After spending a lot of time with this issue, Here is what I got working
$state.go('stateName',params,{
// prevent the events onStart and onSuccess from firing
notify:false,
// prevent reload of the current state
reload:false,
// replace the last record when changing the params so you don't hit the back button and get old params
location:'replace',
// inherit the current params on the url
inherit:true
});