Air Suspension Conversion

[FCAEMPLOYEE]

Been reading on the Rebel forum about converting the air suspension to a conventional coil over system. After many hours of searching and reading reviews on the web i have decided on the 2 best systems without having to mortgage the house (King). Anybody else had any experience with either of these. The Fox is supposed to ride a little better and the Icon is a little more off road but still a solid choice from whats been reported. I need to call Fox to see if i can get the rear coil springs to go with shocks. Luckily my air suspension has had zero issues so far, but i want to have a plan just in case


Icon Stage 3 $2600


Fox 2.5 $2650 without rear coils

 

[hodge-xj]

@Nick@GotExhaust is the vendor for both on here. See what he can do for pricing.

As for which is best for you. ...what are you doin with the truck? Fast driving offroad, trails, jumps, mall crawler with some performance.....theres alot to it. Budget constraint are big too. End of the day, 3k is a good bit of money. Icon is an all included package, which is really nice. Fox and king is just shocks, so you need to add rear coils and UCAs into those packages as well.

As for reviews, @bruiserRAM has a few in depth icon reviews. Haven't seen much from fox in depth but I know @novelmike upgraded to 2.5s but is busy with a new house. Don't forget at that price point, you can get a set of king 2.5s as well. There's 3 different quality lift coils for the rear available. Bilstein, icon and eibach all are priced well and available separate from the kits.

Main difference is in the valving profiles. Icon is digressive, fox progressive, and king is progressive. All provide very different ride quality characteristics.



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[FCAEMPLOYEE]

Good info brother. Myself its 90% pavement

 

[hodge-xj]

Good info brother. Myself its 90% pavement

So, if 90% of your driving is pavement ill throw another option into the mix. There is NOTHING wrong with the other options, but keeping budget in mind and being realistic you can save some serious $.

I'm running Bilstein 6112s, bilstein rear coils and fox 2.0 rear shocks with ready lift UCAs. About $1500 in parts. My truck is my DD, 40-50k a year. Until I replace my trucks DD status this is what ill run. Icon, fox and king all recommend a shock fluid service every 30-50kI depending on use for optimum performance. For hard use, that makes sense, on a Dd I look at it as the opposite. Ultimately you know what's best for you. I'm all for getting the best stuff you can afford, buy once cry once, but at the same time the best stuff isn't always the right application for what you want. I'm always skeptical that those fancy shocks and seals will last more than a year or 2 at best through a tough winter without needing a full rebuild. That was my biggest factor, reliability.

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[FCAEMPLOYEE]

I couldn't agree more. I guess my ultimate goal is to have a worry free smooth ride along with a couple inches more height if possible. I have read a lot of good things about the Bilsteins and i have a buddy that has a set on his truck. Great shock but definitely a little harsher ride than my current OEM setup though. You guys are a wealth of knowledge on this forum for sure.

 

[hodge-xj]

I couldn't agree more. I guess my ultimate goal is to have a worry free smooth ride along with a couple inches more height if possible. I have read a lot of good things about the Bilsteins and i have a buddy that has a set on his truck. Great shock but definitely a little harsher ride than my current OEM setup though. You guys are a wealth of knowledge on this forum for sure.

Nothing will truly ride as smooth as your air setup!

A guy I wheeled with added a daystar spacer to the top of his strut up front, and did the level links on his rebel. Said the combo gave him the lift without the harshness. Could get ya what you want until you decide which way you wanna go.

He's DVC on one of the rebel forums.

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[FCAEMPLOYEE]

Thanks for the info. Since my air suspension is still working I am in no hurry. I hear ya about the stock suspension, I'm hearing the Fox is actually so soft a few had to stiffen it up. I guess they were getting too much body roll. ??

 

[hodge-xj]

Thanks for the info. Since my air suspension is still working I am in no hurry. I hear ya about the stock suspension, I'm hearing the Fox is actually so soft a few had to stiffen it up. I guess they were getting too much body roll. ??

Curious about that? Was this in the rebel forums? Have a link? I'm researching 2.5 shocks myself, getting into playing on the faster stuff, so long and this truck doesn't melt its self

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[MidwestExpress]

I couldn't agree more. I guess my ultimate goal is to have a worry free smooth ride along with a couple inches more height if possible. I have read a lot of good things about the Bilsteins and i have a buddy that has a set on his truck. Great shock but definitely a little harsher ride than my current OEM setup though. You guys are a wealth of knowledge on this forum for sure.

Hodge has given you good info. I know nothing about the air suspension setup, but if all you're really after is a couple inches - I thought they had a level kit for it?

Here's a good link on the different valving types: https://accutuneoffroad.com/articles/digressive-vs-linear-vs-progressive-pistons-shock-valving/

I have the ICON stage 2 (2.0 rear shocks, instead of the 2.5 on stage 3). I had Bilstein stuff for years, and just recently installed the ICON parts. If just looking at ICON vs. Fox, most of what I read was that ICON was stiffer on the slow stuff than Fox but could absorb the fast stuff a little better (that's a very short synopsis of the many opinions on the internet). Now that I have ICON, I can say that it isn't fluffy ride around town. It's not too stiff, it's actually how I prefer my truck to feel. It feels solid and strong, not soft and mushy like stock.

Also, Hodge mentioned ICON, Bilstein & Eibach rear springs. I'll just add that Carli makes what looks like a nice set of rear springs, just not that many guys have tried them.

 

[hodge-xj]

Hodge has given you good info. I know nothing about the air suspension setup, but if all you're really after is a couple inches - I thought they had a level kit for it?

Here's a good link on the different valving types: https://accutuneoffroad.com/articles/digressive-vs-linear-vs-progressive-pistons-shock-valving/

I have the ICON stage 2 (2.0 rear shocks, instead of the 2.5 on stage 3). I had Bilstein stuff for years, and just recently installed the ICON parts. If just looking at ICON vs. Fox, most of what I read was that ICON was stiffer on the slow stuff than Fox but could absorb the fast stuff a little better (that's a very short synopsis of the many opinions on the internet). Now that I have ICON, I can say that it isn't fluffy ride around town. It's not too stiff, it's actually how I prefer my truck to feel. It feels solid and strong, not soft and mushy like stock.

Also, Hodge mentioned ICON, Bilstein & Eibach rear springs. I'll just add that Carli makes what looks like a nice set of rear springs, just not that many guys have tried them.

I forgot that you finally pulled the trigger on the icon setup or id have tagged and dragged you in here as well. I've got no first hand on anything but my 6112s, so I just regurgitate what I read.

Need an update on your stuff since Bruiserram doesn't seem to be here much.

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[MidwestExpress]

I forgot that you finally pulled the trigger on the icon setup or id have tagged and dragged you in here as well. I've got no first hand on anything but my 6112s, so I just regurgitate what I read.

Need an update on your stuff since Bruiserram doesn't seem to be here much.

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I wrote up a reply to you, then decided to copy and paste it into my other thread. Didn't want to hijack too much here.

 

[ram1500rsm]

King is not more expensive than Fox. There are places that have Fox priced more expensive than king , Bilsteinliftkits website have the Fox 2.5 setup without the adjusters for $2700 but you can get King 2.5 from Filthymotorsports for about 2600 or Radflo 2.5 for about 2400 from performancelifts. Icon doesn't give you front RES so you can save couple of buckos right there. Americantrucks have the Icon 2.5 stage 3 for about 2550. Add your choice of ucas to the Icon stage 3 , or rear springs and ucas for the King, Fox or Radflo setup and you're all set.

You pay more for King when you get the setup from Thuren or Carli, it's more more money because their UCA's are more expensinve, their rear coils springs are also more expensive plus you get custom valving on their suspension and some other stuff they add to their kits.The total overall is more with them but if you priced all the options out and left only the shocks you'll find their prices are more or less about the same when it comes to the shocks.

Everything you see in the hi performance shocks market is priced more or less about the same depending on options and resellers. Sometimes they can play with the price a little more here i'd guess depending on how much sales they get.

 

[FCAEMPLOYEE]

Big thanks guys, looks like i will be going with a fox setup as it looks to have a little better road manners which is where the majority of my miles are put on. Now i just need to get on the phone with American trucks and nail down exactly what all i need to get this thing in the air a couple inches while getting rid of the stock air suspension. I've got the Alfa software down pretty good so that should be the easy part if and when i get warning lights.

 

[Jacob Maguire]

So, if 90% of your driving is pavement ill throw another option into the mix. There is NOTHING wrong with the other options, but keeping budget in mind and being realistic you can save some serious $.

I'm running Bilstein 6112s, bilstein rear coils and fox 2.0 rear shocks with ready lift UCAs. About $1500 in parts.
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Hodge-xj: Thank you for your informative post. I'm curious if the setup you've referenced was put in place or along side of air ride suspension? If so, the hardware cost of 1500 is attractive. I'm interested to see how it looks. Pics?

 

[hodge-xj]

So my truck didn't come equipped with the air suspension originally. Check out my build thread
https://r.tapatalk.com/shareLink/to...&share_fid=17770&share_type=t&link_source=app
I go through my entire suspension setup in the very beginning pages. Recently I've tweaked it a bit, for personal preferences, but it's fundamentally the same.


For the front, youre limited to leveling links and a strut spacer with the air ride. No shocks swap available I'm aware of. In the rear I believe you can change shocks since the are separate from the actual air spring.

@Jacob Maguire

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[FCAEMPLOYEE]

Thanks for the link to your build hodge-xj. How would you rate your ride. Not looking to spend anymore than i have to but not opposed to spending $3k if necessary to get a nice ride and i would like 2"-3" inches of lift if possible. After the holidays i am going to give FOX a call and see what my options are.

 

[hodge-xj]

Thanks for the link to your build hodge-xj. How would you rate your ride. Not looking to spend anymore than i have to but not opposed to spending $3k if necessary to get a nice ride and i would like 2"-3" inches of lift if possible. After the holidays i am going to give FOX a call and see what my options are.

So I meant to tag someone in that link to my build, and I apologize for the slight hijack and derailment on this thread.

I've been unable to compare my ride to anything but the stock setup, and compared to that it's pretty amazing. Even on the 20" wheels you really do not feel much of anything when it comes to road imperfections. It's there and you hear it, but you hardly feel it in the cab.

Will you be lifting the rear as well, or just leveling the front?

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[Dice]

For the front, youre limited to leveling links and a strut spacer with the air ride. No shocks swap available I'm aware of. In the rear I believe you can change shocks since the are separate from the actual air spring.


[/QUOTE]


There is a company called Strutmasters that makes a complete replacement for the air setup.
It looks like the air suspension can be taken and just replaced with the standard suspension parts, or upgraded in this case. But you would need all of the small parts for the front struts. Rear is just a coil spring and shocks.

 

[Jacob Maguire]

Thx for the response HodgeXJ. Diving into your build thread ASAP


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[FCAEMPLOYEE]

Just got off the phone with DirtKing. These guys are definitely getting my business if or when my air suspension decides to go south. We decided to go with the Fox 2.0 system all the way around for the best ride possible for the street. I am thinking the standard non-air ride Ram height will be a slight lift from my current "normal" ride height. Maybe someone that has already done this conversion can give me a better idea on the height before and after ??