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Carli suspension info

sedonaexpeditionvehicles said:
I just started following you on Instagram and realized you are nearby over in Prescott. I live in Sedona. Nice truck. Safe to say I know exactly what terrain you drive on.

You said the pintop wasn't worth the money and you would probably just go with the less expensive Fox option. What are the shortcomings of the pintop kit? what don't you like? How do the shocks handle washboard? What about Schnebly Hill road?
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Nice! I've done some stuff in Sedona and the surrounding area, but not since I've gotten the Pintop kit. Schenbly should be interesting just to see how the comfort is. I've done it a few times on stock suspension and airing down to ~20psi. It's not a technical trail, but I always laugh watching the vehicles turn around from it being so uncomfortable to drive on.

The pintop kit has no short comings over the Fox setup. I do believe the Fox kit has slightly better travel (like the Pintop having slightly better travel over the Dominator kits). I'm still happy I went with the Pintop kit just because it can sustain more speeds over a longer period of time. Most people won't need that though and can save $1500+ by going with one of the fox kits. Heck, if you don't need or want the extra body clearance then you'd be very happy with just doing a shock replacement like @Crusty old shellback is doing.

We do a meetup every 3rd Saturday of the month at Method Coffee in Prescott. Meet at 8am and usually leave around 10am for a day trail and then many of us camp out on the trail that night. You're welcome to join us. All vehicles are invited and the organizer bases the trails on what vehicles show up.
 
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Found this video, pretty interesting.
Power Wagon with Carli Commuter (Fox 2.0s) and discuss comparisons to other shocks and kind of side by side comparison with a Tacoma and Rebel with Fox 2.5s.
They sing some high praises for the 2.0s / Carli on the PW

 
el_barto said:
Found this video, pretty interesting.
Power Wagon with Carli Commuter (Fox 2.0s) and discuss comparisons to other shocks and kind of side by side comparison with a Tacoma and Rebel with Fox 2.5s.
They sing some high praises for the 2.0s / Carli on the PW

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Great video and don't forget with the Carli kits you can go from the base Fox shocks up to the Pintop with just a shock swap. If you go up the Dominator I believe it's a shock swap plus welding in new shock mounts in the rear.
 
AnthonyD1978 said:
Great video and don't forget with the Carli kits you can go from the base Fox shocks up to the Pintop with just a shock swap. If you go up the Dominator I believe it's a shock swap plus welding in new shock mounts in the rear.
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Yep. Wasy to move up. But with Dominator there is welding on both the front and rear.
 
sedonaexpeditionvehicles said:
I don't want tuned 2.5 King shocks so I can jump my ram. I want them for this right here. Long, rough, washboard, forest roads.

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The Thuren setup I had on my 16 PW was amazing for washboard and gravel. Didn’t feel it anymore, just heard the buzz.

Thuren Kings stage 3 3.0/2.5 plus coils, Trackbars, Swaybar. Plus 37” Toyo RTs.

After having that much control, I tried the Thuren Fox 2.0s on the new diesel. Better than stock, but doesn’t hold a candle to the bigger shocks even just on road. Been waiting on wheels, so if I keep it, the Kings are going on before KOH.
 
RPS1030 said:
The Thuren setup I had on my 16 PW was amazing for washboard and gravel. Didn’t feel it anymore, just heard the buzz.

Thuren Kings stage 3 3.0/2.5 plus coils, Trackbars, Swaybar. Plus 37” Toyo RTs.

After having that much control, I tried the Thuren Fox 2.0s on the new diesel. Better than stock, but doesn’t hold a candle to the bigger shocks even just on road. Been waiting on wheels, so if I keep it, the Kings are going on before KOH.
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It’s very true 2.0s can’t hang with 2.5s or 3s not even close.

At 2.5” you’re up to -8an resi hose and 14” resi in some cases. You can move so much more fluid.
 
JamesEvan said:
Ugh crazy wait times...
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Spoke with Cody today at CJC and they have Carli Back Country (Fox) in stock, just placed my order. Also spoke with a local installer and he mentioned that the Kings don't fair well with road salt and it's good I am going with Fox, curious if any other northerners have heard the same?
 
el_barto said:
I’m going for it and going to try the off-the-shelf Fox 2.0’s
No issues or major complaints with the stock bilsteins (they only have 25k miles on them), but sounds like this will be a worthwhile improvement in ride quality for my use case.

Custom tuned Fox 2.5s or King 2.5s would be cool, but I think the 2.0s will be good enough bang for buck, and an advantage of using an off-the-shelf version is availability if I ever need a replacement.
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2.0's are a good modest size on these trucks, they can definitely offer an improvement over stock, but I would never waste my time with generic shock tunes. The cost difference vs. a dedicated tune from a pro is almost nothing. I have the Thuren Fox 2.0's on the shop Wagon and they're pretty good, a little nicer on most things and far more capable than the factory shocks, but still an aluminum-body shock with only a 2.0" piston. I normally go straight to a 3.0 shock on these trucks, it just dominates across the board and has a way broader operating range. You can just get away with absolutely stupid stuff, in comfort. 2.5+ shocks are a "wow honey, I'm glad we spent the money" mod.
 
JamesEvan said:
Spoke with Cody today at CJC and they have Carli Back Country (Fox) in stock, just placed my order. Also spoke with a local installer and he mentioned that the Kings don't fair well with road salt and it's good I am going with Fox, curious if any other northerners have heard the same?
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I'm assuming they are talking about the body. The kings are a steel body and will rust. So you either coat them (ceramic, cerakote etc) or put PPF on them.

Or let them rust.
 
MDethloff said:
2.0's are a good modest size on these trucks, they can definitely offer an improvement over stock, but I would never waste my time with generic shock tunes. The cost difference vs. a dedicated tune from a pro is almost nothing. I have the Thuren Fox 2.0's on the shop Wagon and they're pretty good, a little nicer on most things and far more capable than the factory shocks, but still an aluminum-body shock with only a 2.0" piston. I normally go straight to a 3.0 shock on these trucks, it just dominates across the board and has a way broader operating range. You can just get away with absolutely stupid stuff, in comfort. 2.5+ shocks are a "wow honey, I'm glad we spent the money" mod.
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We’ll see how the OTS Fox 2.0s do. I’m sure they will be an improvement, and make me happy for the relatively low cost.

Not looking to go crazy while the truck is still under warranty…Less likely to get any grief from the dealer if there is something that needs replaced if it just has different shocks, vs an actual lift that changes the geometry. Maybe in a couple years when it’s out of warranty I’ll upgrade the springs (thuren or Carli) and go to 2.5” shocks. Maybe.
 
A lot of great info in the thread. Im still waiting for my 3500 with air ride to show up and it’s definitely a bit trickier with the factory air setup. Just wanted to add the info I received as I’ve been talking with CJC about the full Pintop with leaf pack or something quick and easy for the time being.

This was their quick recommendation below as they told me the stock shocks with Thuren coils are a little too short.

The other budget friendly option is to do a 1.75" Thuren 3500 front coil, Carli tuned Fox 2.0 shocks, and possibly a track bar. That setup will improve front ride quality substantially, but since the rear is only getting a shock change, the ride improvement is minimal in the back.
 
rampulse said:
but since the rear is only getting a shock change, the ride improvement is minimal in the back.
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I know the guys are Carli are experts and I'm a nobody, but in my experience and the considerable research I have done, springs have very little to do with ride quality. A spring's job is to hold the weight up and that's it.. Shock valving has a MUCH bigger impact on handling, comfort, control, and overall feel. There are guys in this thread that have tuned their own shocks and they may agree or disagree, but in the world of recreation (where you don't have a ton of spring selection such as with coil overs) you would tune the shock, not the spring. I think it may be more accurate to say, is that Carli has been unable to successfully tune a 2.0 IFP to handle the considerable rebound with a spring rate as high as a 3500 leaf pack. The piston is just too small.
 
sedonaexpeditionvehicles said:
I know the guys are Carli are experts and I'm a nobody, but in my experience and the considerable research I have done, springs have very little to do with ride quality. A spring's job is to hold the weight up and that's it.. Shock valving has a MUCH bigger impact on handling, comfort, control, and overall feel. There are guys in this thread that have tuned their own shocks and they may agree or disagree, but in the world of recreation (where you don't have a ton of spring selection such as with coil overs) you would tune the shock, not the spring. I think it may be more accurate to say, is that Carli has been unable to successfully tune a 2.0 IFP to handle the considerable rebound with a spring rate as high as a 3500 leaf pack. The piston is just too small.
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Interesting. It does seem hard to commit to a quick fix like this if the ride quality may be subjective. I guess doing the 2.5 kings and progressive leaf pack would be better... just a much bigger pill to swallow.
 
sedonaexpeditionvehicles said:
I know the guys are Carli are experts and I'm a nobody, but in my experience and the considerable research I have done, springs have very little to do with ride quality. A spring's job is to hold the weight up and that's it.. Shock valving has a MUCH bigger impact on handling, comfort, control, and overall feel. There are guys in this thread that have tuned their own shocks and they may agree or disagree, but in the world of recreation (where you don't have a ton of spring selection such as with coil overs) you would tune the shock, not the spring. I think it may be more accurate to say, is that Carli has been unable to successfully tune a 2.0 IFP to handle the considerable rebound with a spring rate as high as a 3500 leaf pack. The piston is just too small.
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I am also no expert, but I partially disagree, with the spring not having much to do with it.
I agree the shock valving needs to be designed for the spring rate, otherwise you get overdamped (the spring isn’t able to be springy enough and the ride feels harsh) or underdamped(the shock isn’t doing enough work to stop the springs oscillation). I will admit to not knowing much about actually tuning the shock for performance thru the stroke (compression, rebound, shims, bypasses, etc…I’m still learning)
Springs DO make a big difference on ride quality though, too stiff and you only end up using a smaller range of travel and the ride isn’t smooth. Most trucks are over-sprung because they are designed to not bottom out with full payload, most trucks ride much smoother with extra weight in the bed. Too soft a spring and you use too much suspension travel on smaller bumps and bottom easily out on bigger ones. The Carli and thuren Rear springs are softer than oem, but longer, so you get more travel on smaller bumps but still have enough travel so you aren’t constantly bottoming out. Ideally , the spring is just stiff enough to support the weight and not bottom out.
 
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