A trip out to the Los Angeles just wouldn't be complete without stopping by ICON Vehicle Dynamics out in Riverside. ICON had invited us out for a tour many moons ago, and we finally squeezed in some time to swing by and get a first-hand look at their assembly and testing facilities. While we've been a little disappointed with some of the backorders and delays for some of the ICON products that we know and love for our beloved F150s, SVT Raptors, and Super Dutys, it's not for lack of trying. ICON's popularity and, by extension, the demand for their awesome and high-quality suspension parts has absolutely exploded over the last year. While there's been a few struggles, ICON is winning the war, and they're churning out suspension hardware at a masterful pace.
Upon arriving, Dylan and Bill were first greeted by ICON's SVT Raptor and 6.0L Powerstroke show trucks, each with a full wrap and a full set of ICON suspension hardware. The leader of our tour was Brad Myers, ICON's sales and marketing manager.
Out front, ICON had an older F150 equipped with one of their 3" coilover kits and fitted with 35" tires.
ICON's facility is jam-packed with completed components awaiting final assembly. Shelves and shelves with all sorts of hardware ranging from o-rings to coilover mounts, to whatever else.
ICON machines and fabricates a huge percentage of their parts on-site on their machining floor before sending it over for welding and final assembly.
After being welded together or assembled, ICON's performance suspension parts get put on a pallet and sent off for powder coating or IVD coating. There was a ton of gear waiting for coating.
ICON's biggest and fastest-growing segment is for Toyota Tacomas and Tundras, and these Tacoma control arms were waiting for for coating before being shipped out. The boxes of tubing next to them were how they actually began their lives.
ICON had rows of machined steel that was waiting for welding or final assembly into other components.
Most of the production and machining had left for the day by the time Dylan and Bill arrived over at ICON, but a couple of their welders were there putting product together.
Once ICON's parts are back from coating, they're packaged or kitted up for shipping out. Here's some more control arms followed by track bars.
Next, Brad led us over to ICON's shock assembly area where the shock bodies, piston and rod assemblies, reservoirs, and internal components are all put together.
A lot goes in to an ICON shock. The shocks have 29 O-rings a piece, on top of everything else they need to be some of the most reliable and high-performance dampers out there.
With the components laid out, ICON's techs put the shocks and reservoirs together at a surprising pace.
When the shocks and reservoirs are done being assembled, they're sent over to be kitted up and shipped out.
On top of the machining, welding, and assembly, ICON's facility also has a full testing area where they double-check fitment and performance for all of their potential suspension applications.
While browsing around, we caught our first glimpse of Nitto's just-released EXO Grappler All-Weather Light Truck Tires out in the wild, which will be on Stage 3's website here very soon.
With that, our tour was complete. We want to thank Brad and everyone else over at ICON for letting us wander around and gawk at all their stuff. We had a great time!
