Tyler's #VanLife Build || Living in My Tacoma + Four Wheel Camper

Not that this is news, but I continue to be the king of breaking things.

Damn, sorry for your pain.

Tyler said:

Not that this is news, but I continue to be the king of breaking things.

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This is why we cant have nice things

Have you tried hitting it with your purse?

TCOTUE said:

Have you tried hitting it with your purse?

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I tried turning it off and back on again. No luck.

Tyler said:

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I'll take what's behind curtain number 1

Tyler - Icon question. I've been seeing a lot of mention with leaking and rebuilding in my research.
Is that an issue you should be keeping an eye out for. Just see it to be a lot more common with the Icons.
I believe they said rebuild at 15,000 miles for off roading. 40,000 for light offroad and street.
Don't think I'll be offroading. Just hardparking. Just don't know what I'd do if I had to send it for a rebuild. What's your take on that?

bonifacio said:

Tyler - Icon question. I've been seeing a lot of mention with leaking and rebuilding in my research.
Is that an issue you should be keeping an eye out for. Just see it to be a lot more common with the Icons.
I believe they said rebuild at 15,000 miles for off roading. 40,000 for light offroad and street.
Don't think I'll be offroading. Just hardparking. Just don't know what I'd do if I had to send it for a rebuild. What's your take on that?

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I have an uncommon(?) experience with this.

I don’t typically talk up my products because often times there are similar options from other brands that are just as good or better.

My front and rear Icons blew me away with their ride quality and off road performance when I installed them (replaced Bilstein 5100s). I don’t typically talk up my products because often times there are similar options from other brands that are just as good or better.

At this point my Icons are around 3+ years old and have around 30,000 miles on them. And those are all rough miles. I’ve never been nice to my truck.

I used to run no swaybar which adds a lot of stress to the front suspension.

I generally accelerate very hard until I’m at the speed of traffic. I do a lot of hard stopping and turning/drifting when messing around off road.

These shocks were paired with 35” tires for most of their life, and now they’re with 37s.

My truck was always on the heavier side and now, with the camper build, it must be one of the heaviest Tacomas out there.

You get the idea.

After all that, I have not noticed any loss in performance from abuse, they’re not bouncier because of all of the weight, they’re not bouncier in regard to needing to be rebuilt soon, and finally, I’ve never had a leak or felt like I could overheat them after a whole day of mobbin’ through the desert.

So, in my experience—which is basically neglecting them—I’m well over the expected lifespan you mentioned and couldn’t be happier with them to this day. I’m almost confused as to how nothing has leaked or felt worn out yet.

However, I’ve seen/heard of Icons leaking and needing to be rebuilt early-ish like you mentioned. I’m not sure if an equally priced shock from King, Bilstein, etc. would be any better or worse as far as unexpected failure goes. They probably all have cases where that happens so I don’t think you should be worried about it.

Tyler said:

Sorry this took so long. I have a bad memory.

So this is where I’m at but this is still a work in progress that I haven’t been able to get to recently. The 37s don’t rub with street driving which is good, so all I have left to do is chop chop to get them to work off road.


Driver straight tire:

Passenger straight tire:

Driver full lock:

Passenger full lock (this one is very close):

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bonifacio — by the way, did you end up seeing these pictures? I’ll tag you when I finish my next step in this process which will end up looking different than this anyway.

I'm always the one that has something go wrong. Now I'm hesitant on switching. Wanted to see about stiffer springs on the 5100's. I get the higher chance of premature wear out. Ugh. The OME BP-51's looked pretty sweet. I just need a little bit more clearance and height.

Tyler - I did. Thank you. It's all learning for me.

bonifacio said:

I'm always the one that has something go wrong. Now I'm hesitant on switching. Wanted to see about stiffer springs on the 5100's. I get the higher chance of premature wear out. Ugh. The OME BP-51's looked pretty sweet. I just need a little bit more clearance and height.

Tyler - I did. Thank you. It's all learning for me.

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Do you want stiffer springs in the front or back or both? Do you know the ratings for the ones you have? For the back, I think the ones I installed in the video are probably the heaviest on the market at 1,000 lb, which is probably overkill for you. Unless you like the look of a big rake like the heavy duty trucks have from the factory.

bonifacio — Here’s the rake after I installed those. The top photo is the 1,000 lb springs and the bottom was 800 lb springs.

Tyler said:

Do you want stiffer springs in the front or back or both? Do you know the ratings for the ones you have? For the back, I think the ones I installed in the video are probably the heaviest on the market at 1,000 lb, which is probably overkill for you. Unless you like the look of a big rake like the heavy duty trucks have from the factory.

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I'll be running with a bumper, roof rack and sliders. Possibly a winch later.
Also sound deadened the entire cab.

Not crazy weight but I guess it adds up. I feel the front sags a good bit. Gonna leave the rear alone or maybe throw the overload back in. Don't really carry much driving daily.
One time I picked up this girl... I pulled up on the driveway and I heard it rub. I wanted to crack a joke.

So for the 800 and 1000, what shocks/coilovers?
Were they on your 5100's?

Now you're on Icon/700lbs? I assumed the dampening on them make up for it?