3/8/22- Updated- Ironman Foam Cell Pro Review

Updated 3/3/22-
I swapped out the springs from the 827# “B” springs to the 720# “A” springs.
At first, I matched wrong and had them set at like 3.5” lift which is way to much. The ride was probably a little worse than before. At this height, the front had a weird rebound after going over speed humps.
I dropped the height but about .5” on the coils, and the ride ended up a lot less stiff but still had the weird bounce after speed humps. Went down another .25 then another .25.” I’ve had time to drive around with the latest and it rides great. Don’t get me wrong, the ride was never bad, I just had higher expectations. Once the truck settles more after another week or 100 miles, I’ll measure the current height. Since the last review, I’ve also added Sumo spring front bump stops, RRW sliders and a Cali raised front engine skid. The truck is riding great now!


Edited on 7/19/21-
Wanted to add some updated information. I’ve had the lift on almost a year and have gotten to take it off road at AOAA in PA and Assateague Island for beach driving in MD.

Since my initial install, I’ve added SPC UCAs, ubolt flip kit with Timbren Active off road (rear) bump stops, SCS BR6 wheels and 255/85/16 Cooper ST Maxx tires. I also lowered the lift from 3” to about 2.5”. The struts were still on when I lowered the spring seat height.
Having the E rated tires, SPC ICA and 3” lift, the ride was too harsh for my (and more importantly my wife’s) liking. Lowering the lift from 3” to about 2.5” along with going to 32psi in the tires made a world of difference.
Two issues I had so far. One was squeaking from the rear end but I’m not sure if that was from the leafs or the spare tire. I could not duplicate it unless I was driving. Bouncing it while parked would not reproduce it. I sprayed Woolwax in between the leafs and also tightened the spare and it’s been quite since. Second issue was vibrations at various high speeds above 47mph. I played around with the carrier bearing drop and 3° axle shims. Eventually I took the axle shims out, and added washers on the cb until I got a near in line drive shaft. Most drives there a little to open vibrations.

Driving on the beach, this was fun! While the ride was still bumpy from ruts it was still comfortable. Not harsh or jarring. I rode in my brothers F150 on the beach and the Tacoma ride felt much better (not a great comparison).
The off-roading at AOAA included gravel and rough terrain. The ride felt great the entire way and I have nothing bad to say about it.
Not sure if this is a good or bad thing, but at one point my rear right wheel/tire was a bit off the ground from how I was going around a switchback. I could not tell, the trail jeep saw it and told me after.

Overall I’m still impressed with the kit and the improvements over the stock suspension.




——-Original Review Below———-
After putting some miles on my truck with the Ironman Foam Cell Pro stage 1 kit, with performance load. When I bought mine they only had performance and constant. The now offer both of those in either 2.5” and 3” lift. The 2.5” will have a comfort spring with a rate of 720(lbf/in) and the 3” has a spring rate of 827(lbf/in) per the site. I wanted to give a review. This kit does not have a huge presence in TacomaWorld but does have a pretty large following for other makes and models. I’ve not been able to test this kit off road yet but I will update this when I can. I have driven around roads in MD and PA, so that should count, if you know what I mean.

The first question I’m sure some of you want to know, I got 3” in the front and 2” in the rear. Checked after a few weeks of install. More on setting later.

Ok, getting to it. The Foam Cell Pro kit uses foam in place of nitrogen for pressure. What’s this mean? Well, you have neutral pressure in the shocks and struts. They also offer a nitrogen kit. I bought mine when it was on sale with the coils unbuilt. The kit included springs, struts, shocks, full leaf packs, sway bar spacers, carrier bearing spacer, bushings for leaf ends only and new ubolts and nut. You’ll need to either buy top hats from them or Amazon, like I did. They also sent me some swag. During shipping UPS lost one of the leaf packs and after once I contacted Ironman the sent a replacement.

Installation was pretty straight forward, once the coils were built. If you plan on having a shop built them or building them yourself, make sure you have the right tools. The spring compressors you can rent from AutoZone and Advance Auto did not work for me. The strut body is too big to allow clearance of the rental compressor “fingers.” I also tried using the truck as the compressor but that didn’t work out for me either.
Once that huddle was done the rest of the install was straight forward.

If you didn’t look at my info above, I have a 2020 TRD Off Road. When I measured the truck (center of hub to fender)before install, with a full tank of gas I was at
drivers side front 20.5,
passengers side front 20.75,
drivers and passenger rear at 22”.
I measured 3 times since it was less than most others at stock height. As of today, I’m at
Drivers side front 23.5”
Passengers side front 23.40”
Rear 24”

Setting up the struts I set the drivers side height to 8.87” and the passengers to 8.75” to account for the taco lean. I measured from center bolt hole to bottom of the spring perch, not where the bottom of the spring is, like I should have. I originally wanted to lift my truck 2.5”.
I checked full droop and extension stopped before stock UCA hit the spring.

The ride-
Overall, like most kits it outperforms the stock kit. I have the same wheels and tires so they are not a factor.
The truck feels more planted and the front would only dip on a hard stop. Even then it was minimal. Going over bumps and pot holes the suspension smooths out the bumps. At highway speed, the truck rides pretty smooth and if you hit a pot hole the truck does not bounce around and move to the side of the hole, like the oem suspension did. I’ve not noticed any jarring feeling with this kit and so far have not been disappointed. MD and PA roads are known for being pretty terrible and the truck rides much better on those than it did before. Does not feel like I’m being thrown around if I have to hit really bad spots.

I’ve done my retorques and nothing was loose, also applied torque stripe. Got an alignment done as well. I also got lucky and didn’t have any new vibration issues after the lift. I did not install the carrier bearing spacer. I did install the sway bar spacer. I also changed out the needle bearing with the ECGS bushing.

I’m hoping to get it off-road before winter and will update once I do. I’m happy with my purchase, this kit checked a lot of boxes for me including price, adjustability, full leaf packs and the ability to be rebuilt. Ironman sells rebuild kits on their site so if it does leak I can rebuild it myself and not have to worry about charging it with nitrogen.
A lot of discussion and other reviews can be found in this thread.
—-Edited to add a few more pics.

https://youtu.be/-SVdpXYdrUM

https://youtu.be/V0HXi1mafXU

https://youtu.be/OlA3b2yVBpg







Initial alignment with OEM UCAs

3” bottom vs 2.5” top












Alignment with SPC UCA with nut at mid and setting “C”

 

Very nice write up!

 

Thanks, I thought it might be helpful to have a review thread rather than the 40+ pages it the other one.

 

Agreed! Nice detailed review and info.

 

That caster is no bueno. You need UCA's. Got any pics of the CV angles?

 

Thanks, that’s good to know. UCAs are on my radar to get but I can always lower the front some till then. I’ll grab a pic tomorrow and post it here.
The next things I was gonna get were 255/85/16s to go on a set of BR6s I recently got.

 

Definitely not gonna kill you, but more caster will handle better

 

So far the handling has been pretty good and I’ve not noticed anything that felt off. I would like to get UCAs still.
Grabbed pics of the cvs- the one cv has Woolwax overspray on it, not grease.

Edited to move pictures to my first post.

 

Looks like your boot fins are rubbing on the diff side. That can wear holes in them and then eject all the grease. From what I've read most folks try to stay under 23" hub to fender to keep them from rubbing, which is why I was curious what your CV angles looked like. You can do a mod to extend your CV boots out with a hose clamp to try alleviate that, or get aftermarket CV boots. Or you can leave it and see if you have any issues down the road. Looks good, but that is a hazard with the stock CV's. That's why I'm rocking 22.5" hub to fender

 

I’ll need to check out that mod. I’be seen the red boot cvs but not ready for that yet. Might be easiest to drop half an inch. I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks for those tips too.

 

You notice any drive shaft, or any other vibrations?

 

Nothing new. Before I put the lift on I’d have slight rumble strip type vibrations during braking but it’s been less noticeable after putting the lift on.
With things as they are I never brought it to the dealer to look at either. From what I’d read that would have been hit or miss anyway.

 

Updated review and added new pics and video.

 

Nice write up!

My question... the Ironman website has options of 2.5" or 3" lift. Is the 3" adjustable??? I noticed you were able to drop yours a bit. Is that the ability of the adjustable shock set up or did you have to remove spacers?
Thanks

 

Thanks! I don’t think they make a non adjustable for cell, I think it’s just the preset for the assembled ones. I had asked shortly after they offered them and if I remember right that’s what they told me. There is a difference between the performance and constant load springs though.
The nitro set they offer are not adjustable.

 

Check out this post I made on the “main” IM tread, it might be helpful. All the FCP struts are adjustable, it’s the spring rates that are different.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ironman-4x4-foam-cell-pro.427407/page-82#post-26020053

 

Did you ever figure out the vibration issues? I have a set ordered but it seems like it’s pretty common to get vibes and squeaks.

 

I did, well mostly. I think the vibes left over are just from the truck. I only have slight vibes occasionally at 57 or so mph.
Get yourself a digital gauge and measure your angles before adding the lift then see if you can get it similar. I didn’t but maybe it would have helped.
I tried 3° shims and had constant vibes at different speeds while adjusting washers on the carrier bearing. I eventually removed them and only worked on adding stainless steel fender washers until the angle of the drive shaft was about .01-.03 difference. I think it ended with 10-12 washers each side. That carrier bearing can also move slightly left or right so you might want to mark that as well… I also didn’t do or know about that at first lol.
Are you going to replace the needle bearing with ECGS bushing?

 

I hadn't planned on it just yet since I plan on setting my FCP's to a lower setting. Currently ordered 2.5" and might bring it down after it settles a little. I mean, I'm still waiting for them to be delivered, but I'm trying to cover my basis so the install goes smoothly. ECGS necessary right off the bat?

 

That’s not a bad idea. At 2.5 you’ll probably be in a good spot. I had done the bushing swap when I did the kit. Not needed all the time more so just for peace of mind.