The Icon 4.5-inch lift kit...
The Icon 4.5-inch lift kit supplies everything that is necessary to give the Super Duty some much-needed air.
The Super Duty pickup is a beast that looks great lifted, and that extra space will not only allow for larger wheels and tires, but will give the four-wheel-drive truck the ability to easily traverse large rocks and deep gullies.
The owner of this ’07 Ford F-250 Super Duty is a horse rider, and as such, pulls a loaded horse trailer. Due to the fact that horse trailers are low to the ground, he wanted to lift his truck, but not to the extreme. That is why he chose to go with the Icon 4.5-inch lift kit. The Icon kit will give him the look and height he’s shooting for without having a problem with the trailer. Sure, there are hitches with huge drops, but he didn’t want to use one any longer than he had to. That is why the 4.5-inch Icon kit would be perfect for his truck and his needs.
Though the Icon brand may be a new company in terms of time in business, they have years of experience with suspension (both race and lift kits) in that they have taken over for the now defunct Donahoe Racing. What remains is the race-bred knowledge on suspension and suspension-design techniques.
The Icon kit that will be installed here is the 4.5-inch lift kit. Ford saw fit (and bless them for it) to finally equip their four-wheel-drive trucks with coil springs rather than the old leaf spring pack. In addition to the various drop brackets, the Icon kit replaces the stock coil springs with longer, and more importantly, progressive-rate springs. A progressive-rate spring will provide a softer ride during the initial few inches of travel, and then will stiffen up as the suspension progresses through its arc. Those springs have been matched with Icon 2.5 shocks, which have been valved specifically for the big Ford to give the Super Duty the best ride possible both on- and off-road.
The install was completed at Icon’s Corona, California, headquarters and as the Icon crew are experts, they got the job done in quick order. But this is not a real difficult task, and your local shop should be able to have the Icon kit installed in about 4 hours.
So follow along as this big Ford gets even bigger, and a lot better, all at the same time.
Before | 
After |  The front end of the F-250...  The front end of the F-250 features a straight axle, but uses coil springs rather than the usual leaf spring package normally found on a big diesel. The upside is that the handling is years ahead of the average truck and this setup also makes the Icon package relatively easy to install. Notice that the wheels are off and the truck is up on sturdy jackstands. A hydraulic jack was also later placed beneath the axlehousing. This is a big, heavy truck, and safety mandates must be taken when supporting it. |
 With the brake line brackets...  With the brake line brackets loose and the ABS connections pulled, the pivot bolts of the radius arms were removed and a prybar was used to remove the arms from the stock bracket. Note that the Icon crew only removed one side at a time. This kept the front axle stable during the install. |  Though not in the instruction...  Though not in the instruction manual, the Icon crew has discovered that grinding the rear corner of the gusset (found on the upper edge of the radius arm) will keep it from rubbing the new Icon bracket. |  It didn’t take much grinding...  It didn’t take much grinding to make enough room to clear the two pieces during operation. |
 The radius arm drop-down bracket...  The radius arm drop-down bracket was slid into place and the bolts were tightened. |  To provide plenty of strength,...  To provide plenty of strength, another mounting bolt was utilized at the rear of the bracket. Note that the hardware was only tightened “finger tight” at this time because it is easier to get the rest of the pieces to line up if they are left slightly loose. |  A prybar was used to get the...  A prybar was used to get the radius arm lined up with the drop-down bracket. |
 With the pivot bolts in place,...  With the pivot bolts in place, the mounting hardware for the drop-down bracket was tightened up using a pneumatic gun, but the pivot bolt was left “finger tight” at this time. It was tightened after the job was finished and the truck was on the ground. |  The mounting hardware for...  The mounting hardware for one side of the antisway bar brackets was removed and the other side loosened. |  After positioning the antisway...  After positioning the antisway bar bracket, the hardware was installed. |
 Note that the antisway bar...  Note that the antisway bar bracket is offset, and it is placed toward the front of the vehicle. |  Even though the upper brake...  Even though the upper brake line bracket had been taken off, removing the lower bracket was necessary in order to get the spring off. |  With the shocks removed, the...  With the shocks removed, the jack was lowered until the front end was at full droop. |
 At full droop (though the...  At full droop (though the front end was still supported by the hydraulic jack), the springs were easily removed. | | |