OE Replacement Coil-Over Shock Kits

Good morning,
We get this question quite a bit at the shop and figured I would throw in my 2 cents..

Q: How much height can I get out of my King Coil-Over replacement front shock kit for my 05-Up Tacoma 2wd Pre-Runner/4wd?

A: Yep its a lengthy one: Example being front King shocks 25001-119, in this case, 2.5" is the max that is recommended as far as ride height by King and Downsouth Motorsports. Normally the Kings will come pre-set from King at around 1.75"-2" of lift. You can add a few more turns 3 to 4 normally if need be to get the 2.5" ride height.

Ride height will vary depending on any added weight such as a steel winch style bumper with winch or skids and so on. In this case you may want to consider changing the spring rate to a higher rate depending on the amount of weight one has added. Higher spring rate, less pre-load normally and not much affect to the over-all ride & performance the shock was designed for.

Now to ride quality: Once you have gone past 2.5" of ride height you loose the ride quality a bit because you are loosing droop travel (Droop travel in this case would be the amount of shock shaft that is allowed to drop out from inside the shock from where the vehicle is sitting at its normal ride height). Once you have limited the droop travel to next to nothing, then normally you start to hear noises out of the front end. Example: Driving over a speed bump and hearing a clunking noise out of the front end. That is normally the sound of the shock topping out because there is to much pre-load in the spring to get the ride height up and there is no droop travel.

Whether it is King, FOX or ICON or Radflo, most OE bolt in replacement Front Coil-Over shock kits are designed more for Performance and not so much ride height.

Also please keep in mind that over-all ride is a perception, one persons idea of a good ride, may not be the same as another persons.

Thanks
Sonny

 

Bump for good info

 

What about extended travel coilovers? Can you preload more than 2.5? With aftermarket UCA's? Or stay about the same? I have Icon 2.5 Ext trvl coilovers. My center of hub measurement to bottom of the inside of the fender well is 24". Thanks

 

Good afternoon,
With the ICON Extended Travel shocks you can get a comfortable 3" of ride height. With the King Extended Travel, still would recommend staying around the 2.5" mark. Extended Travel shocks will always need an aftermarket uni-ball style UCA.

 

Sorry. I meant I have the Icon ext. trvls w/ Camburg UCA's. Just wondering if 3" of lift is ok w/ ext. trvl coilovers? I use to have adjustable Bilsteins w/ 3" Eibach coils and the same Camburg UCA's I have with this set up. But that set up rode terrible! After all, I only have TG front & rear tube bumpers and TG sliders. So not too much weight. I also had 0-3" Bilsteins w/ a 1.5" AAL. Now I have Icon 2.0 rear shocks 0-3" lift. W/ the same AAL. But I just wanted to make sure that with the lift I have in the front is ok? Like I said 24" from center hub to inner fender. I kept having to take the coilover back out to adjust it till my truck was level. It was to hard to adjust on the truck even on a vehicle lift at full droop. My spanner wrench kept hitting the UCA! I'm not sure what the measurement should be for 3" of lift. I just adjusted the CO's till my truck was level. What should the Alignment specs be?
0 Camber
2.5 - 3 Caster
0 Toe
Is that correct?

 

Correct you are good with the ICON Extended travel shocks at 3" of ride height. As for the 24" from the center of hub to the fender well, you would have needed the same measurement at stock height so you have a comparison to determine the 3" of ride height gain. Most OE front coilover shocks want 1.5" minimum of droop travel at the shock from ride height for a decent street ride. As for the alignment specs, normally most newer alignment racks will have a range that is + or - from the Factory settings. (Green Zone). As long as she drives straight and the steering components are not being hammered due to horrible angles and she is not blowing through tires, you should be good to go.

 

Here are my alignment specs from about 4 months ago after I installed them. What I'm worried about is I had it done at my college auto shop and they went off the factory specs. But if you have aftermarket UCA's. Can't you get more out of them?

 

Anything is possible, looks like it is close. Best bet would be to have someone who is familiar with doing alignments on lifted vehicles check it out. Correct most aftermarket uni-ball style UCA's have added caster built into the arm, around 3 degrees or so to aid with the alignment on lifted vehicles.

 

How many threads are typically exposed for 2-1/2" of lift on a double cab with no extra weight up front. I want to adjust mine before I install then final adjust after settling.

 

Tough question, we do not do installs. But out of the box, the King standard travel 25001-119 shocks have around a 1/4" of thread showing. When we convert standard travel 119's to Extended travel, we add 5 turns of pre load and that puts you close to the 2 to 2.5" ride height from what our customers have shared with us. Hope that helps a bit.

 

Old thread bump. Does anyone know if/how extended travel king coilovers can be converted to standard length? I have no need for extended travel and would rather not change UCA at this time.

 

Replace the shaft spacer that was removed to give you the extended travel set up

 

Gotcha. Are the spacers available to be purchased separately?
I'm considering buying a used set of extended travel Kings as the price is right. But I would prefer the OE length to avoid the need for aftermarket UCA.

 

Yes you can purchase from King or make them. I can take care if it for you or DSM or Accutune can rebuild and convert to standard travel.

 

Good to know. Just for future knowledge, what’s a rebuild cost?

 

PM me or the other rebuilders I mentioned.