Now that I've had the Slinky suspension setup for a while, I wanted to post a little review so far. I've had a lot of messages about it so hopefully this will answer some questions for those with stock LXs or people looking to upgrade.
I have not missed AHC. I was never a fan of it for this type of build so I was happy to pull it all out just a few months into ownership. Honestly if I did it all again I'd probably just buy a land cruiser to save me the hassle.. haha. Though, this is on a 17 year old truck with old AHC components and I wanted to add bumpers and sliders. If it was a new truck and I was keeping it stock, AHC seems like a great system.
1. Torsion bars - the Slinky kit came with some torsion bars from an Australian company, but I didn't feel like switching them out so I gave them to a friend and stuck with OME. Been awesome, can crank them up as much as I want. Have gone from stock bumper to ARB front with Comeup winch and sliders, and they're handling it fine.
2. OME vs Icon - OME is cheap and durable, but definitely not as comfortable. I do like OME stuff, as it gives the truck stability/responsiveness and the ability to carry heavy loads. Icon I would say is a nice cross between stock AHC and OME - stable and responsive, but still pretty comfortable. Cons are that it's expensive and the shocks need to be rebuilt sometimes - every 20K under hard offroad use, 50k miles if 80% highway/street driving and 20% trail use, or whenever they start leaking.
3. Icon - I have stage 1. If I was doing it again I might upgrade to stage 3 or 4 (though i got the setup for free so I can't complain.) I would like to be able to change the softness and have a little more cooling capacity. However - I've only wanted those things once so far, on a week long trip to Southern Utah with a bunch of guys with 80s and stage 4 Icons. They were really pushing it, 50-60 mph on dirt roads with small jumps/whoops. I kept bottoming out so I hung back a bit - would have been great to dial it up to 9 or 10 with my camping gear adding weight. Around town though, and the way I normally drive offroad, I haven't needed the remote reservoirs or adjustability. You could save $1-2K with that.
- Also, with Icons I needed to extend my rear swaybar endlinks and brake lines. It was just too close for comfort for me when fully articulated because I gained so much travel in the back. The Slinky kit comes with extended sway bar links for the rear.
- Front travel - just with these Stage 1 Icons, it looks like I gained about .25-.5" extra down travel in front, which is a nice bonus. (I'll have to go back and check properly. I was in a hurry installing them before a trip)
4. Slinky Springs - from Endless Horizon Outfitters, who import them from 4xOverland in Australia. These springs are incredible. Best thing I've ever done for my truck - improved the ride a surprising amount. They offer two versions, medium and heavy. I have medium but need to go with the heavies. Medium is fine around town with the Slee rear bumper and 100lb spare, but when I load up about 3-400lbs of gear/passengers it sags a bit. They're a progressive spring so they handle both loaded and unloaded comfortably.
5. UCAs - Light Racing UCAs from Cruiser Outfitters. Been great, no complaints. No problem getting a good alignment.
6. Diff drop - I know people have opinions on this, but I think it's a required item, especially with Icons. I rebooted my CVs at the same time so the rubber didn't have to get used to a new configuration and crack. No problems yet.
That's all I can think of now. Love the setup and I'm not planning on changing anything. When I rebuild the shocks, I'll probably add the remote reservoirs then. Apparently it's something you can do afterwards if you want to turn your Stage 1 into Stage 3 - but I still need to research that.
ICON CDC (Compression Damping Control) Valve Upgrade | Icon Vehicle Dynamics -
If not, I'll be upgrading to stage 4.