Icon or Carli

[Trak350]

I have an 09 F350 SRW and want to level it with suspension upgrades. I have been looking at the Icon and Carli suspension systems and am obviously .ooking for the best price. I do like the Icon stage 2 kit but can't help but thing the King shocks on the Carli rain supreme. My issue with the Carli is the lack of rear shocks and the "need" for new blocks and rear leafs. Anyway vendors let me know what you can do for pricing and forum enthusiasts let ,e know your opinions on these systems, thanks to everyone!

[Gearhead2012]

I will say, customer service direct from icon and carly both are great. I emailed carly back and forth some, got a response usually the same day, i emailed icon last week, got a phone call 15 minutes later...both are great in that regaurd, just for reference sake.

[Gage2502]

Originally Posted by Gearhead2012

I will say, customer service direct from icon and carly both are great. I emailed carly back and forth some, got a response usually the same day, i emailed icon last week, got a phone call 15 minutes later...both are great in that regaurd, just for reference sake.

Well I cant speak for Carli, but....When I was looking for a lift kit for my 2005 Super Duty I emailed Icon and I still never herd back from them. So I did not go with Icon.
Its been almost 2 years and Im still waiting for Icon to email me back.

[Skyd Ram]

Originally Posted by Trak350

I have an 09 F350 SRW and want to level it with suspension upgrades. I have been looking at the Icon and Carli suspension systems and am obviously .ooking for the best price. I do like the Icon stage 2 kit but can't help but thing the King shocks on the Carli rain supreme. My issue with the Carli is the lack of rear shocks and the "need" for new blocks and rear leafs. Anyway vendors let me know what you can do for pricing and forum enthusiasts let ,e know your opinions on these systems, thanks to everyone!

Only one of the Carli 2.5" systems (Leveling System) does not include rear shocks nor any form of rear lift. They offer that as an entry level setup for the front that you can add on to in the future. All of the other 2.5" kits from the Starter Kit up to the King 2.5" Pintop kits include rear shocks and mini packs. The only guys that would need new blocks are the F350 customers as they would need to replace them with F250 blocks. Customers with F250's wouldn't need anything extra.

And you are correct that the King 2.5's with Carli's proprietary piston and valving can't be beat.

[Trak350]

Gearhead and Gage what systems do you run and how do you like them?

[Trak350]

Originally Posted by Skyd Ram

Only one of the Carli 2.5" systems (Leveling System) does not include rear shocks nor any form of rear lift. They offer that as an entry level setup for the front that you can add on to in the future. All of the other 2.5" kits from the Starter Kit up to the King 2.5" Pintop kits include rear shocks and mini packs. The only guys that would need new blocks are the F350 customers as they would need to replace them with F250 blocks. Customers with F250's wouldn't need anything extra.

And you are correct that the King 2.5's with Carli's proprietary piston and valving can't be beat.

Skyd Ram I wasn't sure if purchasing 2 king piggybacks and 2 king shocks (rear) with Carli leveling springs, track bar, brake bracket, and cam bolts,would be cheaper? I am new to the power stroke suspension game but don't see why new leaf packs would be necessary?

[CT Performance, Inc.]

I'd look at either Pures or Icons 4 link kits and their shocks..will ride better than using a kit with stock radius arms.

If I can help please PM.

[Skyd Ram]

Originally Posted by Trak350

Skyd Ram I wasn't sure if purchasing 2 king piggybacks and 2 king shocks (rear) with Carli leveling springs, track bar, brake bracket, and cam bolts,would be cheaper? I am new to the power stroke suspension game but don't see why new leaf packs would be necessary?

The King rears are Piggy backs and the Carli King 2.5 fronts are remote reservoir. Carli doesn't have a piggyback front setup and there is no advantage or major price difference for that. They run the Piggybacks in thre rear as it is easier than trying to mount a remote resi back there.

As far as pricing the kits prices come to about the same price as if you bought all of the parts seperately. What you just described is basically a Pintop 2.5 kit minus the add a packs. This would have the rear sit a bit lower and the ride improvement in the rear would far less.

The 6 leaf mini pack replaces the overly stiff 3/4" thick single overload leaf with a multileaf progressive setup. This improves the ride, offers some lift, and helps to control wheel hop. In your case it also allows/requires you to run a shorter block which further helps to control wheel hop.

[OCVeloMan]

Originally Posted by Skyd Ram

Only one of the Carli 2.5" systems (Leveling System) does not include rear shocks nor any form of rear lift. They offer that as an entry level setup for the front that you can add on to in the future. All of the other 2.5" kits from the Starter Kit up to the King 2.5" Pintop kits include rear shocks and mini packs. The only guys that would need new blocks are the F350 customers as they would need to replace them with F250 blocks. Customers with F250's wouldn't need anything extra.

And you are correct that the King 2.5's with Carli's proprietary piston and valving can't be beat.

We're confusing with our blocks because there are SO many different combos one could run. With the leveling kit (no rear included) F250 customers need to run the f350 block as the 2.5" of front lift is 1" more than needed to level an f250 as they're normally only rakes 1.5". The addition of the f350 block puts the rear right where it needs to be.

As stated above, the f250 block will need to be used by f350 owners if the add-a-pack will be utilized with the any or the leveling systems. If an f350 owner wants just the leveling kit, then no rear block is needed and rear shocks can be added to the leveling kit for $170.00.

Originally Posted by Trak350

Skyd Ram I wasn't sure if purchasing 2 king piggybacks and 2 king shocks (rear) with Carli leveling springs, track bar, brake bracket, and cam bolts,would be cheaper? I am new to the power stroke suspension game but don't see why new leaf packs would be necessary?

They are add-a-packs, not to be confused with full progressive leaf springs. The add-a-packs maintains one's ability to haul up to factory payload without sacrificing load capacity while smoothing out the ride of the factory springs by means of removing the factory upper and lower overloads in favor of installing a progressively engaging "mid-pack" to support the springs.

Why do we do this? All of our systems are made to be functional and increase ride quality. The stock leafs are a HUGE hindrance on the ride of the truck; thus we figured out a way to maintain stock support and only use as much spring rate as necessary for a given load resulting in a substantially better ride.

Next; are they needed? No, nothing about any aftermarket suspension is needed. People come to us as they need the capability of a 3/4-1 ton truck but hate the ride. This is a problem we're in the business of correcting and we put together kits to accomplish this task. As for constraints, we can put a kit together to accomplish anything you're out to accomplish (subtract rear add-a-packs, do a leveling kit with Kings and no rear, etc...); however, these are tweaked on a case by case basis. Hope this helps!

[Trak350]

Guys, I appreciate all the feed back, and like most have alot to consider.