King Coil-Over Install Post Mortem

I spent the day installing a pair of King 2.5, remote reservoir, extended length coil-overs with SPA upper control arms. It was my first time doing such a thing. Everything was a total PITA, but I got the job done.

One big concern though. I was unable to reattach the sway bar to the sway bay relocation bracket with the wheel off the ground. The sway bar was 1/2" to 1" below the bracket. Once the wheels were back on the ground, I was able to easily attach as if it was meant to be done with the wheels on the ground. However, both the instructions provided by King and the videos I have watched suggest attaching the sway bar with the wheel off the ground. I'm worried that the sway bar is going limit the suspension down travel and also cause other problems. Does anyone have thoughts about this?

One other notable thing is that I could not remove the passenger side upper control arm bolt without grinding off part of the flange on the head of the bolt. I tried bending the crap out of the fender well to no avail. The driver's side came out fine after removing the 10mm bolt holding the crap inside the engine the compartment.

 

I'm no expert but I think this is why so many remove the sway bar for their of road rigs. It limits articulation

 

I'm no expert either. I'm aware of why people remove the sway bar, but I don't think this is quite the same. The sway bar is supposed to prevent body roll (one side up and one side down), however my issue will potentially stop both wheels from traveling downward and stress the sway bar is a way is was not designed for.

 

I installed the exact same setup (king ext travel w/ reservoirs and SPC UCAs) in October. Had zero issues with getting the sway bar back on with the truck in the air.
I would check to make sure you didnt have something in a bind at the end links maybe. But i did not have any issue getting the sway bar in

 

The sway bar will limit downtravel, but that’s a side effect of what it’s designed to do. You’re correct that it’s supposed to limit body roll but the way it does that is by bridging both sides of the suspension together. Most instructions for install tell you to jack up the truck (all 4 wheels off the ground). By doing this, both sides are evenly “drooped” so reinstalling your sway bar is easy. If you had problems lining it back up, I can surmise that you were working one side at a time and only had one side jacked up. That’s why the sway bar didn’t line right up until your tires were back on the ground.

While it won’t damage anything on your new suspension, the sway bar is limiting the downtravel of your new setup. Essentially limiting their performance. This is the trade-off for on road manners vs off road capability so you have to decide for yourself if you want to keep the sway bar of not.

 

Ah ha! I did not try jacking up both wheels and in the videos the truck is on a hoist with all 4 off the ground. However, one oddity is that the sway bar fit with the stock coil-overs with 1 wheel off the ground; at least as I remember. I do realize the extended travel king shocks are slightly longer (~0.5") as I measured them when I encountered this issue. It's my understanding that the sway bar relocation bracket is supposed to adjust for that. It has a thick plate (~0.5") on the bottom. With one wheel off the ground, it looked like it needed another 1" or so.

 

The sway bar relocation bracket moves the sway bar mounts forward about an inch to avoid contacting the larger diameter coils of your new suspension.

 

Hah! It's what happens when you wrench for 12 hours while drinking nothing but beer. At the end of night I couldn't differentiate clockwise vs counter clockwise.

 

Forward and downward, no? There's a thick plate on the bottom of the bracket. Is its purpose only to provide clearance for the mounting bolts?

 

I totally understand. I have had trouble doing things trying to finish up. Sometimes you need to just start fresh with a clear head.

 

Putting the sway bar back on after installing my lift was the most frustrating part. If I had known before hand that I technically don’t need it, I would have chucked it and saved my self all that time staring at my truck wondering why it just doesn’t go back together the way it should haha

 

Removing the sway bar was plan b. It was unclear if I could get it out without removing the cross members underneath it and it was well past sunset and I was very tired. Once both wheels were on the ground it was easy to get the bolts in.

 

I'm super exited to stress the new suspension, but most of the trails around here are closed during the spring thaw. I've had to be content with rough city streets, speed bumps, and driveway entrances.

During typical street and hiway driving I really have a hard time feeling any difference. Nothing I didn't expect.

I did notice a difference on the hiway when carrying a ~700 lb payload (5 tires/wheels, the stock suspension parts I took off, tools, etc). The rear end seemed more damped and controlled. Previously the payload was really obvious, but after the upgrade it was like there was nothing in the back. I'm super curious how it feel with towing my boat.

I've gone out of way to drive over some bumps in the streets and noticed huge difference on some of the larger ones. One in parking lot entrance in particular I used to slow down to 1st gear to go over, but I now I cruise over it in 2nd without jarring my teeth. It's very confidence inspiring.

I drove to a nearby (45 min) state forest that is open. The forest road was way to smooth to provide any sort of challenge, so I started driving through the ditch at 10-20 mph. The truck glided over everything I encountered, but none of it was worth a youtube video.

FYI: I have King 600 lb/in coils, ARB Dakar medium leafs, and King 2.5 extended length remote reservoir shocks.