Fox 2.0 Coilovers - Answer from Fox!!

nando87 · January 14, 2016

I've been looking into buying a set of Fox 2.0 coilovers but have been reading mixed reviews on the steel vs alum. debate and what shock is what.

I spoke with Fox today and got an answer as to why they offer two different sets and the difference between the alum. and steel suspension.

Fox stated that on the Aluminum control arm trucks there is a "tab" of some sort that is hidden inside of the box where the control arms bolt in that limit the actual travel of the arm. They said that its hard to see when just looking for it however if you remove the tire and loosen the UCA from the spindle and move the UCA up and down you'll see where the travel is interrupted (not the bump stop, I asked).

Apparently this is not the case with the Steel arms, that if you have both side by side the steel UCA has more travel. Not saying the suspension has more travel but just the arm does when loose.

When putting the Coilover for the Steel arms onto an alum. truck you can't get the proper lift or ride because of the limit of travel on the alum. UCA.

The Coilover for the Alum. arm is the Exact same as the steel however there is a spacer that located in the shock to compress it and make it a "shorter" shock to work with the aluminum arms. However when using this shorter shock you'll never get the lift or proper travel the shock was intended for.

What they said is that you could Cut that piece off to no longer limit the travel of the UCA and use the Steel Coilover to gain the wanted lift and travel, however GM designed the alum. to have limited travel for a reason and that they are not held responsible for any ball joint issues down the road.

Hopefully this helps everyone out and clears up some of the frustrations.

I'll be purchasing the 2.0's soon!

Travis Whitmore · January 14, 2016

Sounds like bs. I wonder if they're referring to the droop stops on the upper arms which are on steel arm trucks too.

I sold my new Fox set up and lost my ass just because I didn't want to deal with it anymore. King, Camburg, Bilstein and others sell one shock or coilover for both trucks. Camburg told me the only difference is when you use their control arms because the aluminum spindle trucks have larger ball joints.

Who knows what to believe. All I know is I don't have Fox suspension anymore after driving on them for 5 miles and loosing $500.

nando87 · January 14, 2016

Sounds like bs. I wonder if they're referring to the droop stops on the upper arms which are on steel arm trucks too.

I sold my new Fox set up and lost my ass just because I didn't want to deal with it anymore. King, Camburg, Bilstein and others sell one shock or coilover for both trucks. Camburg told me the only difference is when you use their control arms because the aluminum spindle trucks have larger ball joints.

Who knows what to believe. All I know is I don't have Fox suspension anymore after driving on them for 5 miles and loosing $500.

I asked them specifically about the bump stop, per my post above, and they said it was not the bump they were talking about. He said that if you didn't know what you were looking for you wouldn't see it, but if you move the UCA up and down while it's disconnected you'll notice were the travel is interrupted.

Travis Whitmore · January 14, 2016

I wonder if it's part of the UCA? If so then installing aftermarket UCA's would fix that problem.

nando87 · January 14, 2016

I wonder if it's part of the UCA? If so then installing aftermarket UCA's would fix that problem.

It could be part of it, he did say that if you do install aftermarket UCA it does fix the issue and you would then only run the Steel Coilovers.

I assumed that the piece they are talking about is cleared by the new size/diameter of aftermarket UCA's.

Travis Whitmore · January 14, 2016

The other thing is the Fox 2.0's are different length for steel and aluminum arms. My issue was they only gave me 1/2" of lift on my truck.

nando87 · January 14, 2016

The other thing is the Fox 2.0's are different length for steel and aluminum arms. My issue was they only gave me 1/2" of lift on my truck.

I also addressed this in my original post LOL

They are actually the exact same size, there is a spacer that collapses the shock making it shorter. You can remove it from the shock and it will be the exact same as the steel part number.

The limited UCA movement is why they had to "shorten" the shock to limit the lift and travel, as sated in my original post. This is why it only gave you 1/2" of lift, you'll never get the full 2" of lift out of them because of the UCA travel unless you remove the tab.

Travis Whitmore · January 14, 2016

But they are different overall.

Had to look back to find the specs but here they are:

Technical Details

FOX983-02-086

Fox 2.0 Performance Series Smooth Body IFP Shock

Aluminum

Extended 21.95 inch

Collapsed 13.85 inch

Stroke 8.1 inch

Technical Details

FOX985-02-018

Fox 2.0 Performance Series Coil-Over IFP Shock

Aluminum

Extended 18.960 in.

Collapsed 14.890 in.

Stroke 4.070 in.

nando87 · January 15, 2016

But they are different overall.

Had to look back to find the specs but here they are:

Technical Details

FOX983-02-086

Fox 2.0 Performance Series Smooth Body IFP Shock

Aluminum

Extended 21.95 inch

Collapsed 13.85 inch

Stroke 8.1 inch

Technical Details

FOX985-02-018

Fox 2.0 Performance Series Coil-Over IFP Shock

Aluminum

Extended 18.960 in.

Collapsed 14.890 in.

Stroke 4.070 in.

Again, please don't think I'm being rude but I addressed this all in my post.

The shocks are the exact same, there is a spacer inside of the steel shock that makes the shock shorter. You can actually take that spacer out of the alum. shock and end up with the same size as the steel shock, they are the same.

They have two different part numbers, essentially one with a spacer (for alum. trucks) and another full size without the spacer (for steel trucks).

Travis Whitmore · January 15, 2016

Then they're the only ones that do it. Pretty sure even the stock ranchos are the exact same part for all the trucks. Believe me, I went through all this. Mucho time spent on the phone with them just before the holidays. They never seemed able to explain to me why the assembly was shorter for aluminum trucks and their solution was to add more pre load to mine to get "close" to the advertised lift.

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nando87 · January 15, 2016

Then they're the only ones that do it. Pretty sure even the stock ranchos are the exact same part for all the trucks. Believe me, I went through all this. Mucho time spent on the phone with them just before the holidays. They never seemed able to explain to me why the assembly was shorter for aluminum trucks and their solution was to add more pre load to mine to get "close" to the advertised lift.

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Yes, the ranchos are the same size... why??... because they are meant to be at stock height, why would they have different part number when they don't need it due to stock height. Those shocks will never give you the travel to run into any issues with the limitations of the stock Alum. UCA.

When you buy aftermarket coilovers you run into the issue because you are trying to lift the truck with them and that's when the issue comes in with the UCA.

Travis Whitmore · January 15, 2016

They should disclose that up front that for aluminum arm trucks you won't achieve lift then and they should train their technical department so the can explain it to unhappy customers who just dropped $1000 on their parts.

The interesting thing is they are the only ones I've heard this from. From what I know King and others sell the same part for both trucks. Camburg told me the only difference is the size of ball joints they run.

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oscyjack · January 20, 2016

Teedub, I understand your frustration but it's not only Fox'st fault, it's also GM's and also yours for not verifying the values of what you were purchasing. The real issue is the fact that you are left with aluminum control arms that limit your choices significantly. If you look at any major suspension company, they have different part numbers based on Alum or Steel CA's.

The 5100's and other level kits are unspecific because they are not increasing/reducing overall travel beyond stock parameters (sometimes fractionally greater travel), also Bilstein 5100's are limited to 1.8" of overall lift, because they only want to manufacture one component that serves all. Being set at 1.8" max means it works within the parameters of both suspension geometries. Get it?

The fact is, Fox says the 2.0 for your truck is able to be set between 0-2" of lift, and no where on FOX's website does it say the lift it comes with pre-set, you'll find that info right or wrong on vendors sites. Fox sold you what you bought, and raising ,5" is within the range of 0-2". Adjusting the preload would indeed allow you to gain up to 2" of lift (or thereabouts). I understand it's a tough nut to swallow, but it's GM's fault because on certain trucks they came up with a new suspension geometry that is different from the 07.5-current. Steel arm trucks are lucky they don't have to worry about anything at all.

I will be purchasing Fox 2,0 all around for my steel armed truck next week and will report back on what I see/feel. End of the day, trade in for a steel armed truck!

Travis Whitmore · January 21, 2016

Not true, but ok. Just ordered Cognito UCA's and 5100's today. To repeat, for what feels like the 100th time, Cognito insists there is absolutely no geometry difference, both aluminum and steel arms are functionally identical. The only difference is the size of the ball joint taper is larger on the aluminum spindle/arm trucks.

Also, I'm not a fool and you also have no idea of the back and forth conversations I've had with Fox trying to figure this all out. Sent them photos, measurements and they were baffled as to why I didn't get the advertised 2" of lift out of the box. I'd mentioned there were others here that had the same issue. After a couple of weeks they even told another member here they were "aware of the issue and working on a fix".

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