King vs. Everyone

I had 881s before Kings (I have the OEM standard Kings non resi, adjustable 0 - 3").

One thing I will say is this...the 881s with 5100s were softer on the street. The Kings are pretty stiff on the road when you crank them up to 2.5" of lift and with the 600# coils they come with.

I am planning on getting mine rebuilt and revalved to smooth out the street ride quality pretty soon.

Offroad though is where they shine, once they warm going over some washboards they outperform the 881s/5100s night and day.


I do recommend getting some performance rear shocks though too if you plan on doing higher speed stuff offroad, 5100s in the rear will work but they won't hold up nearly as well to the offroad abuse. I picked up some Icon 2.0 with resi's for the rear and they're great.

 

From what i've read around and heard people say, that's true which i'm fine with.

Front first and then move onto the back forsure. I'll stick with the OME nitro's and dakars until I get around to doing a shock relocation and getting some quality shocks for the back.

Any idea of good places in the bay area to do a rebuild on a set of kings? This is my first time dealing with rebuildable shocks and have no idea where to start. I'm out of the east bay. Gonna grab a set of king CO's that need a rebuild and have the spacer taken out to make them ext travel.

edit: they also need rod ends, bearings, and possibly a new collar since the one on there is a bit chewed up.

Any idea on what the cost would be for a rebuild like that? I have no idea.
Contemplating on doing the rebuild myself since I have experience with rebuilding mtb suspension (as long as there isn't any crazy specialty stuff involved)

 

Yeah, probably 90% of the people who have resi's don't actually "need" them, lol. Most of them are on pavement princesses anyway...

I actually don't remember seeing an option for extended travel resi's when I bought mine. I'm sure they existed, but I probably would have to call and talk to an actual human make a custom order, and all that just to spend a couple hundred more than I was already spending didn't seem worth it, lol

It's also a little harder to find Kings in non oem replacement lengths. The ones I see most are the stock replacements and wouldn't work for a lift. I'm sure you just have to call and talk to a human...

 

Downsouth Motor Sports is a good company to custom order Kings, from what I've heard...since most other places just sell the OEM replacement ones that most of us are running. I knew a guy that had some custom length front King coilovers with resi's that he got from DSM for his 03.

 

My Kings seemed to be smoother on the road than my 5100s (that were on the middle setting). I don't have quite that much lift on my Kings (I lowered it about an inch from the factory setting to match my rear).

 

It's crazy how much even a little bit of preload effects the ride quality, I initially had mine close to 3" and it was awful...my first drive with the Kings after that had me seriously questioning what all the fuss was about and why I paid so much for the damn things lol. Lowered them to 2.5" and it was better, recently brought them down to 2.25" and helped even more.

I imagine if you just slapped the Kings on at stock height they'd probably ride like clouds

But with a revalve and a little more front end weight to help offset the 600# coils I should be good

 

Yeah, now that I have a bumper and winch up front, it rides a little lower than it did before (duh) which so far is fine, since it was actually a little high before, lol).

Once I figure out what I want to do with the back end, I'll likely order some custom Kings for the rear to match. Will likely just go Deavers with my current shackle (1"), but then not sure about a U-bolt flip, and a shock mount relocation. Chevy 62's are still on the back burner, too...

 

Just dropped the $$$ on some Kings... I did go with 700lbs springs as I am HEAVY up front. I noticed a difference once I put my 4x skids on I'd say together they weigh about 130ish... That with my winch and ARB... Should work out. I currently have the heavier Eibach which I think are 650??

Anyways... I'll be replacing my UCA's and LCA bushings... Should feel like a new truck up front when finished.

 

Darn, just got an email that there's a bit of a lead time on these (4 weeks) no big deal.

That said, should I go ahead and do the other maintenance or just wait to get her all done in one swoop... I'd imagine I'd have to get another alignment if I threw the king's in after doing the UCA's and LCA bushings

 

I don't think you need an alignment after putting new shocks/coilovers in....at least I didn't. Just unbolt the old ones out and bolt the new ones in

After messing with the UCAs and LCAs yes most definitely.

 

Yeah, I figured as much. I'm not planning on messing with ride height to much, lift should stay the same even with the King's in. My LCA bushings need it BAD... I clunk pretty much at every turn and bump nowadays. The alignment guy told me they were close...3 years ago

I might just go ahead and do the bushings and JBA install, it's really not that hard to throw new coils in once they come

 

Well, got a shipping notice yesterday... Wheelers musta found some hiding in a corner. It's good though, that means I can just knock it all out at once while I'm pretty much redoing the whole front end. I was smart this time and made sure to order all new bolts (Cam bolts, lower shock bolt, UCA bolt) cause I just know I'll end up having to cut one of them!

 

Whether you need an alignment after your shocks depends on if the amount of lift changes between your shocks.

I definitely got mine aligned after I did my 5100s, but it got taller when I did that, too. I aligned it again when I did my Kings, but I also did UCAs, TREs, etc...

Since it looks like you're going to be able to do it all at once now, it's a moot point...

 

Getting around to installing these finally! Question though... In the pics below you can see that the king's are currently set to about 1/2" shorter then my 5100's... Now with the Eibach coils being 620lbs and the new king's 700, is it safe to assume they will sit around the same height, or should I go ahead and adjust the king's while they're still off the truck?

 

Adjusting the springs on the Kings won't change the length of them, only the preload on the spring.

I'd put them on the truck before you make any adjustments, and then I'd adjust them to have as little pre-load as necessary. You'll get a better ride, and be easiest on your CVs that way.

 

Now that you said that, I'm looking at them like ..."duh, shoulda known that"

 

To those wanting close to 2.5 in of lift I suggest what I did, I bought 650# springs and didn’t need to preload them nearly as much to keep height w/o sacrificing ride quality.

 

I run an ARB bumper, winch,full 1/4" skids and a second battery here soon... I went with 700# for that reason (plus I like it a little more stiff... No sway bar anymore!

 

F a sway bar they = less articulation! Good advice.

 

Am I being an idiot? Just got done putting my LCA back together and in place... It seems to me that the bottom shock mount isn't aligned with the 3 bolts up top... Should I be able to rotate it? Not trying to jack things up when I'm so close to putting everything back together!