Yes, another King vs Fox thread.

I've been reading until my eyes hurt the past couple of days about different setups and I'm still stuck on which one would be better for me. I'll openly admit that my truck sees probably 80% pavement with occasional camping trips, dirt road driving, and other "off-road" scenarios, so what I'm looking at is likely overkill. That being said, I like having the best of things, and the adjustability of the Fox 2.5s and the Kings w/adjusters really appeals to me.

I'm currently running Bilstein 5100s with OME 885 coils up front and 1/4" driver's side spacer with Bilstein 5160s in the rear. I have a 1.5" 3-leaf AAL and JBA UCAs for alignment along with the swaybar still on. This setup is what I would consider "fine". But I can't settle for just ok. I'd like to remove the swaybar but still have good bodyroll control and cornering stability since this is my daily driver.

I will be ordering my new setup through Accutune to get the best valving for my application. I'm leaning towards the Fox 2.5 Elite series but also like the simplicity of the Kings as well as their reputation.

My front shock length at rest is 21" (from tophat to center of bolt hole attachment).
My current height from center of wheels to fender are as follows:
RR - 22.25"
RF - 21.25"
LR - 22.00"
LF - 21.25"

Thanks for any help you can provide before making this very expensive decision. @AccuTune Offroad

 

My use case: 98% daily driver on-road, frequently carrying heavy loads of tools & equipment. 2% dirt road/fire trail running at low to moderate speeds. No technical off-roading.

My suspension history: Stock 2014 TRD-OR suspension, somewhat floppy at 70K miles, upgraded to FOX 2.5 elites w/DSC all 4 corners, Accutune UCAs up front, + Deaver U402 stage III leafs. Provided as a package by @AccuTune Offroad , with their "Adventure tune," their street/lite-offroad shock tuning option. I really disliked how the truck slopped out when heavily loaded on stock suspension, and/or when towing. Primary reason to upgrade suspension was to increase the safe, comfortable handling margin when heavily loaded.

Rear lift ended up at about 2" to 2.5", front lift at about 1.75" to 2". As I've not had any issues with new or increased driveline vibration post lift, I haven't done a diff drop or any other alterations to driveline geometry.

I went with FOX vs King because Accutune's own technical comparison of these two seemed to suggest somewhat better design & better build quality on the FOX products. Also, FOX 2.5's with DSC's are 2-stage adjustable, whereas I think King's 2.5s are only single-stage adjustable. The 2-stage is very good for dialing in ideal damping, e.g. on highway I find it's best to have the slow-speed compression set high (for cornering at speed) while keeping the high-speed compression at 0 (very low) so that it absorbs small bumps, pavement expansion joints, roadway reflectors ("Bot's dots") like a normal passenger car does.

Overall I am so far very satisfied w/ the new suspension. Misc notes:

- The suspension allows greatly-increased safety & comfort when the truck is loaded w/ heavy cargo and/or a heavy trailer. With massive shocks & rear springs the Tacoma goes from being a marginal tower/hauler to a safe & comfortable one.

- DSC adjusters at all 4 corners are, IMO, required for a combo daily-driver on-highway / forest roads truck. They allow a wide range of adjustability (basically, softness to hardness in the shock damping) to suit different cargo loading & road conditions. Without DSC the suspension would be either very good for the highway (soft) or very good off-road -- but very bad for the opposite use case.

- Accutune re-does the valving on the shocks & coilovers, but as a rule they leave the pre-load on the coilovers at the FOX factory default. In my case this resulted in a front-end lift of >2.5" to 2.75", which was too high. (Beyond about 2", the CV angles get so high that the accordion folds on the CV boots start to rub on one another. Bad; this will lead to them wearing through & grease loss/contamination in the CV joints.) Choices were to either ship the coilovers back to Accutune to adjust the preload (PITFA, expensive shipping,) or adjust the preload myself. I went with the DIY option, which required having a decent set of coil spring compressors to do with a semblance of safety. Adjusted preload to give a final front lift height of about 1.75", which put the CVs back down at a comfortable angle with no CV boot rub.

- I think FOX's current machined-aluminum reservoir clamps are inadequate. They look slick but they are secured with a single small fine-thread screw which is prone to cross-threading & galling in the aluminum clamps. I'm in the process of replacing all the aluminum 2-piece clamps with plain old stainless steel full-diameter hose clamps. (Which is what FOX used to provide in the past.)

- I'm tempted at times to take on forest roads at "exciting" speeds, which the new FOX coilovers & shocks can gladly take -- but then the weak link becomes the stock shock mounting towers front & rear, the front steering knuckles, stock steering rack, the lower control arms, etc. Don't confuse "good shocks/coils" with "completely built suspension ready to absorb medium-hard off-roading."

 

Fox Elite 2.5 for the benefits that Accutune explains unless you really like the blue on the Kings. The Bilstein 8112 with Zone Control are neat too.

 

Just purchased Kings 2.5’s through accutune. Great bunch of dudes over there helped me through the purchase talked to them about my weight etc. custom tune is going to be awesome. Good luck with your purchase

 

Wow, thank you for taking the time to give such a great response. I really appreciate that and I will take what you said in helping me to decide. Some people that I see seem to think the DSC is more "gimmicky" unless you're really going to use it a lot. Others say it's great such as yourself. This is why I haven't ruled out Kings because even though it's a medium speed adjustment, it is likely more than enough for my needs as long as the custom tune is correct. I'll be going with the Adventure Tune with either one that I choose.

 

Thanks! Are you running the Kings now or did you just recently order them and are still waiting?

 

Just ordered fronts should be here next week rears the following

 

I don't think it should rule out the fox elites, but Accutune made custom front mounting brackets for the Fox Elite's to avoid the adjustment knobs hitting the sway bars.

Fox could have thought that one out better.

https://accutuneoffroad.com/product/accutune-front-reservoir-mount-kit-05-tacoma/
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...5-for-your-tacoma.798418/page-3#post-29069115

 

Yeah this is a must. IMO the small tweak in the custom angled front resi brackets is adequate to solve the problem. Since the custom brackets are only $75, I don't see their cost as a make-or-break factor in a >$2.5K-5K overall budget for choosing Kings vs. FOXes.

 

To me DSC isn't at all gimmicky. The differences in suspension feel at different DSC settings are immediate and obvious.

For trucks that are more or less at a constant weight -- whether that's mostly empty as a grocery-getter/mall-crawler or built out with a heavy camper trailer, tons of armor/bumpers/winches etc -- I can see how DSC is less important, although still would be nice for adjustability of on-highway vs. dirt-road /off-road use.

In my case my truck can easily vary +/- 1200 lbs depending on cargo in the bed + trailers of various kinds. Having DSC be able to turn the damping way up or way down according to cargo keeps the ride more comfortable and safer at any weight.

 

I have ran Bilstein, FOX, and currently running Kings.
They all work, buy whatever you want.
Good luck with your truck.

 

You all rock! I really appreciate all the responses and kind words about our services.


@Tacoma13_NC if you still have any questions about which direction to go, feel free to send over a message. So far all the above advice and input is spot on.

 

Are the fittings swiveled on the Fox like they are on Bilsteins? I'd like to mount the rear reservoir using the King mount directly above the tire for symmetry purposes. I can't stand things being asymmetrical.

 

I'm not sure what you mean by swiveled like Bilsteins. The shocks are side specific and have the hose orientation in a specific way to clear the shock mount. ex:

 

Oh ok. So the fitting on the side of the shock is in a fixed position then. That's all I needed to know. I wasn't sure if it swiveled to move or not.

 

It can be rotated (done properly) but I wouldn't suggest rotating it to a different location.

 

I think I've narrowed it down to the Fox 2.5 series. The DSC adjustments appear to give a much better adjustment variation, especially for highway driving and with the occasional heavy loads. I like the idea of the aluminum body Elites, but honestly I like the look of the Factory Race Series better, even though they're more expensive. They're very clean looking and I really don't like the color orange. I'll probably add the U-bolt flip kit with new bump stop while I'm down there. I think the King's look great and their reputation precedes them, but the lack of adjustability for low speed is what puts me onto Fox.

 

Colors? What colors... the decals peel off cleanly & then you can just rattle-can matte or satin black for a discreet look.

I jest of course, the stealth look isn't to everyone's taste. Looks aside I think you'll be satisfied w/ the FOX's.

When selecting rear leafs, keep in mind that if you want ultimate load capacity w/ 700-1K lb.-rated Deaver U402 stage IIIs, you really have to have 500-600+ lbs of cargo and/or accessories over the rear axles. The rear shocks can't start to participate much in damping until the rear leafs have moved into their flex zone. Aside from my aluminum utility bed cap + full-size lumber rack + steel plate bumper (+400 lbs total or so,) I find myself keeping an additional 150-200lbs of tools in back to keep the ride comfortable.

The few times when I have fully loaded to +800 lbs or more on the rear leafs, I've thought, "Wow, this thing handles like a well-sprung 1/2 ton pickup now. Nice!"

I could've gone with U402 Stage II's & achieved a softer empty ride at a lower weight, but I wanted ultimate load capacity and didn't want to fuss with the adjustments & maintenance + possible long-term durability issues of adding air bags.




* The light bluish-purple stuff around the UCA through-bolt is excess teflon dry-lube

 

Looks good. My whole truck is black with black wheels so a little pop from the wheel wells wouldn't be a bad thing. I have factory leafs with an AAL and have carryied a gun safe and a side-by-side refrigerator in it with little issue. Of course I didn't do any crazy driving while hauling those things but I was surprised at how well the truck handled it.

 

Can't go wrong with either option really. Since you are going though Accutune, they will tune either to work optimally for you so it really just comes down to color, compression adjustments and possibly coil options.

With this use case, I would recommend prioritizing road comfort and going with softer springs and tuning (not sure if that's just their Adventure tuning or if you need to ask for even softer.). I find most off-road shock setups are designed as if you are jumping your truck or doing some crazy off-roading where the suspension needs to "catch" the full weight of the truck without bottoming out. So driving around on normal pavement, even with the compression settings wide open, will still ride rough especially with no weight in the truck. I would go as soft as you can with the tuning and coils, you can always use the compression adjustment to stiffen things up. And if you are getting new bumpstops, there's nothing wrong with relying on those for the very few times you might send it too hard.

I have a 2013 as well, with tuned Elka 2.5 DSC. I had them put 14" 600lb coils on the front instead of the 700lb they usually come with. Very glad I did. The front rides perfectly for my 95% pavement (loose term where I live) and gravel road use. I wish I would have had the shocks tuned softer as well now (I did go softer, just not soft enough apparently). I have the adjusters wide open almost all the time and while the ride is great, I've never felt the need to stiffen them up. So I basically paid for adjust-ability I currently never use. ... Something to keep in mind.

Also, you'll use the low speed compression setting WAY more than the high speed. So the Kings only having the one adjustment isn't going to make that much of a difference in your use IMO.