SDI E-CLIK active suspension - what wizardry is this? (1 Viewer)

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Had some interest in this so thought I'd post a quick write up of my SDI E-CLIK system - E-CLIK UNIVERSAL - SDI E-CLIK SUSPENSION - https://eclikshocks.com/universal/

Active shocks might not be for everyone since its definitely spills the banks of the KISS principal, but I love gadgets and tinkering so dove in as soon as the universal kit became available. I built my rig as a do-all overlander/wheeler so was intrigued by a suspension system that could instantly tailor tuning for long road miles, fast desert bombing or slow rock crawling.

I've had Icon 2.5" CDC shocks the last few years and the guys at SDI said their universal kit would retrofit no problem. SDI agreed to do the swap (system includes a sensor, brainbox, controller knob and new swap-in reservoirs that contain the electronically actuated compression valves) and were amazingly helpful in getting the whole project organized and completed.

Install was pretty slow-going as I strove for super clean, durable wiring and routing throughout. Most of the old Icon reservoir mounting brackets worked but I had to do a few tweaks and adjustments and build a few brackets of my own.

For road driving, the system feels amazing. The gyroscope/motion sensor detects roll and increases compression damping on the outside shocks, providing a roll-bar affect that is pretty nuts. My truck is tall with a lot of roof weight and usually feels pretty wallowey in corners. With E-CLICK on road mode it rails turns like its on tracks. A few years back I went from OEM rear swaybar to Whiteline HD which think is a diameter increase of 5mm or 6mm. With E-CLIK road mode feels like a swaybar diameter increase equivalent of 10mm or 15mm above that.

In the little bit of testing I've done on bombed out fire roads with potholes, ruts and washouts, it feels like the truck is flying down the trail - kind of a magic carpet ride feel. Not dead flat, but always working to find equilibrium. As the truck rocks side to side going over obstacles, you can feel the system working to stabilize and balance. It cuts the wallowing and rocking by 70% or more while still remaining pretty compliant on the small stuff. There's also a steering wheel button that instantly triggers full compression for all shocks. That worked really well when cooking down the trail and coming up to a big obstacle. I'd just leave the suspension full soft and hit the button to ramp over the big stuff. Pretty crazy how fast you can go.

Still have lots of testing and tuning to do, but overall feeling like this is going to be a great addition for maintaining comfort at speed on the long overlanding and offroading trips I use my truck for.


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Very cool. Please keep this thread updated and include a long term review.
 
Wow, watching :popcorn:
 
Sounds similar to what Icon Vehicle Dynamics, but they don’t have an 80 series kit yet. I need a test drive!
 
Is this the same as the icon? How much did it cost? I have the same icon set up and would love to convert mine as well.
I first saw this come out from SDI and thought it was awesome, but they only had kits for Jeeps. Then Icon announced their kit at Overland Expo last year and said they'd eventually be coming out with a retrofit kit. I stayed in touch with Icon but they eventually said they had no real timeline for a retrofit kit so figured it was probably going to be a while.

Then SDI came out with their universal kit so I gave them a call. They hadn't seen their kit go on Icons specifically but didn't see why it wouldn't work so I went for it. Seems to be working great so far - same Icon feel but a lot of responses happening automatically and can adjust mapping from the cab.

There's a screen that shows what each shock's compression setting is doing in real time. They really jump all over the place as you hit bumps and go around corners - I see compression click changes of 2 or 3 when driving around mellow and jumps of 5 to 7 clicks when hitting bigger stuff. Then I have the overide button on the steering wheel which brings all compression clicks instantly to 10.

I'll try to make a quick video of the system response to various conditions and embed it here.


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Indeed waaay beyond KISS.
But curious, in the event of a failure of the system, you are left with the existing suspension to get home, yeah?
 
Indeed waaay beyond KISS.
But curious, in the event of a failure of the system, you are left with the existing suspension to get home, yeah?
Regarding failure: what happens? (Always think Worst-Case...) IIRC, Scott Brady wrote about a fancy suspension failure with a new Rover--and it turned out that when failure occurs, the failed shock defaults to maximum extension. (Again, if I'm remembering correctly.)
 
Regarding failure: what happens? (Always think Worst-Case...) IIRC, Scott Brady wrote about a fancy suspension failure with a new Rover--and it turned out that when failure occurs, the failed shock defaults to maximum extension. (Again, if I'm remembering correctly.)
Wild Wild West comes to mind...that dude in the spider leg chair.
If it fails, are you half the man you used to be? lol
 
So, are these shocks fixed valving and full of a ferrous fluid with a current passing through it that varies ? ? Like the corvette suspension ? I’m so curious. That’s where I first learned what rheology was back in like 2003. But you can change it instantaneously. Gotta be how this works.
 
I am generally opposed to technology in a vehicle but, but I can help but find this incredibly freakin cool! Awesome stuff and congrats on finding a way to make whet you wanted happen!
 
Had some interest in this so thought I'd post a quick write up of my SDI E-CLIK system - E-CLIK UNIVERSAL - SDI E-CLIK SUSPENSION - https://eclikshocks.com/universal/

Active shocks might not be for everyone since its definitely spills the banks of the KISS principal, but I love gadgets and tinkering so dove in as soon as the universal kit became available. I built my rig as a do-all overlander/wheeler so was intrigued by a suspension system that could instantly tailor tuning for long road miles, fast desert bombing or slow rock crawling.

I've had Icon 2.5" CDC shocks the last few years and the guys at SDI said their universal kit would retrofit no problem. SDI agreed to do the swap (system includes a sensor, brainbox, controller knob and new swap-in reservoirs that contain the electronically actuated compression valves) and were amazingly helpful in getting the whole project organized and completed.

Install was pretty slow-going as I strove for super clean, durable wiring and routing throughout. Most of the old Icon reservoir mounting brackets worked but I had to do a few tweaks and adjustments and build a few brackets of my own.

For road driving, the system feels amazing. The gyroscope/motion sensor detects roll and increases compression damping on the outside shocks, providing a roll-bar affect that is pretty nuts. My truck is tall with a lot of roof weight and usually feels pretty wallowey in corners. With E-CLICK on road mode it rails turns like its on tracks. A few years back I went from OEM rear swaybar to Whiteline HD which think is a diameter increase of 5mm or 6mm. With E-CLIK road mode feels like a swaybar diameter increase equivalent of 10mm or 15mm above that.

In the little bit of testing I've done on bombed out fire roads with potholes, ruts and washouts, it feels like the truck is flying down the trail - kind of a magic carpet ride feel. Not dead flat, but always working to find equilibrium. As the truck rocks side to side going over obstacles, you can feel the system working to stabilize and balance. It cuts the wallowing and rocking by 70% or more while still remaining pretty compliant on the small stuff. There's also a steering wheel button that instantly triggers full compression for all shocks. That worked really well when cooking down the trail and coming up to a big obstacle. I'd just leave the suspension full soft and hit the button to ramp over the big stuff. Pretty crazy how fast you can go.

Still have lots of testing and tuning to do, but overall feeling like this is going to be a great addition for maintaining comfort at speed on the long overlanding and offroading trips I use my truck for.


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What kind of lift (if any) and tires are you running?
 
$5k is for a full bolt-on active shock set for Jeeps. It's ~ $2,500 for the retrofit kit with the sensors and processors and replacement reservoirs that go on existing shocks.

Failure of the SDI system would eliminate the active valve function and revert to fixed compression dampening - basically what I had before.

My lift/tire setup is Slee front radius arms, Dobinson springs that equal around 4 or 5 inches of lift, various home made drop brackets, MetalTech rear control arms, Slee extended/braided brake lines, Whiteline HD rear swaybar. Wheels are 17" Method 703 in 35" Cooper STT Pros.

The SDI kit is feeling better and better as I get it tuned - pretty jaw-dropping how stable it feels on the street. Will post an update once I get it further tuned and take it on a real offroad trip.
 
$5k is for a full bolt-on active shock set for Jeeps. It's ~ $2,500 for the retrofit kit with the sensors and processors and replacement reservoirs that go on existing shocks.

Failure of the SDI system would eliminate the active valve function and revert to fixed compression dampening - basically what I had before.

My lift/tire setup is Slee front radius arms, Dobinson springs that equal around 4 or 5 inches of lift, various home made drop brackets, MetalTech rear control arms, Slee extended/braided brake lines, Whiteline HD rear swaybar. Wheels are 17" Method 703 in 35" Cooper STT Pros.

The SDI kit is feeling better and better as I get it tuned - pretty jaw-dropping how stable it feels on the street. Will post an update once I get it further tuned and take it on a real offroad trip.
So, in event of failure they would still operate as normal remote res shocks, rather than cutting off reservoir access? If so, there may be no downside...
 
I can ask the SDI guys, but I don't think there's any way for the valves to close completely. It's basically just 1-10 compression clicks that is moved by a servo motor instead of your fingers.

I'd imagine it would default to full soft - the first click in its range - or stick in whatever compression setting they happened to be - neither of which would really be a trip-ender.
 

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