So you want to put King shocks on a Third Gen Montero...

ChrisCosta416

Well-known member
It's almost done!


Picked up my truck from Total Chaos last week.

I now have the prototype uniball upper control arms installed on my Gen3. These new UCAs will allow for more travel and will not rub on the King Shocks. They are also a Uniball design which means the arms a WAY stronger than the OEM arms. If you are experiencing issues where the upper control arm rubs on the strut due to an excessive amount of lift, these should also help.

The Total Chaos Upper Control arms are not released yet and will be released as soon as I finish driving 500 off-road miles as a test.

Pricing for the arms will be
  • Bushing arm model - $787.20 - Model I will be using
  • Heim arm model - $1,040.00

After all this is said and done if there is enough interest I will inquire to see if I can get a group buy going...

Again the folks at Total Chaos have been fantastic and are all ears if I have any issues with these control arms. So far with nothing but highway driving they feel great and the ride does not feel harsh at all!

Here are some iPhone photos since my Fujfilm mirrorless broke :( - Truck will be headed back to King for final install photos!

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ChrisCosta416

Well-known member
If anyone has questions regarding the shocks, control arms, or just Gen3 suspension you can ping me on the Montero Facebook groups - my name is not actually Chris its Jamie... or ping me on my Montero Instagram page "The_Montero_Collective"!
 

wolfdog

New member
If anyone has questions regarding the shocks, control arms, or just Gen3 suspension you can ping me on the Montero Facebook groups - my name is not actually Chris its Jamie... or ping me on my Montero Instagram page "The_Montero_Collective"!
They look great, have you had a chance to test the amount of increased wheel travel yet. Looking forward to hear how they go off road.

jim
 

offthepath

Adventurer
So I'm looking at kings more seriously and plan to call accutune Friday to get some more info. But man with the control arms being a requirement, it seems the price is really getting up there.

In the interest of cutting costs I'd like some feedback on a few options.

What is the thought on the external compression adjusters? Are they needed or bennificial? I think they may be nice to set the tuning initally, but I'm not sure I'd really mess with them after that. The only time I could see them being really helpful would be in the rear when loaded up and using the air bags. I don't know though?

I'm also wondering if the control arms are needed. I have two options here, either cut and modify the existing control arms or make my own. They don't seems like it would be a huge undertaking to make a set and I'm sure the cost would be under $300. Any idea how much longer the new arms are compared to stock? Any specs on how much more droop they have?

Thanks
 

ChrisCosta416

Well-known member
Hi there,

Regarding contacting accutune, I would first reach out to King to verify the new kit is ready. As far as I know they are still developing the kit. Reach out to brian@kingshocks.com

I think with any high end shocks, compression adjusters are must - they adjusters allow you to stiffen the shock when off-road and soften them on-road. IMO I would spend the extra hundreds to get adjusters.

The Total Chaos control arms are needed as the OEM UCAs do not clear the shock on down travel. The Total Chaos shock also has the benefit of extra down travel and it is much stronger than the OEM unit. I have my old set of clearanced UCA's that I can sell to you and that will clear the shock much better than the stock OEM upper arms but not as much as the Total Chaos arms You can also get more info by contacting Total Chaos at info@totalchaos.com

Let me know if you have any more questions!
 

Toasty

Looking for that thing i just had in my hand...
So I'm looking at kings more seriously and plan to call accutune Friday to get some more info. But man with the control arms being a requirement, it seems the price is really getting up there.

In the interest of cutting costs I'd like some feedback on a few options.

What is the thought on the external compression adjusters? Are they needed or bennificial? I think they may be nice to set the tuning initally, but I'm not sure I'd really mess with them after that. The only time I could see them being really helpful would be in the rear when loaded up and using the air bags. I don't know though?

I'm also wondering if the control arms are needed. I have two options here, either cut and modify the existing control arms or make my own. They don't seems like it would be a huge undertaking to make a set and I'm sure the cost would be under $300. Any idea how much longer the new arms are compared to stock? Any specs on how much more droop they have?

Thanks


Compression adjusters in my experience are a sort of set it once and forget it thing, they're more for feel than anything. The novelty wears off pretty quick I opted out this round and just had Accutune do my valving (Amazing BTW).
As for arms (and Kings for that matter) you really need to be honest with yourself, how are you going to use this thing? Race parts require more maintenance and attention than OEM parts, spherical bearings perform better but require more attention. These are things to consider with trying to save some coin but also stepping up to the next level. As always More Performance = More Maintenance.
 

offthepath

Adventurer
Compression adjusters in my experience are a sort of set it once and forget it thing, they're more for feel than anything. The novelty wears off pretty quick I opted out this round and just had Accutune do my valving (Amazing BTW).
As for arms (and Kings for that matter) you really need to be honest with yourself, how are you going to use this thing? Race parts require more maintenance and attention than OEM parts, spherical bearings perform better but require more attention. These are things to consider with trying to save some coin but also stepping up to the next level. As always More Performance = More Maintenance.

Thanks that is some of what I'm considering. I wonder how long a uniball actually lasts in a Colorado/utah vehicle (ie it sees mud, sand and plenty of winter driving)? Did total chaos drill the spindle straight through or use some kind of tapered bolt?
 

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