Kytann

You're welcome
Glad all of my years of reading about this stuff helps someone, since I am still too cheap to go with coil-overs myself. I find it fascinating, but always back out at the price tag. That and in general coil-overs and extended travel a-arms do not play well with the salt we have on the roads over here every winter. There are ways to compensate, but Minneapolis uses ALOT of salt. Like sometimes the roads are white with salt, not snow. It's insane.

And here I go with more information.

When doing a coil-over lift or a spacer lift, the angles that really have problems are the ball joint over-extension in the upper a-arm, and the CV Axles. Neither of which will likely have a problem for years down the road.

If you do an extended travel a-arm kit then you've already fixed the problem of the ball joint, and are only left with extended wear of your CV joints. Further, this is an even smaller issue than you think, because the CV only turns, and only is under extra stress, when you are in 4WD. It's one of the nice things about our Fords, our front axle completely disconnects, unlike for example Toyota, where there CV joints and front axle are always turning, even in 2WD. So extra wear and stress on your CV axles... and that's it. Maybe replace them every 75,000 miles instead of 150,000. Do a search on here, and find out how few CV problems even leveled guys have. Ford has some strong CV axles.

As far as the actual kits available:

Camburg does make a kit. It uses Fox shocks and has a different upper a-arm. Or you can buy the camburg a-arms separately.
Camburg Fox Shocks - $1150 (the 2.5 is comparable to the Icons)
Camburg Upper A-Arms - $699

Note: All of the Camburg kits say up to 2.5" of lift. Even the $3000 Performance kit



Icon also makes a long travel a-arm kit. Combine all of their parts for an advertised up to 3" of lift.
Icon Coil-over Shocks - $1322
Icon Upper A-Arms - $788
(I don't know why the A-Arms are more expensive for Icon)
Icon also has a set of rear shocks to match. Looks like they mainly sell them bundled with the fronts for $300 extra dollars.


As you can see even going for the full zoot Icon stuff is still cheaper than a 4" kit with crappy shocks.

Oh and with the salt I mentioned earlier:
Icon will special build for you some plated coil-overs that are corrosion resistant. It's some sort of ion vapor deposition. I can't find it on their site, but if you are interested call and ask the guys. I think it's only like $100 more.

HTXfX4

You can get the icon UCA's for $712. I bought mine from aj USA and had them in 4 days. I called about the camburgs and they were 2-3 weeks out from having some.

fubar

Kytann - This looks perfect for my needs. Do you know if the UCS's will work with OEM FX4 20's?

Kytann

That's true! Almost everything these days can be found for under MSRP.




You mean UCA's? I do not know. I recommend either a forum search or calling Icon with that question.

And by the way, nice water crossing icon.

fubar

I did mean UCA's. Nothing on the ICON site. Will call.

And thanks on the avitar comment. That was a true "pucker moment". I was towing a trailer and my only options were to back up a muddy switchback or brave the water. All well in the end...

Deco12

I have a 4 inch rancho kit and a 1 inch spacer in front, I am looking for someway to improve ride quality and travel, what would be the best option, Would I be fine to just get the fox or icon coilovers and set at 2-3 inches? or would I need an even longer shock? Also does anyone know of a good leaf spring pack for rear or traction bars? I have severe wheel hop and a loud bang under acceleration from the transfer case hitting.

Thanks for any help, just want to try and get a better ride mainly and get rid of the blocks.

03Scott

iTrader: (1)

Does anyone have any updates on this? I'll be going this route with a 4" bds, kings for the front later this year and reusing the stock block with an AAL and raptor rear shocks I have on there already.

mbwhite

I have had the BDS 4" lift installed for a few months now. The fox upgrade for the rear shocks made a huge difference in the ride. Now looking to upgrade the shocks in the front. Trying to find the right length coilovers for the front if i remove the strut spacer.

Do you think i could just install the fox 2.5's for the stock f150 setup and put the spacer back on top of it? Not looking to raise the front anymore just get a better ride. Would love to get some icons but too hard to get in canada.

HaloLifts

Our Coilovers with our 1" Body Lift = 4".

winchested

You could do that or get the BDS 6" coil overs and take the preload out of them. It says you can do this in the BDS install instructions. Coil overs are around $1500 I think.