Greg@RME
Adventurer
About a year ago I was able to visit Teraflex in West Jordan, UT and spend a few hours with a couple of their Engineers going into detail about the coming line of Falcon Shocks for trucks. (As of now, not only does the Falcon shock line cover Jeeps, they also offer shocks for the Ford F150, Chevy Silverado 1500, Dodge Ram 1500, Toyota 4Runner and Tacoma. I have heard that other trucks are in the works.) After walking thru the Falcon shock production line, seeing the shim stacks and valve tuning, hearing about how the negative spring stops harsh bottoming out on full extension, the shock bump stop gets rid of harsh bottoming out under full compression and the entire line of very high quality parts that go into building the Falcons, I was impressed.
The next thing we did was take the Falcon shocks Ford F150 Ecoboost truck for a drive.... on the road it's very stable, even predictable when you throw it into a HARD turn. They found a big, empty dirt lot that was ROUGH and proceed to push this this Ford F150 HARD offroad.... and it was incredibly impressive. The truck was stock other than Falcon shocks, Raceline wheels & BFGoodrich KO2 tires. The Falcon shock engineers were hitting rough ruts, pot holes, mud puddles, etc at speeds up 65 MPH and the truck was handling it all with stride, it was totally controlled and planted, resisting hard bottoming out.
The engineers mentioned that during R & D testing, they've broken wheels, blown out tires and the suspension components are surviving without issue. The ride on the road was impressive, offroad was amazing... considering it was a otherwise 'stock' F150, the truck was capable of incredible speeds over ROUGH terrain.
After running Falcon 3.4's on my Jeep, I've been a huge fan of these shocks. They changed my Jeep for the better, on road and off. When we bought a Ford F150 for my wife's DD and my weekend tow rig, I decided we wanted a more stable towing experience, better off-road performance and a better all around ride, the choice was an easy one. We choose the Sport Tow/Haul Leveling system for our needs. I wanted to upsize the tires to 285's and make the truck not look so stock, so we set up the shocks to level the front end. The Tow/Haul shocks have a 3 stage setting, Comfort & Control, Moderate Tow/Haul, and Heavy Tow/Haul settings. Far as technical specs, the Falcons are built as follows;
• 2.25” shock body provides optimal performance
• 6061-T6 aluminum alloy shock body resists wear & protects internal components while providing superior heat dissipation
• Smooth honed internal shock body surface for long-term performance
• Largest shock body that will fit w/out modifications
• 3/4” induction hardened chrome plated shaft resists rock damage & corrosion as well as prevents shaft buckling
• Maximum shaft diameter allows for more precise tuning
• Hard anodized billet piston
Here's photos of the Falcons, the build quality and finish is very high-end! Each box of Falcons comes with a card signed by the guys that built your shocks, in Utah.
The install was pretty straight forward, Teraflex has made a install video that walks the installer thru all the details. I watched the video, then went into the shop to put them on. The front end took a few hours, the rear shocks were easy, even with adding the Falcon bump stop & strike pad. There is also a roost guard for the rear shocks that bolts in place, protecting the shock shaft quite well. Rather than deal with compressing the front coil springs, removing them for the factory shocks and then installing them on the front Falcons, I choose to take them to my local 4x4 shop, Barney Brothers in Grand Junction, CO. I've had them do quite a bit of work for me and I'm always happy with their work.
I test drove the truck last night, but haven't really spent much time with the Falcons on yet. I will say that the truck and it's suspension feel so much more sporty... the truck just begs to be driven hard. The suspension is compliant and allows the truck to work, but it just feels way more planted than stock. We need to put some miles on the truck and eventually get it offroad for a real test and that will come soon enough. I'll be updating this thread as time and miles go on!
The next thing we did was take the Falcon shocks Ford F150 Ecoboost truck for a drive.... on the road it's very stable, even predictable when you throw it into a HARD turn. They found a big, empty dirt lot that was ROUGH and proceed to push this this Ford F150 HARD offroad.... and it was incredibly impressive. The truck was stock other than Falcon shocks, Raceline wheels & BFGoodrich KO2 tires. The Falcon shock engineers were hitting rough ruts, pot holes, mud puddles, etc at speeds up 65 MPH and the truck was handling it all with stride, it was totally controlled and planted, resisting hard bottoming out.
The engineers mentioned that during R & D testing, they've broken wheels, blown out tires and the suspension components are surviving without issue. The ride on the road was impressive, offroad was amazing... considering it was a otherwise 'stock' F150, the truck was capable of incredible speeds over ROUGH terrain.
After running Falcon 3.4's on my Jeep, I've been a huge fan of these shocks. They changed my Jeep for the better, on road and off. When we bought a Ford F150 for my wife's DD and my weekend tow rig, I decided we wanted a more stable towing experience, better off-road performance and a better all around ride, the choice was an easy one. We choose the Sport Tow/Haul Leveling system for our needs. I wanted to upsize the tires to 285's and make the truck not look so stock, so we set up the shocks to level the front end. The Tow/Haul shocks have a 3 stage setting, Comfort & Control, Moderate Tow/Haul, and Heavy Tow/Haul settings. Far as technical specs, the Falcons are built as follows;
• 2.25” shock body provides optimal performance
• 6061-T6 aluminum alloy shock body resists wear & protects internal components while providing superior heat dissipation
• Smooth honed internal shock body surface for long-term performance
• Largest shock body that will fit w/out modifications
• 3/4” induction hardened chrome plated shaft resists rock damage & corrosion as well as prevents shaft buckling
• Maximum shaft diameter allows for more precise tuning
• Hard anodized billet piston
Here's photos of the Falcons, the build quality and finish is very high-end! Each box of Falcons comes with a card signed by the guys that built your shocks, in Utah.
The install was pretty straight forward, Teraflex has made a install video that walks the installer thru all the details. I watched the video, then went into the shop to put them on. The front end took a few hours, the rear shocks were easy, even with adding the Falcon bump stop & strike pad. There is also a roost guard for the rear shocks that bolts in place, protecting the shock shaft quite well. Rather than deal with compressing the front coil springs, removing them for the factory shocks and then installing them on the front Falcons, I choose to take them to my local 4x4 shop, Barney Brothers in Grand Junction, CO. I've had them do quite a bit of work for me and I'm always happy with their work.
I test drove the truck last night, but haven't really spent much time with the Falcons on yet. I will say that the truck and it's suspension feel so much more sporty... the truck just begs to be driven hard. The suspension is compliant and allows the truck to work, but it just feels way more planted than stock. We need to put some miles on the truck and eventually get it offroad for a real test and that will come soon enough. I'll be updating this thread as time and miles go on!
