FOA vs. SAW Race Runner

Ok, before you think I'm a nut, hear me out.

It's time to buy some shocks for the back of the XJ. There's a guy in Vegas selling a set of used 2.5 threaded body 16" sway-a-ways. They were on his ranger for about a year, then sat. He says they're in good condition, just faded and dirty. The shafts are in good shape and no dings in the bodies or resi's. From looking at the picture it looks like one might be leaky, I'm not sure, but to be safe I'm figuring I'll end up rebuilding them both. He wants $400 which is a hella good deal.





Now, do I do that? Or do I look into FOA's new Piggy Back 2.5? The piggy back has nothing that has been a problem for FOA. From reading it seems as though FOA has fixed their leaking issues. The only other complaint was the cast end caps, where the piggyback has in stock form, a billet cap on both ends with replaceable heims. Therefore the two major issues with FOA are null and void here. I can pick up two FOA piggybacks for around the same price as the SAW's, without having to rebuild them. And when it comes down to it, the FOA's are internally identical to a king prerunner shock.




So what do I do? What would YOU do? I wanna hear you guys bounce ideas off each other on this. That blingy ass new shock is awfully tempting.

Why does the one shaft look like its possibly hammered? It looks more than just leakage. The SAW would be way better.

FordGuy said:

Why does the one shaft look like its possibly hammered? It looks more than just leakage. The SAW would be way better.

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I'm not sure? He says they're both in good shape, I dunno, he's in vegas and I can't go check them out in person.

If the shafts are good, I am sure you can have new seals and valving for 100.00 a shock.

Or, these are for sale as well for $400.











Also 16" smooth bodies, I'm assuming they're the prerunner version not the race, although I'm not sure how to tell...

Give him $300.00 and send them to King. I believe I paid $25.00 or $50.00 for the shock valving. 2 day turn around and they are local.

Or..........Saw these on RDC 16 twin tube

WTF RDC hasn't updated for me since Jul 6th. Link rich?

edit: NVM found them, out of my price range haha.

Stay A Way or FOA,not.Foxes or Kings maybe Bilstein are the only way to go.

V84BAJA said:

Stay A Way or FOA,not.Foxes or Kings maybe Bilstein are the only way to go.

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Haha so you say neither? I've heard nothing but good from SAW? I plan on running SAW 12" coilovers up front, since they're shorter bodied. I'm eagerly awaiting your reply on those kings btw

I'll get ya an answer on the Kings shortly.I'd run the same shock all around if you are going to run the SAW coilovers.

V84BAJA said:

I'll get ya an answer on the Kings shortly.I'd run the same shock all around if you are going to run the SAW coilovers.

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+1 on that... keep the same brand on all 4 corners. That way if you have any valving/tech support issues you can get anwers for all 4 from the same company.

I'd sell a kidney or something and get some King's. Just my opinion...

i have no experience with any of these exact shocks but i do have the FOA 18" remote resi's and i loved them untill they started leaking, both of them. FOA fixed em for free and was willing to do so outside of the warranty period. They perform flawlessly now. After the leak issues i was wishing i had the piggybacks.

V84BAJA said:

I'll get ya an answer on the Kings shortly.I'd run the same shock all around if you are going to run the SAW coilovers.

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J Money said:

+1 on that... keep the same brand on all 4 corners. That way if you have any valving/tech support issues you can get anwers for all 4 from the same company.

I'd sell a kidney or something and get some King's. Just my opinion...

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Eh, keeping the same brand on front and rear isn't super important to me, I'll run what works. I'm kinda forced into the SAW's up front, but that doesn't rule out other brands for me in the rear. As for valving and tech support, it'll probably be help from someone other than the company.

Mike1331 said:

i have no experience with any of these exact shocks but i do have the FOA 18" remote resi's and i loved them untill they started leaking, both of them. FOA fixed em for free and was willing to do so outside of the warranty period. They perform flawlessly now. After the leak issues i was wishing i had the piggybacks.

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That's one thing I've heard is 100% with FOA is their customer service. Not saying that excuses the leaking issue, but it seems to be fixed now.

I know a lot of people that have had great luck with SAW, but it does seem that valving is much easier with King than SAW, plus they are quick fast turn around unless you want valving before the 1000. Why are you forced to run SAW up front?

Yeah they do have great custimer service, I was a dick about the issue at first becuase my fairly new shocks were leaking. But they quickly made me feel a little bad about it after they killed me with kindness.

FordGuy said:

I know a lot of people that have had great luck with SAW, but it does seem that valving is much easier with King than SAW, plus they are quick fast turn around unless you want valving before the 1000. Why are you forced to run SAW up front?

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Good to know King is local to valve, I know a guy who can valve the SAW's all day long but he's kind of a douche, so who knows if he'll still be willing to help. As for the C/O's up front, SAW's are about an inch to an inch and a half shorter eye to eye than any other coilover. I'm already going to have issues stuffing a 12" C/O up front I think, we'll have to see how I can design my hoops.

Mike1331 said:

Yeah they do have great custimer service, I was a dick about the issue at first becuase my fairly new shocks were leaking. But they quickly made me feel a little bad about it after they killed me with kindness.

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Well it's understandble really, I'd be pissed if I had a new shock that started leaking as well.

The SAW just uses a short can. You just call king they remove the internal 1 inch spacer and use a custom can. No-Biggie!!!!!

Anything for Crazy Jim!

FordGuy said:

The SAW just use a short can. You just call king they remove the internal 1 inch spacer and use a customer can. No-Biggie!!!!!

Anything for Crazy Jim!

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Hahaha and the right amount of $$$!!!

What No bypasses? I was quoted $550 a shock for 2.5 triple bypasses from King. How cool would that be. I would save a little more and do it big.

crazyjim said:

Good to know King is local to valve, I know a guy who can valve the SAW's all day long but he's kind of a douche, so who knows if he'll still be willing to help. As for the C/O's up front, SAW's are about an inch to an inch and a half shorter eye to eye than any other coilover. I'm already going to have issues stuffing a 12" C/O up front I think, we'll have to see how I can design my hoops.



Well it's understandble really, I'd be pissed if I had a new shock that started leaking as well.

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My SAWS are very easy to re-valve, the shims are readily available and I'm sure you could do it all yourself with no hangups, just need the spanner wrench and some aluminum vice blocks. The guys at SAW have been very helpful, I had a stuck cap on one of the shocks when I converted my piggybacks to remote, I called and spoke with Brian Bell for quite a while with jeepspeed specific valving questions etc, he went above and beyond. They also broke the cap loose, replaced it as it was a destructive removal technique, and sent them back to me for free, even though I did not get the shocks from them. In my opinion SAW, King, Fox...I have not had any experiences with the FOAs but they seem to be a viable option, you may want to ask shock pros or an unbiased source of info from the guys that tune/refurbish shocks all day.