Hi guys, well I completed the install yesterday morning, it was much easier than what I tought. Everything in the kit seemed to fit perfectly, no need to drill, weld, cut or paste here. All the components seem high quality specially the front coils, drop blocks, enlinks and steering stabilizer mounting system. The install time was around 4 hours, much faster than what I tought, only a skilled mechanic with experience on suspensions(most of it on 1/2 ton trucks) and myself did everything.
Now the fun part, gonna start giving some specs and reviews of all my driving experience so far with the new suspension, I did take it offroad, several miles with nasty washbaord type roads and some mild rutts here and there, didnt do anything extreme with high speed prerunning and I do not plan on doing it, I travel this roads everyday, back and forth, so I know how the truck feels and handles offroading.
Lift Height: well I was so exited to start working on the truck that I forgot to take before and after measurements, but I think its somewhere around 2.5" on the front and 1.5" on the rear, the truck seems to have a 1" rake which I really like and did on purpose, because I did not remove any of the little spacer plates under the leafspring.
Alignment: The truck steers better, got those 35" Toyo Mts with the radial pull to the right and I was really getting tired of fighting the pull to the right from the tires and the road crowning. Now with the Bilstein steering stabilizer with the stock 200 psi in it, it makes the truck ride perfectly straight, cannot feel the radial pull to the right from the toyos anymore or the pulling from the road crowning. On slow city speeds and offroading the truck has a very minor pull to the left wich is obvious from all the psi on the steering shock, but when I take the truck on the highway the truck drives perfectly straight, I tought I was gonna release a couple of psi from the steering shock, but after 2 days of driving the truck, I really like it that way. I still havent gotten an alignment yet, the tires look straight, there is no vibration or anything weird on the tires or steering wheel, the actual steering wheel needs to be centered again, instead of facing a 12 when going straight its facing 12.30 which is not much for me to worry about right now.
City Driving: The on road city driving has improved, you can still feel most of the road irregularities but they have decreased 50%, The only way I could see a better improvement on the ride while on road would be to use Load D rated tires, now the truck definitely drives much better, speedbumps are a HUGE improvement, dips followed by a bump also improved alot.
Highway Driving: now here is where the truck starts to shine, it makes the truck feel softer but with a sportscar grip on the road, the Im driving a jeep with 10 year old monroe shocks is almost gone, most of the highway has been straight highway roads , so I cannot give a full review on how the truck corners on the highway, but it corners great with the stock suspension, it should be much better now with the Kore springs.
Offroading: the vibration on the truck from the real bad washboard type roads has decrease, I could rate the stock suspension with a 4 on washboard roads, and the kore suspension with a 7 on this washboard roads, the truck still vibrates and seems a little bit on the stiffer side, but I could also blame the load E range Toyo MTs and the stiff sidewalls the have.
Now on the big dips and rutts is where this suspension really shines, it seems that it was designed to get some punishment from the desert, this suspension absorbs the big hits from the large rutts much better than how it feels on the washbaord roads. There are some parts on the road that I daily drive that I have to slow down from 40mph to about 10mph, now with this kore suspension I dont have to slow down any more, the large rutts feel better @ 40mph now that how the felt @ 10mph with the stock suspension.
Im really happy I got this Recon suspension, do not regret it, in fact this is the first time I have a truck that is lifted and that it rides Better on/off road compared to stock height, all those imperfections on the road are a thing off the past, I no longer have to worry and be alert about hitting a hole or bump on the road and damaging my truck or my spine.
I feel my truck still has much more mods to come, a new set of controls arms or Fox shocks, or maybe some 37" Toyos to reduce the stiffness/vibration on the washbaord type roads, or even maybe some load D range Tires. The MOD bug has hit me, and when your really like the way they work, there is no stopping because you know that every change you do to your truck will make it better.
Now the fun part, gonna start giving some specs and reviews of all my driving experience so far with the new suspension, I did take it offroad, several miles with nasty washbaord type roads and some mild rutts here and there, didnt do anything extreme with high speed prerunning and I do not plan on doing it, I travel this roads everyday, back and forth, so I know how the truck feels and handles offroading.
Lift Height: well I was so exited to start working on the truck that I forgot to take before and after measurements, but I think its somewhere around 2.5" on the front and 1.5" on the rear, the truck seems to have a 1" rake which I really like and did on purpose, because I did not remove any of the little spacer plates under the leafspring.
Alignment: The truck steers better, got those 35" Toyo Mts with the radial pull to the right and I was really getting tired of fighting the pull to the right from the tires and the road crowning. Now with the Bilstein steering stabilizer with the stock 200 psi in it, it makes the truck ride perfectly straight, cannot feel the radial pull to the right from the toyos anymore or the pulling from the road crowning. On slow city speeds and offroading the truck has a very minor pull to the left wich is obvious from all the psi on the steering shock, but when I take the truck on the highway the truck drives perfectly straight, I tought I was gonna release a couple of psi from the steering shock, but after 2 days of driving the truck, I really like it that way. I still havent gotten an alignment yet, the tires look straight, there is no vibration or anything weird on the tires or steering wheel, the actual steering wheel needs to be centered again, instead of facing a 12 when going straight its facing 12.30 which is not much for me to worry about right now.
City Driving: The on road city driving has improved, you can still feel most of the road irregularities but they have decreased 50%, The only way I could see a better improvement on the ride while on road would be to use Load D rated tires, now the truck definitely drives much better, speedbumps are a HUGE improvement, dips followed by a bump also improved alot.
Highway Driving: now here is where the truck starts to shine, it makes the truck feel softer but with a sportscar grip on the road, the Im driving a jeep with 10 year old monroe shocks is almost gone, most of the highway has been straight highway roads , so I cannot give a full review on how the truck corners on the highway, but it corners great with the stock suspension, it should be much better now with the Kore springs.
Offroading: the vibration on the truck from the real bad washboard type roads has decrease, I could rate the stock suspension with a 4 on washboard roads, and the kore suspension with a 7 on this washboard roads, the truck still vibrates and seems a little bit on the stiffer side, but I could also blame the load E range Toyo MTs and the stiff sidewalls the have.
Now on the big dips and rutts is where this suspension really shines, it seems that it was designed to get some punishment from the desert, this suspension absorbs the big hits from the large rutts much better than how it feels on the washbaord roads. There are some parts on the road that I daily drive that I have to slow down from 40mph to about 10mph, now with this kore suspension I dont have to slow down any more, the large rutts feel better @ 40mph now that how the felt @ 10mph with the stock suspension.
Im really happy I got this Recon suspension, do not regret it, in fact this is the first time I have a truck that is lifted and that it rides Better on/off road compared to stock height, all those imperfections on the road are a thing off the past, I no longer have to worry and be alert about hitting a hole or bump on the road and damaging my truck or my spine.
I feel my truck still has much more mods to come, a new set of controls arms or Fox shocks, or maybe some 37" Toyos to reduce the stiffness/vibration on the washbaord type roads, or even maybe some load D range Tires. The MOD bug has hit me, and when your really like the way they work, there is no stopping because you know that every change you do to your truck will make it better.
