Fox Suspension vs Others (2 Viewers)

[subspd]

After looking around the www at suspension options I came across a few talking about Fox and how superior they are to even Kings. In particular is that Fox runs a stainless piston vs the majority that run a chrome steel piston. (Stainless stronger, won't pit easily and helps seals last longer.) But looking here there is very little about this option. Most seem to run Eibach, Bilstein, Dobinsons, Ironman and Icon.

From what I am reading Icon, Elka, Fox, and King are the top dogs... and Fox might be better than King? At the premium end of suspensions why aren't more running Fox? The OE's run them which is always a good sign as well. Is it a bang for the buck situation? Poor ride?

I would like to just save and get the best riding and quality I can when I go to buy. Thoughts?

 

[phishtaco]

I’ve got Fox 2.5 up front and the 2.0s in back. I’m happy with them but the springs feel a little soft IMO. The threads also look pretty crappy after 40k in Ohio.

 

[sogafarm]

Out of curiousity, whatever happened to Rancho? Used to be considered a good shock. I had them on some older rigs and they did well. Not sure if something happened or they are considered uncool now?

 

[GXDude]

GO FOX. better materials used for building them, its a true 2.5 and if you get the adjusters, you have several different levels of fine tuning in slow and high speed scenarios. i run fox 2.5's front and rear, and they ride like a dream. i recommend the total chaos uca aswell. as far as less people running fox vs the others, in my opinion (from someone in the industry) its simply because fox cost more and has a WAY longer lead time.

 

[Jstawgn]

Custom suspension is all about valving.
Your modified vehicle setup is different than other. You use different tire, different accessories, weight balance and mainly subjective preference.

FOX offer internal bypass, low speed compression and highs speed compression and live valve option that not even available from any body else.
King is really good shock but does not have as much feature as FOX.

What is your budget? A custom valved suspension that is tailored to your specific setup and preferences would be the way too go. Brand is not as important when doing custom suspension.

Most of this high end suspension are not really needed. A Dobinson MRR Adjustable or OME BP-51 would be more than enough for most people. Heck even basic suspension would be enough.

 

[RigX]

I run Fox 2.5 DSC front and rear tuned by Accutune. 10/10 recommend. Accutune has a blog on their site that compares Fox to King. Shows which materials each company uses for each part of the shock.

 

[HomersCanyonero]

Fox are good, but not a clear winner. Toyota switched from Bilstein to Fox a couple years ago on the 4Runner.

I run Bilstein 2.5” 6112s upfront installed by PO and they are great. No extra weight for me upfront. I’ve had them for 33k miles and PO maybe 5K miles.

I do think that price and need determine what people get. Fox don’t satisfy everyone’s budget or application.

And others at the top end are good too like Radflo, Elka, King, Icon, OME BP51s, etc. So, Fox is not clearly head and shoulders above everyone else.

Moreover, the suspension is a system that comprises of many other parts like control arms, sway bars, end links, coils, tires, wheels, etc. Plus weight and application factor in too.

Focusing only on the shocks is less than half the battle on the suspension for these rigs. So, no clear winner in my opinion.

 

[yeos]

Most of this high end suspension are not really needed. A Dobinson MRR Adjustable or OME BP-51 would be more than enough for most people. Heck even basic suspension would be enough.

Couldn't agree more. Get suspension that suits the type of trails you go on most.

 

[moosepedition]

My wife and I are new to the overland / offroad community. We currently have a 2002 F350 CC LB 4x4 w/ 7.3L diesel, that has an icon leveling kit and fox shocks w/ 35" Toyo OC R/T's. The plan was for this to be our camping / overland rig - though very large, we need it as we also tow a trailer occasionally.

About 4 weeks ago we found out my wife was pregnant with our first kid and so we purchased a 2003 GX470 for her to drive and be extra safe with the baby, plus turn into a sweet and more maneuverable overland / offroad rig than the F350. Sadly, we got caught in an odometer rollback scheme and have had to spend a good amount of money bringing the vehicle up to our standards (odo was at 50k miles, but truck actually has 200k on it) - big bummer. Nevertheless our quest still continues to make this the best overland setup we can for the money.

As much as I would love to make this a long travel rig with 35" tires, I think that is out of the budget so we are focusing on a mid range setup with ~33" (hopefully around 4-5k for the suspension and UCA's). The rig will be my wifes daily driver (she likes driving trucks over cars) and we will be taking it out 2-3 weekends per month to camp, do trails with the toyota club, and possibly some light rock crawling and desert running on occasion.

Initially we were looking at an EMU setup with UCA's and then quickly thought it might be worth jumping into a icon stage 2 setup. However, after reading countless forums, and reviews on Icon, King, and Fox, it left us feeling like we really want to go with an adjustable setup, but also very confused with which brand / system (progressive / digressive) will best suit our needs.

At this point we are debating between the following which all seems to be around the same price point ($4kish):

- Fox 2.5 - front and rear with DSC adjustments
- King 2.5 - front and rear with compression adjustments
- Icon 2.5 - front and rear with CDCV adjustments

In any case, we plan to go with either Icon UCA's or Total Chaos (debating delta joint vs uniball) and plan to run 285 70 17 Open County R/T's

Can any of you with more experience give your view of which setup maybe the best bet for a daily driver / weekend overland rig? Are we crazy for thinking "buy once / cry once" and going with a nicer system vs starting with OME or Bilstein?

Currently we are leaning towards the Fox setup with the thinking that dual adjustment would be great. At the same time we have always seen King as the top Dog and notice that lots of Toyota rigs run Icon.

 

[andymmiami]

My wife and I are new to the overland / offroad community. We currently have a 2002 F350 CC LB 4x4 w/ 7.3L diesel, that has an icon leveling kit and fox shocks w/ 35" Toyo OC R/T's. The plan was for this to be our camping / overland rig - though very large, we need it as we also tow a trailer occasionally.

About 4 weeks ago we found out my wife was pregnant with our first kid and so we purchased a 2003 GX470 for her to drive and be extra safe with the baby, plus turn into a sweet and more maneuverable overland / offroad rig than the F350. Sadly, we got caught in an odometer rollback scheme and have had to spend a good amount of money bringing the vehicle up to our standards (odo was at 50k miles, but truck actually has 200k on it) - big bummer. Nevertheless our quest still continues to make this the best overland setup we can for the money.

As much as I would love to make this a long travel rig with 35" tires, I think that is out of the budget so we are focusing on a mid range setup with ~33" (hopefully around 4-5k for the suspension and UCA's). The rig will be my wifes daily driver (she likes driving trucks over cars) and we will be taking it out 2-3 weekends per month to camp, do trails with the toyota club, and possibly some light rock crawling and desert running on occasion.

Initially we were looking at an EMU setup with UCA's and then quickly thought it might be worth jumping into a icon stage 2 setup. However, after reading countless forums, and reviews on Icon, King, and Fox, it left us feeling like we really want to go with an adjustable setup, but also very confused with which brand / system (progressive / digressive) will best suit our needs.

At this point we are debating between the following which all seems to be around the same price point ($4kish):

- Fox 2.5 - front and rear with DSC adjustments
- King 2.5 - front and rear with compression adjustments
- Icon 2.5 - front and rear with CDCV adjustments

In any case, we plan to go with either Icon UCA's or Total Chaos (debating delta joint vs uniball) and plan to run 285 70 17 Open County R/T's

Can any of you with more experience give your view of which setup maybe the best bet for a daily driver / weekend overland rig? Are we crazy for thinking "buy once / cry once" and going with a nicer system vs starting with OME or Bilstein?

Currently we are leaning towards the Fox setup with the thinking that dual adjustment would be great. At the same time we have always seen King as the top Dog and notice that lots of Toyota rigs run Icon.

Buy once cry once only makes sense if you will eventually need the capability that is afforded with the more expensive option.

My mantra has kind of been buy the tool you need that fits your budget and if the tool wasn't up to par over time then that is the tool you needed to be better. If the tool costs 40% of the price but performed 90% of the function as the better tool and my needs weren't beyond that 90% then it sounds like you saved on that extra 60%.

I don't own many snap on tools but the few I do were because I needed a specific tool of higher quality as opposed to all of my tools.

Case in point, when I was working on my old VW Bus I needed a brake line bender. I went to harbor freight and bought the best one they had on the shelf (I compared between the few they had and bought the one that had the jaws the fit the best together). I went home and used that tool. It did what I needed to do and it has sat in my tool box ever since. Could I have spent $60 on a snap on one? Sure. Would it have done a better job for me? Doubtful in that instance.

What I am saying is for your wife for a daily driver that might rarely go off roading I would think to start with a basic set of bilstein 5100s, run the stock springs, move the circlip up a notch or two to give you a bit of a lift and do the airbag trick in the rear to give you an overall lift of an inch or two. If you want to rip out the airbags then you can run springs off of a 4 runner with the spring conversion kits that can include a spacer for the spring to give it a lift as well.

Is more expensive [more] better? Sure. But evaluate if you need better in your application.
But do bear in mind that when you go to the fox oriented options that suspension rebuilding will be necessary more often. They are made better and perform better but their tighter tolerances do degrade faster than something like an off the shelf bilstein shock.

My mindset on that is from me being active in the miata community. Fox makes suspension there too as do many other top shelf competitors. The "better" parts don't last as long and degrade more quickly and need to be rebuilt more often. Even a street driven miata I would expect to need a full set of shock rebuilds with foxes at 40k miles as have many other people in the community.

For the GX, I think I paid $350 shipped for my set of 4 bilstein 5100 shocks. They felt great compared to my tired 112k mile stock shocks.

If you are dead set on 2.5 inch diameter shocks bilstein does sell an option for that that is around $600 that does come with new front springs and an adjustable spring perch that isn't based on a circlip.

As far as the UCA's are concerned, have you given the freedom offroad UCA's a look? They are not adjustable but they give an inherent +2 increase in caster. Caster is the issue that you will run into with a lifted suspension. Cost for that pair of arms is around $360 shipped. Quite a few people on this forum run them to great success. I believe the tacoma forums were speaking high praises about them. They have replaceable ball joints on them. Food for thought.

I am not trying to steer you away from what you want but I think for $1k all in you can have a suspension that does what you need it to do comfortably.

Maybe my opinion is unpopular and doesn't fit your needs but I do think you can go camping your 2-3 times a month with far less than 4k in suspension.
If you are that set on rock crawling then I think spending money on armor would be well spent.

Final thoughts. For a daily driver I think keeping as much rubber in your suspension is a good idea. I would not want to run helm joints and spherical bearings when a normal ball joint will do. Performance won't be quite as great with rubber and ball joints but for a daily it will be well received. I would think make the GX from your description a better street car as opposed to throwing crawler parts at it and making it a compromised crawler for the sake of wanting to have daily manners too.

 

[HomersCanyonero]

@moosepedition this thread is getting old but lists a handful of low cost suspensions like Bilstein, ome, dobinson, eibach, and a couple more with some details. GX470 Primer for the Ideal Mild-Build for Under $3000

If you are set on the Fox or King, then go for it and let us know how it works out.

 

[flipperc]

Wow, this was the thread I was looking for.
I need to go up an inch or 2 and was planning on the Bilstein 5100s until someone told me the ride isn't good on the 200 series.
- This is my daily driver, but I work from home so I don't drive much.
- I overland or off-road several times per year.
- I live in the mountains and my neighborhood has nice trails so I plan to camp more often, these trails are low speed & not very technical.
- Budget: quote for part & labor on Bilsteins @ $2k, for better on & off road ride I would definitely pay more. But how much more are we talking?

What are your guys thoughts?

 

[andymmiami]

FWIW, this weekend I had to do an impromptu 29 hours straight drive to North Carolina and back to miami towing a car on a uhaul trailer only stopping for food and gas. My bilstein 5100s on stock springs performed phenomenally and this GX is the most comfortable car I have ever driven. For reference my prior car was a 2006 Volvo S60. I greatly appreciated the comfort. I can't think of any other car except maybe a 100 series landcruiser / lx470 that I would have preferred to make this trip in.

Do the bilsteins make it less comfortable? In my opinion no. I have read them compared to stock brand new suspension working in the sport mode. When I bought my gx the suspension wasn't showroom brand new and the upgrade to the 5100s made the car more comfortable and sure footed. I am supremely happy with ride quality with the 5100s. I do have mine in the one notch up from lowest spring perch location on the front.

 

[Jstawgn]

5100 are designed for stock spring. Many misunderstood this and also put the clips too high and top out all the time. It's very good and cost effective suspension but paired with wrong spring along with people trying to get as much lift as possible cause the results to less than desirable.