the potential squeaking uni-ball control arm that some people have. Plus the JBA has more range of motion than a uniball and possibly any other ball joint out there.
Not trying to sell you on a JBA UCA,I just did a lot of research before I bought mine, and I believe they are at the top of the list for available UCA for the Ram

 

[ram1500rsm]

As @hodge-xj and I can attest to they actually really shine when you add the Daystar spacer and pair them with a good enough shock. With my rear kings the ass end is just damn near perfect off and on road. I do have the modded sumo's as a progressive stop/slight extension, but he doesn't and has still had good things to say with that spring/spacer configuration.



I'm loving the JBA's with my King's. So far no noise, but I do hit the grease fittings every once in a while since they're easy. Haven't really beat the hell out of them, but doing stupid **** like 70+ in washed out gravel or getting some small air time I've been more than pleased. The down travel is stupid and I can just about access my adjustment collars without taking off the wheels running my Toyo 315/70R17's so that's a nice little bonus.

Do you have to grease the bushings or the BJ or both with the JBA's ?
I've done both before, and with TC you have to remove the tension of the bushings getting those bolts loose before pumping grease in them. I think Icon recommends the same with the RAM, i was just tired of greasing chit up when i got into the Zone UCA's, but after having a little bit of all the worlds, a litte noise is not bad when the performance increases. is just what it is when you want to run your chit a little harder than normal.

 

[joshuaeb09]

Do you have to grease the bushings or the BJ or both with the JBA's ?
I've done both before, and with TC you have to remove the tension of the bushings getting those bolts loose before pumping grease in them. I think Icon recommends the same with the RAM, i was just tired of greasing chit up when i got into the Zone UCA's, but after having a little bit of all the worlds, a litte noise is not bad when the performance increases. is just what it is when you want to run your chit a little harder than normal.

I've been greasing both. Probably should loosen the UCA bolts, but I don't for a quick pump of grease and some of it does make its way to the bushing face after its cycled a few times. Makes sense since they do advertise the easy grease bushing. I'll save actually loosening them for longer maintenance intervals or if I see any issues/noise.

https://jbaoffroad.com/jba-ez-lube-bushings

 

[ram1500rsm]

I've been greasing both. Probably should loosen the UCA bolts, but I don't for a quick pump of grease and some of it does make its way to the bushing face after its cycled a few times. Makes sense since they do advertise the easy grease bushing. I'll save actually loosening them for longer maintenance intervals or if I see any issues/noise.

https://jbaoffroad.com/jba-ez-lube-bushings

Thanks for the link, looks like you don't need to loose the UCA bolts with those bushings.
"
Patent Pending
October, 2019

Introducing our proprietary EZ Lube bushings! We have added grease ports to keep the outer face of the bushings lubricated. These bushings will not get extruded from the housing due to being over pressurized with too much grease. This change will increase the performance, durability and lifespan of the a-arm bushings.

Our maintenance procedure is simple: pump grease in them until you see grease come out between the washers and the bushing."


With TC and Icon they tell you right from the spot you have to lossen up the UCA bolts because if you don't the bushing will deform and get damaged.
This are the TC UCA's i had in my Taco, you can see how the bushing can deform without loosing the bolts, Icon UCA bushings for the Tacos are lubed same way (uniball version) i'd think the Icon DT's should be lubed the same way since they all use poly bushings.

Before those i had SPC UCA's in my FJC, only needed to grease the BJ's, bushings didn't have greasing zerks.

 

[ram1500rsm]

I may go with TC again. I'm just attracted to those arms asides from a little more maintenance they're just solid and i know what to expect with them plus i like to be different. they're not cheap but again, when you demand/need more performance, the price is what it is. i tried to be cheap with Zone and here i'm wanting to get rid of them and pay for new UCA's. Talking about wasting 400-500 ? lol Maybe i won't have to wait until the Zone are done. I can list them in Craiglist for $200 and see if can at least recover a little of the price i paid for them.

 

[knightjp]

@kurek I actually appreciate your input so far. Having someone with 1st hand experience on products is valuable information.

The same goes for @ram1500rsm & the rest.

@ram1500rsm thanks for all the links. You gave me a lot to think about. And thanks for this link. Considering that the original poster is in the same region as me, his off roading terrain is about the same as what I have here.
https://www.ramforum.com/threads/upgrading-from-bilstein-to-fox.132275/

Perhaps my use case will give a better indication of what is good for me.
I don't do much hardcore off-roading. Mostly it will be on the dunes and washboard gravel tracks. However this will all be on alternate weekends.
Most of the time, the truck will be on the highway.
I have used the truck to help friends move furniture around, etc. What good is a truck if it can't carry anything..?
I don't do much towing so increasing the payload or towing capacity is not important for me. But I would like to retain the truck's rated stock specs.

I would like to build the truck up to the level where it can go into the desert without a moment's notice or hesitance and handle whoops, dirt roads, washboard tracks and soft sand dunes without much issues.
From what I can see with the second video about the ICON, the Stage 5 kit can handle that.

 

[novelmike]

@kurek I actually appreciate your input so far. Having someone with 1st hand experience on products is valuable information.

The same goes for @ram1500rsm & the rest.

@ram1500rsm thanks for all the links. You gave me a lot to think about. And thanks for this link. Considering that the original poster is in the same region as me, his off roading terrain is about the same as what I have here.
https://www.ramforum.com/threads/upgrading-from-bilstein-to-fox.132275/

Perhaps my use case will give a better indication of what is good for me.
I don't do much hardcore off-roading. Mostly it will be on the dunes and washboard gravel tracks. However this will all be on alternate weekends.
Most of the time, the truck will be on the highway.
I have used the truck to help friends move furniture around, etc. What good is a truck if it can't carry anything..?
I don't do much towing so increasing the payload or towing capacity is not important for me. But I would like to retain the truck's rated stock specs.

I would like to build the truck up to the level where it can go into the desert without a moment's notice or hesitance and handle whoops, dirt roads, washboard tracks and soft sand dunes without much issues.
From what I can see with the second video about the ICON, the Stage 5 kit can handle that.

Not sure if you planned on buying the Stage 5 all at once or wanted to piece it together over time....
If you can afford it, consider going with a reservoir shock with adjusters. Especially for the front. Icon doesn’t offer them for the front of our trucks. So you’d have to go with another brand of your “color choice” King, Fox, Etc...
They will ride great on the road and you can “tune” it to your preference. But when you get the chance to take it off road just turn a knob and they will perform great for you.
I have a hard time believing Icon shocks will be on the same level as a reservoir shock with adjusters while going through the desert FAST on a variety of terrain. Not a knock on them, but a reservoir coilover will keep the shock oil cool and you can adjust the fast and slow speed movement of the shock. Non adjustable coilovers try and find a happy medium when they’re tested and built for production

But they are almost twice as much as the Icon coilover.

I went through two others shocks before I finally bought what I always wanted. Reservoirs with adjusters. I never wanted to spend the money. But now that I have them, I wish I would have bought them first instead of wasting the money on the others.

 

[knightjp]

Not sure if you planned on buying the Stage 5 all at once or wanted to piece it together over time....
If you can afford it, consider going with a reservoir shock with adjusters. Especially for the front. Icon doesn’t offer them for the front of our trucks. So you’d have to go with another brand of your “color choice” King, Fox, Etc...

Yeah.. I was wondering why ICON will easily supply a shock with reservoirs for other brands, but not for the RAM..?
This is especially strange when you consider that other brands can. So what's the catch? Maybe they're not RAM fans... LOL.
The biggest reason for choosing the Stage 5 kit is because of the rear springs to retain my RAM SLT stock payload and towing capacity. Haven't seen another kit complete kit that promises that.
I guess another benefit of a complete kit is that you are guaranteed that everything will work together without any issues.

However there are those who have complete success in mixing and matching parts - like this...


I like the setup of the Falcon shocks where you are able to set it for load or off-road in the rear. However it is just a shock kit. There is nothing else.

I have a hard time believing Icon shocks will be on the same level as a reservoir shock with adjusters while going through the desert FAST on a variety of terrain. Not a knock on them, but a reservoir coilover will keep the shock oil cool and you can adjust the fast and slow speed movement of the shock.

Better performance is more preferred of course. So I will bear that in mind.

I went through two others shocks before I finally bought what I always wanted. Reservoirs with adjusters. I never wanted to spend the money. But now that I have them, I wish I would have bought them first instead of wasting the money on the others.

Well if I am honest, at the back of my mind, there is a plan to turn my truck into my own version of the Rebel with bumpers, etc. That is why I am keeping it as the benchmark to follow in terms of ride height and everything.
Of course I could go all crazy and turn my truck into a knock-off Rebel TRX concept truck. But then where would I get those amazing fenders done. Don't know of anyone that builds those.

I just completed the mortgage on the truck and it is all mine, so there are a number of ideas in my head. However one thing is for sure. I do want and need a suspension upgrade.

I'm sure the Ford Raptor's capabilities to run over the rough terrain at high speeds come from the wheel travel and the shocks, but what about the springs? Do they have an effect as well?

 

[kurek]

https://www.prefix.com/minotaur/

 

[knightjp]

https://www.prefix.com/minotaur/

I like the minotaur suspension and the side exhaust, but I'm not too fond of the design of front fenders. They look kind of odd to me. I like the Rebel TRX Concept fenders, but as I understand it, no one makes them.

Anyways Rebel TRX is a nice idea, but not really practical for me I guess.

This is pretty cool as well.

 

[ram1500rsm]

Yeah.. I was wondering why ICON will easily supply a shock with reservoirs for other brands, but not for the RAM..?
This is especially strange when you consider that other brands can. So what's the catch? Maybe they're not RAM fans... LOL.
The biggest reason for choosing the Stage 5 kit is because of the rear springs to retain my RAM SLT stock payload and towing capacity. Haven't seen another kit complete kit that promises that.
I guess another benefit of a complete kit is that you are guaranteed that everything will work together without any issues.

However there are those who have complete success in mixing and matching parts - like this...


I like the setup of the Falcon shocks where you are able to set it for load or off-road in the rear. However it is just a shock kit. There is nothing else.


Better performance is more preferred of course. So I will bear that in mind.




Well if I am honest, at the back of my mind, there is a plan to turn my truck into my own version of the Rebel with bumpers, etc. That is why I am keeping it as the benchmark to follow in terms of ride height and everything.
Of course I could go all crazy and turn my truck into a knock-off Rebel TRX concept truck. But then where would I get those amazing fenders done. Don't know of anyone that builds those.

I just completed the mortgage on the truck and it is all mine, so there are a number of ideas in my head. However one thing is for sure. I do want and need a suspension upgrade.

I'm sure the Ford Raptor's capabilities to run over the rough terrain at high speeds come from the wheel travel and the shocks, but what about the springs? Do they have an effect as well?

Raptors don't have rear coil springs, they have rear leaf springs like Tacomas

First video you posted here is the Fox 2.0 CO and Fox 2.0 rear shock setup with Icon Unibal setup. Looks pretty good to me and it's thew first time i've seen the setup live in a RAM 1500. They're better than stock but no match for 2.5 CO's when it comes to bashing the truck. Not to say Fox 2.0 CO's and shocks will not work, just like some say they have 5100's and never had any issue and they offroad just fine. The difference is mostly how aggresive you can be with either setup. slow and easy is waaaaayyyyyy different than hard and fast, so any shock can last if you drive slow enough.

You can see that on the 2nd video with the Falcon setup though i would like to see a litte more speed like this one form Falcon



Not a RAM but you get the idea how much abuse can 2.5 shocks whistand. You can do this for hours with them as oppose to minutes assuming you don't collapse your shock shafts or fenders first with a Bilstein 5100 setup, or Eibach, RC, Rancho , Procomp etc etc. standard shocks are street only, they're not designed with this type of fun in mind. slow and easy is one thing 2.5 shocks will run circles around Falcon, 6112/5160 setup, Fox 2.0 or Icon 2.0 shocks, not even talking about the crappola of metal spacers or rubber spacers at the top of your factory or 5100 shocks and $100 ucas's, they will last 5 min here... but go slow enough and you'll say "i can offroad the setup like the ton of people in this forum who have the same one without any issues" Lol, Kiding asides, This is only an example of why hi performance shocks are more expensive.



You can put the Icon rear coil springs in any of the setups we've posted for you with Kings, Fox, Radflo
The physical dimension of the the rear shocks in the kits we've mentioned is literally the same, 27" extended 17" compressed, you'll have no issues there.
Same with the UCA's. Icon have a version with uniballs and the delta join ones so you can get Icons, or you can get TC, or your can get Dirt King, JBA, etc etc, that's why i said it's your choice of UCA or rear springs. The performance comes from the shocks.
You'll get more peformance in the front with any of the 2.5 CO's/shocks that give you the RES because of simple physics, that doesn't mean Icon without them are bad, just that they won't be as good as King/Fox/Radflo with them when you give the truck hell in those dirt roads. With RES you have more oil the shock and a better way to valve the shock so you get more performance out of them without a doubt.

 

[novelmike]

https://dirtkingfabrication.com/pages/13-4x4-ram-1500