3rd Gen Owners with King Coilovers

@AccuTune Offroad Thanks for asking was wondering this myself

 

More expensive is always more better obvi

 

Have you guys not looked into these? Plenty of reasons: thicker shock body, thicker shaft, thicker lower collar, thicker springs, internal bypasses, more oil capacity, adjustable compression, etc. It's a superior product in every way.

 

$5,500 shipped directly from King for both front & rear. No need to have an external company dismantle the shocks to revalve them, just buy them straight from King. I spoke to the reps at King's booth at the 2023 Sand Sports show for half an hour & was telling them about how I was considering going with Accutune's 2.5" King setup. They basically asked me to why not just buy them straight from them & that didn't seem to care how vendors like Accutune have built up a reputation of dismantling brand new shocks, which can lead to issues with their manufacturer warranty.

 

I wouldn't characterize a 50% increased cost as "a touch more".

 

I’d rather stick with 2.5s and use the money saved from buying 3.0s towards UCAs, and 12x2.5 rear kings with archive garage relocate/hangers. I would buy from Accutune for valving since I’m not putting kings on a factory weight truck

 

Yes we are aware of the 3.0 IBP shocks from King. They make a good product that works well for most applications. For those looking for even more performance based on their modified vehicles specs, AccuTune is here to help. King Shocks, like many others brands, are designed to be serviced and tuned so we are not doing anything harmful. King does care about vendors like us, which is why they worked with us to make a Tacoma rear shock with our specs (which have 1" or more travel than their 3.0 ext bypass). We happy to keep buying, tuning, servicing and selling their great products.

3.0 IBP shocks are a different breed and they can work fantastic. We've done a lot of tuning with their universal fit coilovers for some 4800/Ultra4 cars. These shocks are super popular for this class because they are limited to a single shock per corner. All tuning for these must be done internally by addressing a few different things like shims, needle length and taper.

For most Tacoma owners, a 3.0 IBP shock is overkill. They are position sensitive, so they are designed to be at a certain length at ride height. This can be difficult for the rear of a leaf sprung vehicle using oem mounts. The large diameter shock bodies are really too large for the rear and we've seem the shock bodies hit the frame while articulating. I'm actually pretty sure they do not offer an IBP rear, those are external bypass. We've also seen front coilovers hit the UCA at full droop. Large shock bodies with more oil is great for cooling and racing applications, but can be overwhelming for a small truck like a Tacoma to handle. These larger shocks are naturally stiff due to their size and there are limitations to what you can do to softening up the valving. $3,834 vs $5,500 is a pretty big difference, but hey its your hard earned money. Sounds like you really like them, which is great. Send it

3.0 IBP shock by design is in fact superior to the 2.5s, but with our tuning & other values, I would argue we can get the 2.5s to ride better than the IBPs for $1600 less. We've got some even more exciting stuff on the horizon for Tacoma owners that we will be offering very soon. Looking forward to it

@danielgonzzz

 

lol at the previous several post!

 

What if not factoring money saved, i still question the desire for 3.0 on a mid—sized truck.
I’m also a bit intrigued about the comment about @AccuTune Offroad building their reputation on dismantling brand new shocks….warranty implications, etc.

was that from King or OP? I’m just here for the drama.

there is a member that had a spring fail and seems like King had to step in and send him a new one.

 

Yeah that attempt at drama is a weird one. There’s a whole industry built on tons of platforms where a company revalves shocks for a specific application. Hell, Dinan suspensions for BMWs for the last 40 years have been revavled Konis.

 

Drama = People = Shit

 

Fair point when comparing dollars for certain levels of a build. UCA are mandatory for any suspension upgrade so I don't consider that much of a deciding factor when selecting shock upgrades.

Agreed on most part, especially the bold underlined text above. The rear 3.0 shock bodies only had clearance issues with the leaf springs. I actually bought your N98 2" lift leaf spring kit & had the driver side u-bracket that holds the leaf springs in line rub on the inside of my rear 3.0 shock body. We attempted to hammer in the hangar & really squeeze the bolt together but it still wasn't enough after a test run. Ended up just chopping the whole driver side U-bracket off & haven't looked back, well actually we did to make sure the leafs didn't shimmy sideways but so far so good!

My thinking is that if you're already spending $4k on 2.5s, what's another $1500 to know you'll get the best hardware available? Not to keep the drama-yama going... but the King rep basically said for my high-paced desert running (Glamis & Johnson Valley), the 3.0s would be perfect out of the box before stepping up to a long travel setup. I was convinced (& proven correct) that my stock weight Tacoma wouldn't need brand new King shocks to be dismantled from a retailer to perform at their best since a stock weight Tacoma is what King had designed their 3.0s with in mind.

For what it's worth, my cousin who has a Tacoma with a full Accutune-valved 2.5 Fox DSC setup stated my 3.0s were literally on a different level in terms of performance after a quick test run in the desert. I don't recall what his rear springs were but I know he has the full 2.5 Fox adjustable reservoir setup on his front & rear that is valved with his armor accessories.

 

Just got my custom painted kit in. I’m looking for suggestions on high quality black spray paint for my springs to bring the all black look together. TIA.

 

I would suggest looking into getting them powder coated. Those shocks are beautiful and spray paint wont last.

 

I was actually told by your shop over the phone to just spray paint them. I had an email with king as well when trying to get them black and they told me that powder coating may cause issues and cracking if I strip them and recoat. They said that color options weren’t available on the springs at the time of order. If I have the option without damaging them I will absolutely get them coated.

 

Hell yeah!! Powder Coat for sure

 

We recommend powder coat first, using a supplier that is familiar with painting coil springs and can do a quality job. If thats not an option or the color you want is too specific, spray paint is an option. Prep for something like this is super important to make sure the paint will stick. Since the springs are flexing a lot, it can be difficult to get regular spray paint to stick.

 

All, i'm looking for advice regarding CV boots. I'm going through CV boots like a hot knife through butter. I've replaced both the inner and outer boots on both the diver and passenger side several times (i think three times each side). It started happening at around 35,000 to 40,000 miles on the truck. My truck is lifted with King shocks. I can't remember the exact lift height, but it's not excessive.

I've tried long travel boots, Dobinson boots and spray PB Blaster Graphite on them. Is this just part of lifted life, or am I doing something wrong?

 

Pics of cv angles? I’ve never gone through cv boots FYI. For me cv angles are good. Cv fins not touching