King Shock upgrade

[cobblecrazy]

I was looking at upgrading/changing my current shocks with something a little more adjustable.

Right now I have a 3" lift Rough Country setup. They have a really smooth ride when I have my pop up trailer on the hitch and everything is "compressed," but the day to day ride and some off roading is a little harsh. I know I can drop some air out of the tires for the off road stuff, but I've yet to get a compressor setup (on my list) to be able to go up/down with the air.

I was looking at the King Off Road OEM 2.5" performance shocks with compression adjustment. link: http://www.quadratec.com/products/16270_004X_PG.htm With the claimed 20 adjustment levels, I'm wondering if this might be the ticket.

I'm looking for any input - especially from anyone who has these installed.

 

[88Xj]

I personally would look into fox or Bilsteins. I've got a set of fox 2.0 12" short bodies waiting to go on. They are the same size as the 10" but have an extra 2" of travel..thus they call it a "short body" since its the same size body as a 10 & compresses the same length as a 10"..very helpful to get a little more travel out of a little bit of space.

 

[jeep-N-montero]

I would have went with a progressive rate spring from AEV or OME and you would have a smooth ride empty or loaded down.

 

[Rovertrader]

x2 on the AEV. My wife rode in her friends stock '12 Sahara after riding in our '11 AEV 3.5" suspended w/ 37s and was amazed the better ride ours has... Difficult to analyze but the progressive rate springs with the Bilsteins is tough to beat.

 

[Vince1]

I'll let you know in about 2 weeks as I just ordered the adjustable Kings to replace the Bilsteins on my 3.5" AEV lift.

 

[cobblecrazy]

I'll let you know in about 2 weeks as I just ordered the adjustable Kings to replace the Bilsteins on my 3.5" AEV lift.

Thanks

 

[TreeTopFlyer]

Kings all the way. Much easier to rebuild, yourself, later down the road. Fox, not so much.

 

[cobblecrazy]

Does anyone have experience w/the Rancho RS9000xl that have 9 levels of adjustability at about $110 per shock?

 

[TreeTopFlyer]

You get what you pay for. Buy once cry once(re: kings). :ylsmoke:

 

[ih8philly]

I don't see how anyone can recommend that he spend $2k on four shocks when we don't even know which RC lift is currently installed. I think it would be easier to understand your current situation if you told us more about what RC lift you installed. Was it just springs? Or springs and arms? Or springs and arms and shocks?

Do you really run hard enough, and fast enough, to warrant a remote reservoir shock? Why not get some reasonable high performance shocks like Bilstein, OME, or Fox and see if that doesn't alleviate the problem. Use the money you save over the Kings to get that air compressor and air down off road. That seems to be the best bang for your buck

 

[Chi-Town]

King shocks are some of the best you can get and if you know how to adjust them they can be a great suspension tuning tool. The lift you have is on the lower end of the quality spectrum (no offence) so you need to stop and look at things like spring rates, vehicle weight, load carried. Once you have those numbers then start by making sure you have the best spring rate for the needs of your truck. Remember springs support the weight, shocks control the direction and speed of movement of that weight. When looking at shocks, look not only at travel but at valving. Talk to the people at Bilstein, Fox, and King and see what the recommend, you'll probably going to find that their valving recommendations are pretty close to each other. After that make sure the shocks have any additional features that you might want and then make your selection. Doing this kind of research will help you get the best for your money.

 

[Jeff Dodgen]

What philly said! If I am dropping $900 I am going with coilovers!

 

[Chi-Town]

Coil overs are great for flex but not for load bearing. A small diameter, tall spring will start to fatigue under heavy weight.

 

[ih8philly]

King shocks are some of the best you can get and if you know how to adjust them they can be a great suspension tuning tool. The lift you have is on the lower end of the quality spectrum (no offence) so you need to stop and look at things like spring rates, vehicle weight, load carried. Once you have those numbers then start by making sure you have the best spring rate for the needs of your truck. Remember springs support the weight, shocks control the direction and speed of movement of that weight. When looking at shocks, look not only at travel but at valving. Talk to the people at Bilstein, Fox, and King and see what the recommend, you'll probably going to find that their valving recommendations are pretty close to each other. After that make sure the shocks have any additional features that you might want and then make your selection. Doing this kind of research will help you get the best for your money.

This is great advice, but I still can't see how spending thousands on shocks and pairing them with RC suspension components makes sense. Better springs, better shocks, and better arms need to go together.

 

[brianjwilson]

I have never run the ranchos. I lot of truck camper guys like them because the loads they carry vary by a huge amount, but a lot of people don't seem to like them for off road use.

I'm very happy with my AEV springs and bilstein shocks, but the shocks are also valved specifically for AEV and the off the shelf bilsteins may be a little different. I've always liked the bilstein shocks I ran on trucks but in some cases they were stiff off road.

I've always had the best results from disconnecting the front sway bar, having a taller sidewall and airing down a bit.

Some of the popular lower cost air compressors are the MV-50, 89, and 90. The 50 is okay for 31-33" tires, and my 89 works decently with my 35s. It takes around 10 minutes for me to air the 35s up from 10psi to 26-28psi. The newer 90 is supposed to be quicker. The two that I've had were/are very reliable. Shop around online for prices as they vary widely.