ICON Stage 2 + Delta Joint UCA installed

[hodge-xj]

can you tell how much difference between the bilstiens and icon on and off road ? which stage you have ?

nice truck

There's no comparison between them, bilstein is a stock replacement strut and icon is a performance coilover. The only thing similar to them is the vehicle they mount to. You can't go wrong with icons.

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[LumberJakl]

can you tell how much difference between the bilstiens and icon on and off road ? which stage you have ?

nice truck

Defiantly the ICON's are stiffer and that's the reason I went for them considering I have a aftermarket front bumper with a 12000 winch . I drive in the mines daily so my driving is 80% Offroad / 20% Pavement and the Bilstiens couldn't keep up with the abuse.
I only run the ICON coilovers. Rear shocks are BDS, and running Zone upper Arms / Mevotech TTX lower arms

I would have loved to had gone with icon but running a 6” lift it was just too complicated for me.

That is what I am running, Zone 6" with the ICON's and I couldn't be happier. Alignment and the ride went extremely well and smooth!

 

[bruiserRAM]

After blowing two sets of Bilstiens in matter of months, I am extremely happy with my ICONs.
I would recommend the sleeves to protect those shafts! I kept blowing the seals from the Bilstiens

Nice! Quad cabs unite!

THought about the neoprene socks but I'm pretty good about washing mine off with a hose after they get all dusty. Never really have to deal with the muck or snow like that where I am. I do get fine grain moon dust, but again, I can usually wash them off any day of the year here in the CA desert.

JUst got the boots in the mail today. Will install soon and share...

 

[Kyle McWilliams]

Nice! Quad cabs unite!

THought about the neoprene socks but I'm pretty good about washing mine off with a hose after they get all dusty. Never really have to deal with the muck or snow like that where I am. I do get fine grain moon dust, but again, I can usually wash them off any day of the year here in the CA desert.

JUst got the boots in the mail today. Will install soon and share...

Quad cab is best cab! Ram got it right with the individual rear doors that make it better than a crew.

Those coil boots in the desert, depending on how hard you flog that truck, can actually cause them to overheat. I envy your CA living with no slush and snow and crap.

 

[bruiserRAM]

Nice choice Victor, get the Icon boots to protect your rear shock shafts from pitting, the truck will now ask for speed and your front tires will throw a lot of chit that your rear shock shafts were not getting before while on the trail .
If you're worried abot mud/snow being trapped within the boot, then you can do something like this, i think i paid like $5 at Lowes

Untitled by RAM RSM, on Flickr

Untitled by RAM RSM, on Flickr

This is basically vinyl stair tread (yellow sticker in pic), just cut it to what you need and hold with a hose clamp. Works like a charm. the zip tie at the bottom won't hold so don't bother hahaha, the material is strong enough to keep the form, and the clamp will hold the thing in place,
2018-12-30_05-42-30 by RAM RSM, on Flickr

Don't really like the boots. Moon dust gets sucked in them and when I wash the truck, water gets in them too. It pools in the little groove in the bottom of the boot that connects to the snap ring and stays there for a bit, and makes its way into the bottom bolt hole and nut of the shock. The nut and bolt was very rusty when I took them off today to clean the frame and tinker.

Just so I'm clear....you got the vinyl, cut to size, hose clamped it on, but let the bottom hang free because the zip tie is worthless? Is it still holding form? How low does yours hang? Any new issues since you posted this? Thanks.

 

[ram1500rsm]

Don't really like the boots. Moon dust gets sucked in them and when I wash the truck, water gets in them too. It pools in the little groove in the bottom of the boot that connects to the snap ring and stays there for a bit, and makes its way into the bottom bolt hole and nut of the shock. The nut and bolt was very rusty when I took them off today to clean the frame and tinker.

Just so I'm clear....you got the vinyl, cut to size, hose clamped it on, but let the bottom hang free because the zip tie is worthless? Is it still holding form? How low does yours hang? Any new issues since you posted this? Thanks.

Yep, the zip tie wont work at the bottom but the clamp at the top keeps everything in place.
Zero issues and it holds exactly as you clamp it, it doesn’t distort or move. The material is thick enough to keep its form and nothing seems to affect it.
Length wise just enough to cover the shaft and bottom of the shock with the truck level.

 

[bruiserRAM]

Thanks. So, I ended up keeping the Icon rubber accordion boots on, but I cut off the bottom inch so they just kinda hang free, but still fully around the whole piston, and resting on the bottom mount. They are easy to push up now and wash, and any water just pours right out the bottom. I think I'll keep them like this for awhile. Pics maybe soon...but...

 

[bruiserRAM]

I BROKE MY ICON COILOVERS.



This evening I was driving on an old country road (paved) at a decent clip and came to a cattle guard...but right after the cattle guard, the road was washed out, which I didn't see due to the cattle guard, and BAM...felt like hitting a curb.


So, here is a picture of how my coilover USED to look at the bottom:






And below is how they both look now:





Seems like they bottomed out, and the shock body hit the rubber bumpstop, which smooshed the washer/spacer thing, which deformed out of the cutout in the lower part of the coilover. WTF! They both look like that. Look close and you can see a notch on the washer at the very edge of the cutout, where the washer straightens out again and is supported? That seems bad...

Truck rides great still, no other part of the suspension seem damaged, alignment feels fine and still tracks the same, no noises in 2wd or 4wd. 4wd works...

I haven't looked too closely because it was starting to get dark and I was far from home. Plan to take tires off tomorrow and look closer.

Another bummer is I have a camping trip planned TOMORROW and even rented a camper trailer to use for the weekend...I also planned to do some off roading in Red Rock State Park, CA. GAH!

POLL:

A) Cancel camping, get these off and sent back to Icon ASAP
B) Go camping, take it easy, send them back to Icon later
C) Ignore it and jump it


Pretty pissed.

Anything else I should check or wiggle or re-torque?


@ram1500rsm ? @hodge-xj ? @revitupmoto33 ? @JB1 ? @anyone else?

 

[bruiserRAM]

Close ups...




And again, for reference, undamaged:

 

[hodge-xj]

If im not mistaken revitup had this exact thing happen to his king coilovers. Check his thread, not far up where he did the revalve on his fronts.

I don't think you broke anything, just bottomed out and bent the washer. Unless something is loose, leaking or feels funny I'd drive it and go camping......but that's me.

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[hodge-xj]

This is exactly why you bought quality **** man, so it DOESN'T break when you end up in that oh **** situation. Imagine if you had lesser setup installed.....

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[bruiserRAM]

This is exactly why you bought quality **** man, so it DOESN'T break when you end up in that oh **** situation. Imagine if you had lesser setup installed.....

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That's deffinately the silver lining!

 

[hodge-xj]

How's it handle the fast chit bro.

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[ram1500rsm]

I BROKE MY ICON COILOVERS.



This evening I was driving on an old country road (paved) at a decent clip and came to a cattle guard...but right after the cattle guard, the road was washed out, which I didn't see due to the cattle guard, and BAM...felt like hitting a curb.


So, here is a picture of how my coilover USED to look at the bottom:

View attachment 164088




And below is how they both look now:


View attachment 164089 View attachment 164090


Seems like they bottomed out, and the shock body hit the rubber bumpstop, which smooshed the washer/spacer thing, which deformed out of the cutout in the lower part of the coilover. WTF! They both look like that. Look close and you can see a notch on the washer at the very edge of the cutout, where the washer straightens out again and is supported? That seems bad...

Truck rides great still, no other part of the suspension seem damaged, alignment feels fine and still tracks the same, no noises in 2wd or 4wd. 4wd works...

I haven't looked too closely because it was starting to get dark and I was far from home. Plan to take tires off tomorrow and look closer.

Another bummer is I have a camping trip planned TOMORROW and even rented a camper trailer to use for the weekend...I also planned to do some off roading in Red Rock State Park, CA. GAH!

POLL:

A) Cancel camping, get these off and sent back to Icon ASAP
B) Go camping, take it easy, send them back to Icon later
C) Ignore it and jump it


Pretty pissed.

Anything else I should check or wiggle or re-torque?


@ram1500rsm ? @hodge-xj ? @revitupmoto33 ? @JB1 ? @anyone else?

Now they're broken in
Go and have fun in your camping trip.
Eventually you'll have to revalve them a little heavy that's all. You didn't do anything to the shock and the bumstop did it's job. Same thing happened to me... I felt them bottom out at a squared sharp edge pothole I didn't see about a month ago, the hit was so bad I tored down my alignment on the driver side. Wheel got toe in badly. Just needed alignment nothing broke, and the washer looked like that. Coilover is ok. I was on vacations last week flicking the crap out the shocks at Joshua Tree like nothing ever happened.

Btw they don't need to go to Icon per se, check to see if you have somebody local that can service coilovers. Eventually they'll need to be serviced. Revit did his and King recommended a heavier stack internally to resist more abuse. We have yanked out some life of the seals but nothing you need right away action, go and have fun with them and enjoy.

 

[revitupmoto33]

I BROKE MY ICON COILOVERS.



This evening I was driving on an old country road (paved) at a decent clip and came to a cattle guard...but right after the cattle guard, the road was washed out, which I didn't see due to the cattle guard, and BAM...felt like hitting a curb.


So, here is a picture of how my coilover USED to look at the bottom:

View attachment 164088




And below is how they both look now:


View attachment 164089 View attachment 164090


Seems like they bottomed out, and the shock body hit the rubber bumpstop, which smooshed the washer/spacer thing, which deformed out of the cutout in the lower part of the coilover. WTF! They both look like that. Look close and you can see a notch on the washer at the very edge of the cutout, where the washer straightens out again and is supported? That seems bad...

Truck rides great still, no other part of the suspension seem damaged, alignment feels fine and still tracks the same, no noises in 2wd or 4wd. 4wd works...

I haven't looked too closely because it was starting to get dark and I was far from home. Plan to take tires off tomorrow and look closer.

Another bummer is I have a camping trip planned TOMORROW and even rented a camper trailer to use for the weekend...I also planned to do some off roading in Red Rock State Park, CA. GAH!

POLL:

A) Cancel camping, get these off and sent back to Icon ASAP
B) Go camping, take it easy, send them back to Icon later
C) Ignore it and jump it


Pretty pissed.

Anything else I should check or wiggle or re-torque?


@ram1500rsm ? @hodge-xj ? @revitupmoto33 ? @JB1 ? @anyone else?

Purely aesthetic, don’t worry about it one bit. It’s just a plain old washer that keeps that bottom cup of the colilover from slipping off the shaft. Mine looked the same way and ran them for months. When I rebuilt them all I did was put that washer in a vice and flattened it back out.

 

[bruiserRAM]

Thanks guys! So no need to replace that washer it sounds like...and likely no internal acute damage, just shortened the life a tad perhaps.

Called ICON just now, super helpful. They actually went to this forum post per my suggestion so we could be looking at the same photos. They agreed with y'all, shouldn't be an issue as is, however, more significant hits could mangle the washer further.

They suggested I could bend it back flat as possible, then rotate it so the warped section is under the bumpstop, which will assist in flattening it whenever I hit it hard. Decent solution that gets the stress off the already stressed sections.

Thanks again for the help guys!

 

[ram1500rsm]

This is exactly why you bought quality **** man, so it DOESN'T break when you end up in that oh **** situation. Imagine if you had lesser setup installed.....

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Worst if it had a top spacer shifting the physical mounting location of the shock down. That's why those kits belong to mall crawlers hahahaha.

Thanks guys! So no need to replace that washer it sounds like...and likely no internal acute damage, just shortened the life a tad perhaps.

Called ICON just now, super helpful. They actually went to this forum post per my suggestion so we could be looking at the same photos. They agreed with y'all, shouldn't be an issue as is, however, more significant hits could mangle the washer further.

They suggested I could bend it back flat as possible, then rotate it so the warped section is under the bumpstop, which will assist in flattening it whenever I hit it hard. Decent solution that gets the stress off the already stressed sections.

Thanks again for the help guys!

That's what i did though i didn't try to flatten it myself, i just rotated the washer so the mangled up portion sits against the retaining cone, next time it hits it'll flatten itself... which i think it happened already

 

[revitupmoto33]

As @ram1500rsm suggested, if you are constantly bottoming out the shocks I would look into revalving them with a heavier stack, if only occasional from the unexpected big hits, I wouldn’t bother. The guys over over at Icon are super helpful, when I called them about my rear icons they were very quick to find a solution for my needs.

 

[MidwestExpress]

Hey @bruiserRAM ,

I know you haven't logged in for awhile, but when/if you do - I have some questions for you about your ICON set up please:

1. Thanks again for posting everything about your install in this thread. Lots of good info in here.
2. Have any issues come up with your parts? Have you had maintenance items that you weren't expecting? Still sticking with the same grease types on the UCAs?
3. Have you kept the longer rear springs on the drivers side? You mentioned possibly swapping them in the thread.
4. Was the alignment ever fixed to your satisfaction?
5. Have you kept the rear shock boots hanging free on the bottom?

 

[bruiserRAM]

Hey @bruiserRAM ,

I know you haven't logged in for awhile, but when/if you do - I have some questions for you about your ICON set up please:

1. Thanks again for posting everything about your install in this thread. Lots of good info in here.
2. Have any issues come up with your parts? Have you had maintenance items that you weren't expecting? Still sticking with the same grease types on the UCAs?
3. Have you kept the longer rear springs on the drivers side? You mentioned possibly swapping them in the thread.
4. Was the alignment ever fixed to your satisfaction?
5. Have you kept the rear shock boots hanging free on the bottom?

1. You're welcome! I learned almost all I know about my RAM from this forum so giving back a little was the least I could do.

2. No unexpected maintenance, but three minor issues. 1) the front UCA bushings squeak quite a bit. I grease them with the correct grease every 3000 miles or less and they still do it. When greasing, I've tried several slightly different techniques; loosening the bushing bolts while on the ground, or while in the air, tightening them loosely in the air, tightly in the air, or on the ground, but none of the changes seem to matter. I always do the final torque under the full weight off truck on the ground. Not a big deal, just a little embarrassing. 2) The install instructions mention having to grind off a little of the material on the flange of the frame mounting bracket for the rear shocks to fit. This was covered in my install posts. I've noticed that the interior portion of the frame bracket kinda flares out a bit early, also contacting the upper shoulder edge of the shock body. The shocks now have a slight flat spot where the body has beaten against the inner surface of the frame mounting bracket. Next time I take them off, I plan to grind that surface down a bit. 3) This has been covered to death, but I certainly wasn't expecting the rear springs to click and clack together! I'm used to it now. And yes, still sticking with the same grease. Superlube Synthetic (41150) for the bushings and Valvoline SynPower Synthetic (VV985) for the delta joint.

3. Yes, I kept them the slightly longer one on the drivers side. I think the gangster lean of the springs is normal, and just the way it is, due to the axel's position in relation to the frame mounts, and the nature of coils being that they do not seat perfectly perpendicular to the spring column.

4. Nope. Never got it realigned! It drives beautifully, stays centered in the lane on a real flat rd and I haven't noticed any undue tire wear. I'll get it aligned here again soon though just as a regular maintenance issue.

5. Yes. This has worked perfectly! I cut the shock boot so that it hangs free, and slightly contacts the lower mount of the shock arm. Due to the flare of the boot where I cut it, it hangs slightly open, allowing debris and water to flow out of the bottom, but blocking most dust coming in. The shock arms have been kept clean, dry and most importantly free from rock/sand pitting. I also wrapped the shock bodies with a 3M clear plastic film to protect them from pitting also. I will try and get pics today.

Thanks!