3rd Gen Owners with King Coilovers

I’ve got 16s, volks, so 34s are out of the question. Either 33s or 35s. I’ve already cut and hacked everything for clearance. Just worried about overall diameter but also don’t want to be riding at maximum travel.

 

I’m doing 285/75/17s. Saw Taco Twonz and loved it.

 

So you got the 1.5” 3 AAL from Icon and it settled an 1”. So netted only .5” of lift?

 

Thanks, that's what I was recommended by multiple shops so I went with them. I have the front bumper/ winch, sliders,a pretty heavy grill, will be adding a roof rack and multiple other accessories including compressor,I'm picking up a rear bumper with swing out soon, already have the bed rack and rtt. I figured they were right, do you think different?

 

Ive heard more like 3" is the cutoff without extension.i haven't done them, at least not yet. I have seen dozens of guys with our exact same setup not doing extensions, not saying that's the right way, but i've yet to see an issue from it.

 

That's a dilemma then.
You'd have to squeeze about 3 1/4" - 3 1/2" out of those shocks-not really what they are made for at that point, quality of ride would suffer with possible coil bind on compression. Depending on wheel backspacing and other variables (alignment) - inner fender massaging may be necessary, so it doesn't act as your new bump stop when tires get stuffed.
Here's a pic I posted earlier. Just under 3" of lift. With 34's. Not a lot of room left -but suspension is riding as intended even though on its upper limits.

 

That's the size I want next,

 

No, I meant it settled down to the height of a hair over an inch so lost almost 0.5”

 

Ok phew lol

 

I was still surprised it lost a little to be honest. From hub to fender it was at 23.5” after installation and just measured it recently and now it’s at 23” and it’s been about almost a year so I’m assuming that it’s done settling

 

Cool. So maybe leaving the OL leaf in will net 1.5” after settling ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

Possibly but i hear the ride gets pretty rough with it on

 

So if you have 2.5 rear EXT and you didn't get the Dakar specific one's from DSM, you can't run Dakar leafs?

 

So now I’m debating on what I should do. I used to have 2.5” of lift up front but adding all the weight on 600lb springs, I’m down to about 1.25” of lift. I have 8-9 threads showing and was about to turn it to about 12 threads to somewhat accommodate a little for height. I really like the ride on 600lb springs and don’t want to stiffen it up with a higher spring. It’s literally super cush so was just going to keep it. Reading more and more about preload, I decided to call Kings and got one of the so called experts on. They pulled the data for the Tacoma’s and said 1/4” of preload aka threads showing is supposed to be the standard which is 3 threads and level out the truck at 1” of lift with stock rear height. The guy also looked at what is the max from there which is 5 full threads after that so 8 total. Told me anything beyond 8-9 threads is maxing it out and will cause premature shock failure and coil binding (also known as the clunking that people hear when they have too much preload). So should I just leave it and have 3/4” rake or turn it a couple threads and risk it? Don’t want to do multiple alignments. Also prefer keeping the 600lb springs, literally really nice street ride even on E rated tires. Thoughts? Any other negative effects with more preload? @state48overland

 

What’s your load up front?

 

Demello bumper (105lbs), Smittybilt winch (47lbs), TRD PRO skid (45lbs), sliders but I think of that as balanced weight from front to back. Both Kings and Demello said they would recommend running the 600lbs even though height is slightly compromised because I told them I’m looking for a comfortable ride on the road since it’s my daily. I’m not big on trying to be the tallest truck on the street with huge tires like I was when I was 18. Rather go for comfort and functionality but want to be leveled.

 

Dude 650’s and call it a day. To be honest I have 700’s with about the same weight as you , maybe a tad more, and I love it. My pre load is barely anything.

Edit: btw I found this from some other info I posted somewhere from DSM:

If the total added wight you plan to put on the front end is less than
say 175lbs then we would suggest a 650lb spring. If you are adding
200lbs or morewe would suggest the 700lb spring. Those shocks will use
a 14" long x 3.0" ID coil spring.

 

Yeah the highest I would go is 650. I know others claim their rides are really smooth with 650 and 700 but just can’t imagine it being as smooth as 600 and believe me it’s legitimately smooth. It just doesn’t do the job when it comes to height. Probably hard to tell 100% since everyone’s setup is never exactly the same. Guess I have to pick and choose my battles. Thanks for sharing the info. What tires are you running? E load?

 

I agree with Matt @Mista_G -given that the King valving is pretty generous for comfort-the 650's wont feel like 650's say on an ICON set up. You should be able to compensate for the weight you have. With 650 springs-and customer feedback, 8 threads on the driver side and 5 on the passenger with stock bumper gives about a three inch lift. You'd probably be looking at about 7/4 to give you 2.5" lift with your weight.
Side note, Eibach makes 3.75 x 15 x 550 and 700 springs for King. These are for the 3.0 shock kits. It would be nice if they stocked 3x15x600s for the 2.5 shock bodies (25001-119's). A little longer spring, less pre load needed and still soft. When we first installed our 3.0 shocks, they only offered a 550 spring rate, which wasn't enough for our armor/build. So we swapped out to a 3.75 x 16 x 650 (even though 600 was available-we didn't think it would maintain the lift we needed with the weight, and in that size 14" only came in a 500). The comfort is still there. The 3.0s have less adjustment than 2.5 bodies and the preload collar is on the bottom of the shock. We run zero preload (there is a natural installed spring compression preload already) on the pass side and 3 threads on the driver side. Sits at 3" of lift and we were able to avoid coil bind and have plenty of room between the springs still...we got pretty lucky.