3rd Gen Owners with King Coilovers

I drive a Canyon which apparently needs WAY less spring rate than the Tacoma and T4R but I wanted to say that @AccuTune Offroad are like wizards of the suspension world. I orginally overestimated how much weight my steel half bumper and winch would add so they set me up with 550lb 14" springs. This setup lifted my front end by about 3" which is too high for the GM Twins if you actually care about off-road performance. I worked with the guys to try and figure out why my truck sat so high despite having no threads showing (collar was as high as it would go). I gave them a bunch of measurements and they came back with a sugggestion for 450lb 14" springs. I couldn't believe it. The OEM spring rate on my truck is 550lbs but I have added a bunch of weight. After a few months of adding sand bags and steel plates to the front of the truck to try and weigh it down, I ponied up for some PAC 450lb springs and well, they work. I'm still getting over 2" of lift (no threads showing) and the front end feels more controlled and better dampened by the shocks. The springs aren't as pretty as Kings but that's what I get for being cheap.

I realize this is a Tacoma forum but I just felt like letting folks know that the guys really do know their stuff, even on newer platforms they haven't had as much experience with.

 

Thanks! We appreciate the kind words. We do put a lot of effort into making sure our customers vehicles are setup correctly, glad its all working out for ya!

 

Hey all, just got my truck aligned yesterday after putting my new suspension in. Was testing out the adjustable damping and noticed a clunk on max down travel. I believe this is normal, but I want to confirm. I think the shock is bottoming out internally. What are y’all s thoughts? See description in video for more details.

https://youtu.be/vp0C3-1uCII

 

Could be. The front looks pretty tall. See this post, particularly #15.
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/ucas-maxed-out.646951/

 

Interesting info, I’ll have to throw a tape measure on it here in a few to check it out.

 

It's worth the time to do it. I had to lower my front to get the best performance. I like how it looked 1" taller but function before fashion....

 

Yes, you're probably adjusted too tall. I added a 1/4" Headstrong spacer on top so that I could adjust mine back in to range. Doing this mostly eliminated that clunk. I may get the 1/2" spacer to totally eliminate the clunk while being able to keep the front end level.

 

Thats pretty loud. Have you checked for clearance on sway bar, torqued all bolts properly?

Like mentioned above, looks tall. Coilover length should not exceed 21" from center of lower shock bolt to top of top cap. The kings have metal on metal contact when they top out, which might be that noise.

 

Forgot to mention no sway bar. Will check torques on everything tonight and lengths here in a few. Playing the vid in slow mo, the front suspension is absolutely fully extending itself.

Thanks for the confirmation on the King’s when they top out, that was my assumption. With that being said, is it bad for the shocks when they top out like that? I would think that they are designed to do so, but don’t know if there would be any negative affects aside from the noise.

If I wanted to maintain my current height, would the option that @calebc proposed be worth looking in to?

 

No, you are just going to move from one problem to another. The front of Tacomas/4Runners are not meant to be lifted very tall. Limitations come from ball joint, shock length and cv joints. Measure the front coilover lengths before we start talking about fixes or other options.

 

Top of top hat to center of shock mount bolt:

Passenger: 21.25”
Drivers: 21.5”

Granted it may not be sitting on a 100% flat surface. Also haven’t remeasured heights since installing new leaf packs, which could explain the current height difference. Drivers side was adjusted 4 turns more to accommodate for taco lean.

 

I would get those numbers down to 20.5" and 21" for starters.

 

I installed my extended King Shocks a couple weeks ago and after alignment I also noticed the clunking sound when the suspension was unloading. Took it off road and was hearing what sounding like a rattle when going over washboards and rough terrain. I’m pretty sure I’m topping out my shocks as well. Measurements from top of top hat to center of shock bolt was around 21.5”. What would be the ideal distance for this measurement to get the best performance?

I will be will be moving the adjustment 5 turns soon. Should I be worried about any damage I may have induced with the topping out during off roading? Anything I should be looking for that would be signs of damage?

Thanks!

 

Anything below 21" should be good. Doubt there is any damage to the shock, if you are concerned at all just make sure they are not leaking oil and are pressurized with nitrogen.

 

That's a pretty serious clunk. I initially had my coiler overs at 8 threads up on driver's side and 7 threads up on passenger side and had some topping out clunks while going over speed bumps at speed and when shocks quickly rebounded offloading. I'm now down to 3 threads up on driver's side and 2 threads up on passenger side and still have some clunking from time to time while off roading. My shocks are right at 21" from top of top hat to middle of lower bolt. I'm thinking about going down to 1 thread up on driver's side and 0 threads up on passenger side to further eliminate the clunking.

I really don't know how other trucks are running with so much preload...

 

Me either. Maybe they don't go off-road or smash speed bumps.

 

Measuring threads showing can be misleading to others if you are running a different length or rate coil than what comes from King. 2 threads showing on a 14x700 spring is a lot different than a 13x600 spring. The 21" measurement is the best to go off of.

 

Hey guys with the tc weld on spindle gussets (sway bar retained) will i need a spacer? Currently running method nvs and K02's 265/75/16

 

If the Method NV is a 16x8 et0 / ~ 4.5 BS, you will clear the spindle gusset. I did test fit a TRD Pro Faux Beadlock onto my setup and it was very close.

 

I want to play