Fox/King 2.0 vs 2.5?

[ckomai]

Anybody running 2.0 king or fox remote resevoir shocks on a 1st gen Explorer? Are you happy with them or did you wish you had gotten the 2.5's?

 

[IZwack]

What is the truck being used for and how well is it "built" for that purpose? The reason I ask is because there are reasons why one would go with the 2.5s over the 2.0s - such as high speed desert with long travel.

 

[ckomai]

Gonna do a mild setup (cut and turned beams,extended radius arms, non-coilover lift springs with the resevoir shocks). I plan to do prerunning in the desert, definitely no sand ever. The shop that will end up doing it, solo motorsports recommended 2.0 fox's. I'm probably gonna have to go with them anyways for money reasons, but was hoping to get some people that can say that they are pleased with them.

 

[IZwack]

That's probably a good call - I'm sure the shop has done this work before and therefore has a good idea of what size to go with considering your vehicle's setup and purpose.

 

[mounty71]

Solo Motorsports does really good work and they know their stuff, but I wonder why they would recommend a smaller shock. For a desert truck, people usually go as big as they can because the shock will stay cooler longer and not fade as quickly. I have 2.0s, but if I could have afforded 2.5s at the time I would have bought those instead. Ask them why they recommend a 2.0 before buying something.

 

[FIND]

Because there is no sense spending the extra money if he won't see any appreciable difference from the upgrade. If it is just a mild setup, mid-travel like he is talking about, 2.0s will be more than sufficient. Agreed though, he should ask why about their recommendations. That is never a bad piece of advice. The more you know about your truck.... insert old NBC graphic here...

 

[mounty71]

Because there is no sense spending the extra money if he won't see any appreciable difference from the upgrade.

Yes, obviously. My pockets are not very deep so I understand building on a budget. But having first hand experience with this, if you can swing for the 2.5s, then why not? (I guess Solo can answer that) Used shocks can also be bought for half the price of new or less, and rebuilt to be as good as new.

Also keep in mind any future upgrades, and the inevitable desire to drive harder. If a 2.0 is just enough for a mild little run now, when you go out for hours at a time in the future and you want to upgrade to 2.5s, you will need to invest more time and money into the truck. That's the dilemma I am having now.

 

[IZwack]

Question:

if you can swing for the 2.5s, then why not?

Answer:

for money reasons

 

[FROADER]

I'm willing to bet you won't drive it hard or long enough to fade the 2.0s.

I never even had reservoirs on any of my "prerunner" rigs and we drove the **** out of them (mid 1990s). Only once did I experience fade, so we stopped for lunch then got back to it and everything was fine.

 

[ckomai]

So Mounty71, since you have the 2.0's can you tell me how they run for you? How do you like them? I think im just gonna save the money and go 2.0 because the next upgrade for my suspension would be coilovers, not 2.5's. If I bought 2.0's or 2.5's I would still have to ditch them for a coilover 2.0 or 2.5 anyways. I would still like to know how you like them even though you would rather have gotten the 2.5's.

 

[IZwack]

So Mounty71, since you have the 2.0's can you tell me how they run for you? How do you like them? I think im just gonna save the money and go 2.0 because the next upgrade for my suspension would be coilovers, not 2.5's. If I bought 2.0's or 2.5's I would still have to ditch them for a coilover 2.0 or 2.5 anyways. I would still like to know how you like them even though you would rather have gotten the 2.5's.

If the logistics and geometry allows it : can't you just get the remote resi coilovers now but not run the springs? That would save you some $$ in the long run.

 

[ckomai]

I wish I could install the shocks first without doing anything, then get other work done after I get more money but the springs will be 4-5 inches and wont fit on a stock setup right? Lift springs are cheap. If they are going to be doing all that other work under there anyways, they might as well slip in some springs for more travel.

 

[mounty71]

Question:

Answer:

Once again, obviously. But thanks for the insight.

Did he definitively say 2.5s are out of the question? No. I said "if you can swing for 2.5s," and the fact that he asked about them tells me that they could be an option if they are worth it. So my question is valid. There are certain things that are worth spending a little extra on the first time, to avoid having to pay more a second time. In desert trucks, shocks are one of them.

How long in the future would the upgrade to coilovers be? How often will you be actually using the truck offroad? If coilovers are in your future, then wanting to push the truck harder seems to be a good possibility. Both 2.0s and 2.5s can be rebuilt and sold used for a good amount, so even if you plan to upgrade, you can still make some money back with either one, so don't count this first pair of shocks as a total loss. If it's only going to be a year and a handful of trips, then a 2.0 with the right valving would be sufficient. If it will realistically be 3+ years going on trips every month or two, that's a long time to go with an insufficient setup.

With my 2.0s, although my truck is A-arm, the rear is the same as yours, and they are burning after a good 10 minutes. For example, Colin, think of the pole line road along 86 going from N. Marina to the gas station. That road isn't incredibly rough. My rears are also valved pretty heavy, and for the fronts I started out with the heaviest possible valving, and then had to add even more shims and it's still soft.

IZ, usually with coil springs travel is more limited than with coilovers, and an 8" or 10" shock is typically used, often without an engine cage/shock tower. With coilovers, an engine cage/shock tower should definitely be used, and coilovers on these trucks are typically 12" or 14", so that's why he said he'd need to get new shocks at the point anyway.

 

[IZwack]

^-- truth.

 

[Elgatoprerunner]

I just installed a set of 16" F.O.A's on my SAS Navajo. They are very inexpensive (shocks alone cost $550 shipped). I had my aprehentions at first but after 3 brutal desert trips this season they are holding up fine. I sky the thing too. Its a whoop eater. (Opt for the high temp seals).

You could easily affort 2.5's then.

Keep in mind that the Solo cut and turned beams will not cycle much past 15" of travel because of shaft angle issues. I had their beams with camburb coil buckets, eibach springs, 12" (i think) SAW 2.5" and it cycled exactly 15". It handled damn good too.

You shold go C/O's if Santa buys you Solo's extended beams. Now your talking about some serious travel. C/O's would be a good idea in that case.

Just my 2 Cents

Steve

 

[ckomai]

Steve, so it sounds like your happy with FOA shocks? are they rebuildable? looks like I get 2.5's for around the same price as fox/king 2.0's. I heard the finish on them sucks, but as long as they arent rusting or anything I don't care about looks over function. Have you ever had 2.0's to compare them to?

 

[Elgatoprerunner]

Yes I'm happy with them. The finish fine. They are a electro plated cast shock. That's how they get the price so cheap. Granted they did have their problems in the beginning but have worked past those.
They are completely valveable and rebuildable.

I did run 2.0 CO on the truggy at first (Bilstein). These work WAY better.