Kevin McNulty
Former Editor, Mud Life
When the Nissan Titan hit the market in 2004 it was the first fullsize Nissan pickup offered in the U.S. The truck's 5.7L engine and large payload capacity, coupled with Nissan's reliability, made it an instant hit. The Titan is a good tow rig, farm truck, and work truck, and helps get families and off-road enthusiasts into some mild four-wheeling.
The Icon Vehicle Dynamics coilovers, Total Chaos Fabrication A-arms, and KM2 tires gave our '04 Nissan Titan a considerable handling and traction control increase. The larger 21/2-inch coilovers didn't fade from overheating on our high-speed runs, and the truck's new suspension easily absorbed the shock of the bone-jarring trail runs with safe and controllable handling.
As a great all-around truck, the Titan is still just like most vehicles fresh off the assembly line: It needs suspension upgrades for added ground clearance and higher levels of off-highway performance if it's going to see any real trail time.
Icon Vehicle Dynamics has been around the off-road racing industry for years and produces high-quality shocks and suspension components. Through this experience, Icon has gained the knowledge to engineer coilover suspension systems for a number of vehicles, including the Titan.
We spent the day with Icon installing the company's Titan coilover setup and Total Chaos Fabrication's trick upper A-arms, which only took a couple of hours, and then we hit the trail. We also outfitted the truck with BFGoodrich Mud-Terrain KM2 tires, which we have found are excellent off-road tires that provide good traction and durability in the harshest conditions.
Icon offers two versions of the Titan coilover suspension system. One is made for trucks fitted with aftermarket A-arms for extended travel, and the other is for use with the factory A-arms. The extended version gives the coilover an additional 1 inch of downtravel. The coilover is adjustable for 0-3 inches of lift and uses a 21/2-inch body to help prevent overheating, and it's valved specifically for the Titan. The coils are built from high-tensile-strength steel and use a phosphate coating before they are powdercoated for long-lasting durability.
After some abusive trail time and mild rockcrawling, we found that the truck's off-road performance levels had greatly increased over the factory suspension. The Titan had a slightly stiffer but more controllable performance ride with less body roll. We felt more comfortable at speed on loose gravel and rocky trails.
PhotosView Slideshow
