I’ve searched, I’ve read, I’ve confused myself… Suspension recommendations please (1 Viewer)

[geoRunner]

I‘m down the rabbit hole, thru the looking glass, taken the red pill… I am now a proud 2020 Black Heritage Edition owner!!! I’m a long time Toyota owner of both Tacoma and 4Runners, but now I’m all grow’d up and own the pinnacle of Toyota off-road performance. But now I have to learn all about a new platform and all the options for upgrades that are out there. So far I can see there is quite a bit of carry over between manufacturers of suspension components, but also know there are tons more options from around the world due to the prevalence of 200s globally vs 4R only being available in NA.

I’ve ran Icons on a set of Tacomas, Eibachs on a previous 4Runner and on my current 4Runner (that will shifted down the family line) I’ve run Bilstein 6100s in the past and now King 2.5s. So I’ve had basically everything short of a Fox suspension setup. My new-to-me 200 had an Icon Stage 1 that the previous owner installed set to about 3” of lift and it does remind me fondly of my Tacoma days, but I know I’ll miss the adjustability I currently have on my Kings and the performance I had on my past Icons remote resi’s .

I’m trying to decide between King 2.5s, Icon CDCVs or the Dobinsons MRAs. Based on what I’ve read the Dobinsons are making a strong push in my mind. Current setup has stock UCAs which I intend on fixing fairly soon, most likely SPCs, but maybe the Dobinsons Billet UCAs for the bling. I will be adding weight in the future, so thinking Dobinsons might be the most flexible with tailoring springs to weight etc, but really wondering getting some additional feedback from the board from the performance of the Dobinsons vs the alternatives.

I know OME BP-51s are a great option too, but lack the adjustability on-trail, so thinking this takes them out of the running.

My primary use case is general overlanding, public lands, fire roads, and mild trails… No consistent crawling as I breakage is not my goal. I live in Atlanta, but love to head out west when time allows. I will be adding light armor (front bumper, aluminum skids, sliders), lightweight tent and rack, rear storage, etc. I will be towing with the truck so I will probably add airbags to whatever springs I end up with as an insurance policy.

Well that is my rant and look forward to feedback.

 

[Tex68w]

I'd avoid Icon's like the plague. Dobinsons MRR's are very hard to beat for the money. The new Slee/ADS stuff is worth a look as well.

 

[AnyMal]

I am now a proud 2020 Black Heritage Edition owner!!!

Nice! Jelly!

I’m all grow’d up

Nice! Jelly!!

most likely SPCs

But why tho?


And welcome! Im the new member pics-stickler. You are overdue at least 2 pics.
Let us see the damned thing!

 

[geoRunner]

Nice! Jelly!


Nice! Jelly!!



But why tho?


And welcome! Im the new member pics-stickler. You are overdue at least 2 pics.
Let us see the damned thing!

Yes, payment (pics) are due, but no way I’m just taking a parking lot shot with my new beauty. Need to get here proper glamour shot in her natural habitat, that will take a minute unfortunately. But soon enough. Keep that feedback on suspension a’coming and payment will be made.

 

[sherman]

I'm happy with my OME BP-51s. If I had to do it all over again, I probably would opt for Dobinsons MRR or Kings. My brother-in-law had Icon Stage 5 and had nothing but problems with them.

 

[Boston Mangler]

I'd avoid Icon's like the plague.

Same! Icons are problematic trash.

I would go with the Slee ADS Variants. They arent listed on the site yet, CALL them and ask

 

[Docwyte]

If you're just doing mild stuff, why not consider the Bilstein 6112/5160's? Granted I love Bilsteins, but they just work. They're extremely durable, Bilstein will rebuild them for you for a nominal amount if needed, they ride well, etc, etc. I had this setup on my GX470 and now my 200, works great.

 

[TeCKis300]

If you're just doing mild stuff, why not consider the Bilstein 6112/5160's? Granted I love Bilsteins, but they just work. They're extremely durable, Bilstein will rebuild them for you for a nominal amount if needed, they ride well, etc, etc. I had this setup on my GX470 and now my 200, works great.

This. Unless there's a need or want for race shocks, street shocks work better for... the street. With most of the race suspensions using spherical links and joints, and high pressure charge, comes compromises in NVH, stiction, and maintenance.

The Dobinson MRRs do look tasty. Rubber bushings (advantage for street use in terms of NVH and longer lasting durability), and capable of higher damping forces.

I would also recommend the OP give consideration to tires as they play a major role in "suspension" offroad. Bigger tires can make more of a difference as they soak up and flatten bumps.

IMO, more tire, less lift, and suspension for intended use case.

 

[Boston Mangler]

IMO, more tire, less lift, and suspension for intended use case.

100% This

 

[AnyMal]

100% This

pfff. Lately I'm talking stock only. Now who makes a truck id actually want to buy?

 

[Itsky]

Given your use case, I would get Michelin Defenders LTX 285/70/17 Load E and OME Nitrochargers with their springs to suite your load.

I have the same use case and it's so dialed.

 

[geoRunner]

Everyone, thanks for the feedback. I appreciate the input on steering away from Icons. I ran those on my previous Tacoma 8-9 years ago and really like them, but current opinions seem to be they have slipped from their once vaulted perch.

@Tex68w @Boston Mangler I had considered the Slee / ADS after seeing the SleeBuilt Land Cruiser build, but there isn’t a ton of information out there about that setup. I know ADS has a great following and many liken it to King before King got so big and lost some of the ’family’ feel. I did speak with Slee last week about options and they ‘can’ put together the package, but it is not an off the shelf product right now. That plus the limited feedback from the market makes me hesitate a bit on going out on that limb.

I spoke with Mike at Exit Off-Road this morning and I think this is the move I’ll be making. Being able to tailor the springs from the jump or at anytime in the future with the options they have available, plus the 3 way adjustability makes the Dobinsons the most attractive at this point. I just spoke with a buddy that has the BP-51s on his 4Runner and he loves them, which also would allow tailoring the springs… But they just aren’t as adjustable.

@Docwyte Ran that Bilstein combo for a pretty good while on my 4Runner before going to Kings and it served me well, just ZERO adjustability… So whatever it was, it was. It was a solid and well rounded setup, but not being able to change settings as conditions changed annoyed me and having almost no latitude to adjust the front coilover height without completely taking off the assembly was just maddening after having run Icons on my Tacoma.

@TeCKis300 I don’t argue at all that stock/street setup has a ton of capabilities, but this is NOT my first rodeo and I have pushed all my stock setups well past their comfort zone, so having more capabilities AND comfort is key for me to find the setup that fits. And besides who wants to roll around at stock heights and be mistaken for an uninteresting stock human being.

On tires, I will roll with the Cooper AT3 XLT LT275/70R18s that came on the truck until they are ready to be replaced. At that point I’ll look at replacing with the same or maybe go up to a LT295/70R18… I’ve run 3 previous sets of Coopers… Currently running Toyos on my 4Runner and have run quite a few Revos in the past as well. So will probably stick with Coopers or Toyos whichever way I go on the next set.

Again, thanks everyone for allowing me to shout into the ether and get some feedback on things. @AnyMal I will be starting a build thread to document things in the coming days and will make the required payment of pics, even convinced my sons that a cruise up into the mountains with the new rig was more important than seeing their girlfriends this weekend so I can collect the required tender to render said payment.

 

[AnyMal]

Everyone, thanks for the feedback. I appreciate the input on steering away from Icons. I ran those on my previous Tacoma 8-9 years ago and really like them, but current opinions seem to be they have slipped from their once vaulted perch.

@Tex68w @Boston Mangler I had considered the Slee / ADS after seeing the SleeBuilt Land Cruiser build, but there isn’t a ton of information out there about that setup. I know ADS has a great following and many liken it to King before King got so big and lost some of the ’family’ feel. I did speak with Slee last week about options and they ‘can’ put together the package, but it is not an off the shelf product right now. That plus the limited feedback from the market makes me hesitate a bit on going out on that limb.

I spoke with Mike at Exit Off-Road this morning and I think this is the move I’ll be making. Being able to tailor the springs from the jump or at anytime in the future with the options they have available, plus the 3 way adjustability makes the Dobinsons the most attractive at this point. I just spoke with a buddy that has the BP-51s on his 4Runner and he loves them, which also would allow tailoring the springs… But they just aren’t as adjustable.

@Docwyte Ran that Bilstein combo for a pretty good while on my 4Runner before going to Kings and it served me well, just ZERO adjustability… So whatever it was, it was. It was a solid and well rounded setup, but not being able to change settings as conditions changed annoyed me and having almost no latitude to adjust the front coilover height without completely taking off the assembly was just maddening after having run Icons on my Tacoma.

@TeCKis300 I don’t argue at all that stock/street setup has a ton of capabilities, but this is NOT my first rodeo and I have pushed all my stock setups well past their comfort zone, so having more capabilities AND comfort is key for me to find the setup that fits. And besides who wants to roll around at stock heights and be mistaken for an uninteresting stock human being.

On tires, I will roll with the Cooper AT3 XLT LT275/70R18s that came on the truck until they are ready to be replaced. At that point I’ll look at replacing with the same or maybe go up to a LT295/70R18… I’ve run 3 previous sets of Coopers… Currently running Toyos on my 4Runner and have run quite a few Revos in the past as well. So will probably stick with Coopers or Toyos whichever way I go on the next set.

Again, thanks everyone for allowing me to shout into the ether and get some feedback on things. @AnyMal I will be starting a build thread to document things in the coming days and will make the required payment of pics, even convinced my sons that a cruise up into the mountains with the new rig was more important than seeing their girlfriends this weekend so I can collect the required tender to render said payment.

Dang son, sounds like you should be the one giving the advice!

 

[TeCKis300]

@TeCKis300 I don’t argue at all that stock/street setup has a ton of capabilities, but this is NOT my first rodeo and I have pushed all my stock setups well past their comfort zone, so having more capabilities AND comfort is key for me to find the setup that fits. And besides who wants to roll around at stock heights and be mistaken for an uninteresting stock human being.

On tires, I will roll with the Cooper AT3 XLT LT275/70R18s that came on the truck until they are ready to be replaced. At that point I’ll look at replacing with the same or maybe go up to a LT295/70R18… I’ve run 3 previous sets of Coopers… Currently running Toyos on my 4Runner and have run quite a few Revos in the past as well. So will probably stick with Coopers or Toyos whichever way I go on the next set.

Awesome. Sounds like you know exactly what you're looking for and you're going to use the adjustability to your advantage. Definitely not suggesting stock height as that's snore.

If you want performance, and sounds like you do as you're willing to pay for the good stuff, don't stop at 33s. That's mild on this truck. 34s still walk a great balance and the 2016+ have the gearing and brakes for it. A 285/70r18 is where maybe it starts getting interesting. I say maybe as even that pretty much drops right in.

 

[geoRunner]

@AnyMal All my knowledge in the Land Cruiser space is purely theoretically, based on research and general knowledge from the other Toyota platforms…. But at the end of the day I value more real world perspective from users of the products. I always hope that someone has travelled a path from one product to another and can say ‘Yep, glad I made the jump from product X to product Y’ or in the rare instance of honesty say ‘Nope, it was a huge mistake to jump from X to Y, and if I had it to do over again I would stand fast with X… Or would have gone with Z’

My Bilstein to King transition has the makings of the later… Day to day can I tell a difference between my Bilsteins and Kings, probably not, but from stock hell yes. Now when I really push the truck can I tell the difference between the Bilsteins and the Kings, yes… Do I like being able to adjust compression, yes…. Was it worth the price of admissions to the King Club… Honestly I just don’t know, but I’m happy with the performance and seeing the Kings peeking out from under the truck also isn’t a bad thing either.

@TeCKis300 I don’t know if I know EXACTLY what I’m looking for… But have a pretty good idea. And no, much to my wife chagrin I have ZERO issue throwing money at a problem if I think it will generate a good solution… Actually she probably is happy most of the time that I do this, but she does hate when I call her a problem.

So I think my finally setup, is going to be…

Dobinsons MRA Kit - Front and Rear MRAs with
- C59-544 in front in preparation of bumper (still deciding, but I know its near on the horizon) in black
- C59-559V in rear (when I add more weight in back I’ll probably go heavier here, but those should work for now)
- Dobinson UCAs (tubular or billet, to bling or not to bling that is the question )
- Timbren bumpstops

Now on to figuring out if I need all the other goodies, rear lowers and trailing arms… And panhard bracket or adjustable rod… Keep seeing a reference to a new panhard bracket on the forum, but haven’t dug into it yet.

I’m still 30-60 days out from taking this plunge and I may waffle or get one more feedback from you yahoos that convince me to go another direction, but I think this is the way I’m going. Need to reach out to ACC here in Atlanta to see if they can do the work, as I keep reading good things about them, but they might as well be on the other side of the planet cause they are on the OTHER side of Atlanta from me. I do have some business flights coming up, so might see if I can work the timing out to drop it off with Icons and pick it up with Dobbies… But that’s a different challenge all together.

 

[stonepa]

For your use case, why not stay totally stock? Why introduce complexity where there will be no added real world benefit? Our do you just want to build something, which is cool as well.

 

[chilibit]

Your friendly AI algorithm if fenced in to look at the last six months on Mud would probably roll out Dobinsons. Not wrong but AI has no romance and emotion rules with a heavy hand, whether we like to admit it or not. You are the source of the emotion. We could only guess what yours are. I go with stonepa. Toyota put tons of thought into the stock suspension and your described use case is quite doable stock. Postpone the decision. No rush. Sip the wine.

 

[Boston Mangler]

For your use case, why not stay totally stock? Why introduce complexity where there will be no added real world benefit? Our do you just want to build something, which is cool as well.

Stay Stock?

Who let you in here??

BAN!!

 

[AnyMal]

Stay Stock?

Who let you in here??

BAN!!

Right? At the very least, the 200 is BEGGING for bigger tires. At least 33"s.
And a way better stance. It has the narrowest stance of all T products I've seen. Needs more width.

But yeah. You could stop there, but what harm does real skids and sliders do beside protect your "investment"?
And you def need more gas. Thats not even a question when the tundra can get an additional 14 gallons stock with the same powerplant.

Leaving this thing stock is a tragedy really when I think about it... LOL

 

[geoRunner]

@stonepa @chilibit I’m going to assume either A. This is a bit of good natured ribbing and sarcasm for the LC200 newbie or B. That you were under the influence of anesthesia and cannot be held liable for such outright INSANITY… Cause option C. makes me seriously concerned for your health and stability. I mean we are here to help if you need it, you only have to ask. I keep hearing those BetterHelp commercials on podcasts and the like, we can take up a collection and hook you guys up.

And really there is NO rush, the truck is new to me, but previous owner had Icon Stage 1 installed with Cooper AT3 XLT LT275/70R18s, so capable enough, just not adjustable and they maxed out the front to 3”, so I think they were looking more for cool factor that actual usage. I have done UCAs on my previous rides and like the improvements it makes in getting wheel position and alignment just right, so that is the impetus of making a change. I know I’m adding UCAs in short order… I know I like the adjustability on my suspension setups… I know I end up throwing money at this soon enough, so if its in the shop for UCAs, I’m paying for an alignment, etc… What a couple of more dollars to dial things in even more

@AnyMal I agree with the skids and sliders as a modicum of protection for the investment. Like I said at the top, I will do aluminum skids for a bit more protection, Slee skids for protection AND help with ingress and egress for others in my family and a bumper… partially for protection and partially because some of the options out really set the truck off and apart from the crowd! Rear bumper is probably out cause that would be way overkill for me and why ruin the stellar gas mileage I’m already getting with additional weight (cool factor and vanity makes me WANT a rear bumper, but until this isn’t my daily I don’t think I can make it pencil.. famous last words I know).

PS - I am enjoying this community involvement here. Banter is great and feedback is awesome.