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- #41
When i looked into shocks Fox, Radflo and Icon were all basically honest about this stuff. Fox admitted that the 2.0 is basically a (good) budget OEM replacement shock. They felt the mileage i got was about the right time for a rebuild. Icon felt the mileage i got out of my 2.0 fox was OK. They felt the shock should be ready for a rebuild at that time but NOT leaking yet. Icon felt that the 80 is a big truck for 2.0 shocks unless you are street driving or slow rock crawling. Radflo kind of agreed with most of the stuff everyone said. heat kills these things. Nothing magic about it all. More oil volume helps keep them going.
Radflo also felt that whatever i had, 40K or 50K was ok for a 2.0 shock before needing rebuild. But you dont want it leaking at the rebuild time. You want it needing a rebuild as PM but still working at that time. They felt the 2.5 RR would last maybe 80K between rebuilds if i remember right. the idea is you do a rebuilds as PM with the shock still working great at the time of rebuild. Radflo also admitted to me that the 2.5 RR shock does not necessarily feel any better than a 2.0 shock for low heat situations. So if you just hit a few bumps or 3 min of rough spots they can both work great. But if you continue on rough roads for 30 min or whatever then The 2.0 shocks get hot and fade or cooks seals. Hopefully the 2.5 RR that we paid big $$$ will still be going strong. Who really knows. But i was surprised how all the companies that i talked to kind of said some of the same stuff. There was no huge contradiction in what any of them said.
They all said a 2.0 will work for mild use and feel fine. It will get hot if used hard and that will shorten the life. A bigger shock holds more oil and the oil stays cooler when used hard. That keeps the oil and seal better for longer.
Honestly they all did say different "stuff". But the end stories were similar. I really liked both icon and Radflo on the phone. I liked talking with Radflo a little better. Also icon builds shocks in batches. So if they are out of a shock in the USA they might only build that shock once every 5 months or so. This helps them not retools their assembly area all the time. Radflo is a smaller setup. They could have my shock made in a few weeks and were more accommodating.
In the end i went with 2.5 RR Radflo. Honestly around town or just hitting speed bumps at normal speed nothing amazing, just a shock. But i am also used to them so maybe i forget how bad bad shocks feel. But out west on dirt roads they are stupid good. I get on a dirt forest or ranch road with curves in it. 10-20mph feel like any other truck. 20-30 you feel like you are going a little fast. 30-40 kind of going faster than you should but strangely good. 40-50 almost smooths out, kid of strange. 50 and up is kind of dumb. the 80 brakes and cornering still kind of suck but it just feels smooth as hell. I think i got the truck up over 65 or 70 a few times. just feels great but you know if you loose control it is all over.
I do remember 4th of July heading to a camp sight in the NF at night after the fireworks at night. There was a long row of cars in the distance behind us all heading in to look for the same camp. I wanted to get there first. Slowly i just kept going faster and faster. I told my wife i want to "test out the shocks". At some point she kind of looked at me like WTF. I think we were approaching 65+ MPH on a LONG straight open dirt road at night. It really was stupid and i promptly slowed down. But the shocks really were awesome.
Sorry about the ramble. Also this is all just to the best of my memories when i talked with them all about a year ago.
Radflo also felt that whatever i had, 40K or 50K was ok for a 2.0 shock before needing rebuild. But you dont want it leaking at the rebuild time. You want it needing a rebuild as PM but still working at that time. They felt the 2.5 RR would last maybe 80K between rebuilds if i remember right. the idea is you do a rebuilds as PM with the shock still working great at the time of rebuild. Radflo also admitted to me that the 2.5 RR shock does not necessarily feel any better than a 2.0 shock for low heat situations. So if you just hit a few bumps or 3 min of rough spots they can both work great. But if you continue on rough roads for 30 min or whatever then The 2.0 shocks get hot and fade or cooks seals. Hopefully the 2.5 RR that we paid big $$$ will still be going strong. Who really knows. But i was surprised how all the companies that i talked to kind of said some of the same stuff. There was no huge contradiction in what any of them said.
They all said a 2.0 will work for mild use and feel fine. It will get hot if used hard and that will shorten the life. A bigger shock holds more oil and the oil stays cooler when used hard. That keeps the oil and seal better for longer.
Honestly they all did say different "stuff". But the end stories were similar. I really liked both icon and Radflo on the phone. I liked talking with Radflo a little better. Also icon builds shocks in batches. So if they are out of a shock in the USA they might only build that shock once every 5 months or so. This helps them not retools their assembly area all the time. Radflo is a smaller setup. They could have my shock made in a few weeks and were more accommodating.
In the end i went with 2.5 RR Radflo. Honestly around town or just hitting speed bumps at normal speed nothing amazing, just a shock. But i am also used to them so maybe i forget how bad bad shocks feel. But out west on dirt roads they are stupid good. I get on a dirt forest or ranch road with curves in it. 10-20mph feel like any other truck. 20-30 you feel like you are going a little fast. 30-40 kind of going faster than you should but strangely good. 40-50 almost smooths out, kid of strange. 50 and up is kind of dumb. the 80 brakes and cornering still kind of suck but it just feels smooth as hell. I think i got the truck up over 65 or 70 a few times. just feels great but you know if you loose control it is all over.
I do remember 4th of July heading to a camp sight in the NF at night after the fireworks at night. There was a long row of cars in the distance behind us all heading in to look for the same camp. I wanted to get there first. Slowly i just kept going faster and faster. I told my wife i want to "test out the shocks". At some point she kind of looked at me like WTF. I think we were approaching 65+ MPH on a LONG straight open dirt road at night. It really was stupid and i promptly slowed down. But the shocks really were awesome.
Sorry about the ramble. Also this is all just to the best of my memories when i talked with them all about a year ago.
