For those with RPG Stage 3

[Schultz]

Thank you for your help. I read the thread and my head hurts now but I do appreciate all the work that went into it.

 

[ntm]

Thank you for your help. I read the thread and my head hurts now but I do appreciate all the work that went into it.

I can simplify it for you.

For the rear, fox/king/icon all use an external bypass 3.0 shock. The differences are small performance wise.

For the front, fox/king/icon all use a 3.0 coilover.
The differences are large here.
All three perform very well when driven to the edge of their performance envelope. Say if stock shocks take you to 60 mph across a piece of terrain, all three of the 3.0 offerings will take you to 70 mph across the same terrain. One brand won't offer more speed over the others.
The differences are more in how wide the performance envelope is. This is directly linked to their construction.

The kings are a simple linear design with no zones. You must in essence have the same damping at ride height as you do closer to the end of the shocks travel where you'd be hitting whoops and what not. That adds up to either a rough ride in the ride zone, or poor offroad performance, depending on how you tune them via the piston shims. You must pick one.

The icons are more complex in that they have an internal bottoming piston, which effectively gives them two zones. This is good.
They also use digressive damping, which is good when driving at the limit, but does give little tolerance for slower driving on short square edged bumps. You're seeing very high damping forces right at ride height. A side effect of that is you need a stiffer than normal spring to blast the front end through that damping to get back to ride height after compression.
They do a great job at high speed offroad and driving on smooth pavement. But are much rougher than the stock shocks at normal speeds on choppy roads. Their adjusters do very little, as even set to the softest setting, they're still too stiff at ride height.
The digressive damping is a double edged sword, it provides very tight body roll control, but isn't as compliant over small sharp bumps. No big deal if your use will always be high speed when offroad and/or higher quality pavement.

The fox's are internal bypasses. They have more zones, and they progressively step up in damping force.
Very compliant at ride height. Downside there is more body roll. Upside is smoother ride.
Due to the internal bypass construction, the piston is actually only 2.5" vs the icon and king at 3.0". In practical application, I haven't seen any difference due to the piston size.

The fox's were my personal favourites, although there is a place for each depending on the prospective owners planned usage of the truck.

Oh yes, and definitely do springs as well as bumps. The springs improve performance and ride significantly.

 

[Schultz]

Thank you that make sense now. I have already done the RPG stage 3 rear and I am planning to do the front next with a full set of shocks. I will go with RPGs tuned fox rear shocks and the fox front shocks as well. This is my daily driver and I still want it to handle on the road I think the fox will suit my needs the best. Any suggestions on rebuilding the front suspension.

 

[ZBoater]

What does a stage 3 RPG setup cost, ballpark?

 

[Deleted member 12951]

what does a stage 3 rpg setup cost, ballpark?

$2499