3rd Gen Owners with King Coilovers

Just the 600 lb springs. Tires are 265/75/16 duratracs (C) on oem wheels without spacers.

 

Are you able to adjust the coilovers while mounted on the truck?

 

Should be able to. I do recommend getting some form of spanner wrench as sometimes the holes can get in an awkward spot with the resi line where a spanner can give some advantage over the punch.

Coot

 

A little bit but not much. I don't have much weight up front besides a skid plate. If I measure all the way around it's level except for a little sag on the driver side rear with a full tank. I also found out I have 600lb springs not 650. What annoying is I called the vendor who I got them from and they said I could have opted for 650 free of charge. Annoying but oh well. Still drives great for my needs.

 

Ya I a super excited to get these things off road! I am able to notice a huge difference with just one click even with SOA. How much do you typically dial it up in the rear when going off-road?

 

Awesome man, Im glad to you are getting the same differences. Well to be honest I think I will end up keeping them in their softest setting for the rear, but might bump up one depending on how much gear I have in the rear when we go next. Before, I had the OEM MT kings which arnt as soft as my LT front is. Because of this, I would stiffen up my rear to be 2 clicks from the softest with a full cooler in the truck bed when I wheeled. This was partly because the front end was stiffer than the rear which would cause the rear to "sway" up and down more noticeably if it was softer than the front. With my front being LT now and softer, I will likely have it the softest as the rear can be firmer than the front now if it doesn't have some load in it. I will confirm in a few weeks how it turns out. For the most part though, I keep my rear pretty soft, but I also tend to drive pretty fast over stuff which the suspension seems to prefer.

Coot

 

yes, just jack the front up and take the weight off the coilovers. I used the wrench from King, which just looks like a big punch. Once the holes got in a tight spot I was still able to wedge the punch in the hole and turn the collar very easily.

 

Why not just preload the lean side instead of using a shim ?

 

What? He did adjust preload? He used a shim for the rear leafs

 

Is pre-load the only way to adjust height? Pre-load should be used to adjust for weight.

 

Exactly. As soon as I put the coilovers on the rear lean was noticeable. Even after I adjusted the fronts level with each other it was still there... kind of weird. Only way to get rid of it was with the 1/2" leaf shim.

 

He used one half inch shim on the driver side to get rid of the taco lean. You can't preload that side a little stiffer to level out the truck instead of using a shim ?

 

Preload is the same thing for both. This is a single type adjustable coilover, which you move the spring perch up or down (adding or removing preload).

 

He DID. Preload is for the only coilover parts which is for the fronts only. The rears are a shock and a leaf pack which is not applicable to adjusting preload of a coilover, because there is no coilover back there.

Are you talking about fronts or rears?

 

I get that, but if your adjusting for taco lean, wouldn't you want pre-load to be the same on both front coil overs?

 

Taco lean (well, most cars are like this anyway) is the driver side front is higher than the passenger side front to account for the weight of a human in the driver's seat to make it look more even with the driver inside the car. Due to the differences in height between both fronts, one will most likely be different preload setting than the other to account for said difference.

Rake = difference in height between front and rear.

 

I've noticed that my drivers side sits slightly lower then the passenger side. This is without me in the truck. So I was planning on adding a spacer to the front drivers coil over to offset the lean.

It sounds like some will adjust pre-load on that corner of the truck instead of using a spacer?

 

Please do not add a spacer on top of your front suspension. you're messing with the overall length of the shock itself and it's articulation, instead of using the function you are adding with a coilover which is height adjustment via the spring and perch and its thread (AKA preload). Why would you not use the coilover to adjust height when it's purpose is to be height adjustable?

 

Correct.

 

So if you adjust pre-load to compensate for the lean on one corner, then you would end up with different pre-load settings on both front corners. Then you would have to adjust compression and rebound differently on the front corners of the truck.

I have more experience dialing in motorcycle suspension than I do truck suspension which Is why I'm asking these questions. On a motorcycle you adjust pre-load to offset the riders weight, not to adjust height. A motorcycle height adjustment can done by lowering / raising the forks in the front or adjusting linkage in the back.