Who actually NEEDS Kings / Use Cases?

I'm starting to get serious about lifting the truck and I'm trying to decide between Bilstein 5100's, the OME kit, or going to extended travel Kings.

Can you guys help me understand what you need to be doing to actually justify the price of kings?

I'm the typical weekend warrior. Wheeling, camping, long weekend trips etc. and I'm not really sure I will be taking full advantage of external resi, extended travel kings.

I usually do a mix of easy fire road camping and dedicated wheeling trips where tires are eating rocks, rear full flexed. Occasionally I'll actually lift a wheel and have to lock the rear, or MTS/CC to get power to the front wheel and take some skid plate, rock slider, and rear bumper departure hits. I only plan to lift 2-3 inches and run 33's banking my armor will keep everything else good if I do still hit on that set up. Located in colorado so most of my trails are slow, rocky, and bumpy the entire time. Thoughts if I would benefit from kings or external resi's?

 

Most people who have Kings only have them for a lift with an expensive name brand. Like having a Luis Vuitton wallet to hold you I.D. card. It will serve it's purpose but there are cheaper alternatives for real live applications. Kings are high end, they can withstand the beating of high speed off-roading (pre runner) as well as withstand the abuse of rock crawling. Just because they exist, doesn't mean you will need them. Even a set of Bilsteins will do most of what people won't end up doing anyway. King is an amazing brand, but many who have them, have it for the flash.

Stick with something a bit more budget friendly, unless you don't mind the price tag, then Kings are always top tier.

 

Thanks for the input! I never really imagine kings as the suspension setup for what I do or even rock crawling. I always imagine them in the dessert hitting woops at 60+ MPH lol. Maybe a set of OME's are in my future...being able to swap springs pretty easily and what not for when the bumper and winch get bolted on.

 

Because they’re pretty.

 

I wish this were a motivating factor for me! I'm actually not a fan of the color scheme they got going on but in the end Function > Form!

 

Maybe it's just me (or my set in particular) but I feel like my OMEs ride harsh as hell onroad or offroad, so I'm considering swapping to an expensive coilover just to absorb the shock of my regular driving with the added weight of plate on my truck. Offroad I'm typically crawling anyways but after a day of doing trails with OMEs my back is sore.

 

Well that's pretty damn disappointing to hear. I kind of wanted to steer away from the bilsteins as I'm not a fan of the digressive shocks the OR comes with and have been told the 5100's are the same. Are you running a higher spring rate?

 

If you want the price tag and still be pretty, check out Icons. Different color scheme.

 

You can have them custom to any color you want, for a (high) price of course . If you don't like the color of Kings, look into ADS.

 

I'm running the 886 coils up front with the 90000 shocks, have plate bumper, skids and winch up front so I wanted something to handle the weight. Originally thought it was just my Load E tires making it harsher but I've since switched to Load Cs and didn't improve much.

 

I run Fox but similar argument. I live in a desert area and drive out there, mostly higher speed with a lot of woops. I got external reservoirs for cooling primarily as I have experienced fade while off-roading and it’s a little scary hitting those bumps at speed with faded suspension or it’s also a bummer to stop and wait for the suspension to cool before continuing.

 

And I imagine, I won't get anywhere close to heating up the suspension enough on a 2.5 dia, non external resi shock. Constant woops sound way worse than slowly bouncing around rocks.

 

What about bilstein 6112 front and 5160 rear? If you got the cash might well. It's what the 2nd gen TRD PRO's ran.

https://www.bilsteinlifts.com/shop/...1-rear-5160-lift-kit-2016-2017-toyota-tacoma/

 

What he said, something far less expensive will serve your purposes of being a weekend warrior. If your trails are slow you can likely hold off on a secondary reservoir but I'm sure it wouldn't hurt. Fox makes some less expensive reservoir equipped shocks. Old Man Emu BP51s are nice too. Personally I'm just buying an OME basic lift because I don't do anything crazy and I won't be desert running.

 

That is the thought process I'm leaning towards, I just don't want to go through all the effort only to have them fade and want something else.

Even now I'm not sure if I'm just over heating the stock OR suspension, or if I'm just diving really hard over stuff because of the digressive valving and heavy weights.

 

Digressive really shines in high speed applications with bumps, it won't feel as plush as a progressive shock at lower speeds. At least that's what I gather from my research. If you're carrying weight you could be bottoming out your stock shocks too.

 

That's probably why I'm not a huge fan. If I come off a rock too quick it feels like my suspension just collapses and I always brace expecting to hear a big impact lol.

 

Eibach’s are valved progressive. They are a great budget option. Ran mine for 30k mi before switching to ADS, and never had any complaints. They ride great on the pavement as well.

 

I was under the impression only bilsteins are digressive right? All else (OME, Fox, King, Eibach, Toytech, etc) are all progressive?

 

Bear in mind Bilstein 5100s are digressive as well as our stock shocks. Old Man Emu are valved progressive and pair nicely with OME coils and Dakars. It's worth looking into OME vs Bilstein for sure. I drive slow and steady because our trails are more often than not muddy, covered in roots and rocks, and overgrown with willow trees and I know I won't be impressed with the firm (stiff) ride quality of the 5100s at snail speeds.