Ironman Foam Cell Pro

I have the stage 1 with stock load (no bumpers or armor) and non-adjustable. I will take measurements tonight when I come home.

ok so I have the following -

Front Bumper - 18 1/2"
Rear Bumper - 21 1/2 "

Drivers side ground to bottom of flare - 35 1/2 "
Rear side "" - 38 1/2"

 

Ill probably be making some slight adjustments to my front height. I ordered their wrench despite not wanting to pay the insane price but thats a different topic. I did a 700 mile round trip with my trailer and it definitely broke in the rear springs. I would let things settle before making adjustments. Rake is a good thing if you plan to tow or have any load in the rear, how much you want is personal opinion i suppose. I went performance rear springs so in theory i will get less squat with my load. Overall the systems has been excellent on and off road.

 

I agree. I just got back from a 2,000 mile trip with mine, including 500 miles of trails, and it was brilliant. I'll post a more thorough write-up this weekend.

 

Be aware that you will not be able to use the wrench without some sort of leverage.
I used initially a pipe wrench but my arms were killing me (heavy pipe wrench) when I was done.
I had to do another adjustment and I used a braking bar (a 25" long as my 19" long was not sufficient). To use the braking bar, I Inserted a 16mm allen socket (with some aluminum shimming) in the far end hex hole. The dimension of the hole is about 16.5mm but I could not find the right socket.

 

Good info! Thank you. They are rarely easy, but that seems like a lot of effort! Put a little anti seize in the threads and it should make it easier. How much height would you guess you are getting out of given amount of rotation?

 

Another Ironman 4x4 FCP here. Just did a 3,000 mile road trip from Memphis, TN > Ouray, CO and back, along with iconic trails (Black Bear, Imogene, Engineer, etc.). I ran it slow on rock crawly thing, 30 - 40 MPH on washboard roads, and medium speed on whoops. This suspension likes the whoops the best, but it did well with all of them, and we did some of them for hours on end. My friend's 4Runner has Bilstein 5100s and they did really well too, but did start to fade. These kept strong the whole way. My brakes were smoking at one point but the shock body was just warm.

 

The height ration is 1:2 so for every 1/4" up/down height on the coil over you get ~1/2" up/down on the fender.
My setup is heavy coils (C rated) in front (I have Hefty Banshee bumper with 10000lb winch) and med coils (B rated) in back.

 

That's what I did, I moved from FJ Pro suspension (equivalent of TRD Pro) that has Bilstein mod shocks to Ironman and I like this setup the best.

 

Thanks again! I thought I had seen 1:2 somewhere but was going to shoot them a message to confirm. I haven't measured the thread pitch but im guess 1/4" on the coilover is around a half turn? I figured I would just put a witness mark on the adjustment ring.

 

Good idea, I did not check but I remember to get 1/4" up/down on the coilover was more than 1/2 turn. The thread is very fine.

When I lowered the car, I mover the counter nut/ring to the desired location then I locked it in place. I then lowered the adjusting ring to the final, desired location.
When I raised the car, I left the counter ring locked in place then I moved up the adjusting ring to the desired location.
This way you have a reference point and you can take measurements all the time.

 

Did 300 miles of off-roading/camping on the Stage 2 kit. Man this suspension was amazing! Soaked up bumps and was super responsive on Top of the World:

IMG_9065 by Red Runner, on Flickr
IMG_9098 by Red Runner, on Flickr
IMG_9137 by Red Runner, on Flickr
IMG_9146 by Red Runner, on Flickr
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IMG_9222 by Red Runner, on Flickr
Untitled by Red Runner, on Flickr

 

Just got back from doing a 1k mile camping trip and noticed that my LCA was black when it should have been covered in mud. I also noticed the shock body was also black and looked to be covered in grease. I emailed Ironman yesterday(Sunday) and they got back to me today. They asked for pictures, which I provided and they immediately stated they would be sending me a new strut. No idea when or where the shock started leaking, but I can say the ride quality never diminished with the oil leaking. Basically this is what the email stated "we'll get a replacement strut (45710FE) sent your way soon! Your Foam Cell Pro should be fine driving on until you get it replaced... one of the benefits of having foam." I am pretty happy with Ironmans Customer Service. They were easy to deal with for sure.

Untitled by redrunner87, on Flickr

Cleaned it up a little bit for better pictures
Untitled by redrunner87, on Flickr
Untitled by redrunner87, on Flickr

 

Holy smokes. 2 things.

1. Good to hear about quality Customer Service.
2. How does it still work? I get the foam is in there but that's interesting.

I bought them cause people in Australia say they are tough, and I wanted tough. Seems tough.

 

Not sure. I think it is because it doesn't ride on the oil, but honestly no clue. I can say it doesn't really ride any different from before. So I believe them when they say it is fine to drive on.

 

Red, I'm curious what caused the oil leak and/or if Ironman asked for the damaged strut for inspection. If they did not, can you take it apart when you get the replacement and get back to us?

 

I will see what I can do. Ironman didn't request the blown shock back, so I will retain possession of it. I will see if my buddy wants to tinker with it.

 

I too run the stage 2 Ironman kit on my GX and absolutely love the ride. Much nicer than our 4runner on dobinsons, but that could be due to my KDSS on the GX. I went with the performance rated front and rear coils.

 

UPDATE: Emailed Monday and was approved for a warranty strut. Strut arrived on Saturday. Pretty quick shipping on the strut!

Untitled by redrunner87, on Flickr

 

Good to see they back their warranty and have good customer service.

 

So easy to deal with. Definitely an A+ dealing with them on this issue.

 

Just ordered the foam cell pro stg. 2 last week and all they had available was the 2.5” performance front coil/2”performance rear coil. Was wondering if it was going to give a level look or if I could get a slight rake since the fronts are adjustable. Got me confused because dobinson coils have all these weird measurements and for them I know a 2” read would have a huge rake.

 

Most likely you will get a level look. If you want a slight front rake, you can play with adjusting the front shocks and/or add rear coil 10mm or 20mm top spacers. Personally I have a 10mm rear passenger spacer and 20mm driver spacer to compensate the gas tank and my heavy (or fluffy ) a$$ weight.

 

Stg 2 foam cell pros. 2.5” front performance coils and 2” rear performance coils

 

How are you liking the ride so far?

with the 2.5” front, 2” rear did you still have some rake? Rear sag any when our couple hundred pounds in the rear?