Another Truck?! Third Time's the Charm TURBOCHARGED

Thanks man!

 

I'm back on my shit, this time with some rear shock rebuild and valving and a front control arm bushing replacement.

 

Not that it matters to literally anyone else, but I just revalved everything so I thought I'd drop my valving incase it helps anyone form an opinion on their own.

 

I'm actually prepping to crack open my Sway-a-Ways and play with the valving. TMFF put a nice tune on them but I think things could be better for my driving/setup. My truck is much lighter than his.

Any advice you'd give based on your experience? Either around valving or around the disassembly/rebuild process.

 

I can probably give a general idea of what to do valving wise when we know what's in there and what behavior you're trying to correct and in what scenarios. You have a mostly stock single cab right, what springs are on there (length and rate)? Other than that if you need help with disassembly or reassembly just hit me up, I have the technical drawings from Sway-A-Way, they show the proper IFP depth and how all the parts should be and in what order. I've rebuilt these things twice now, all the parts are still out there still. The rebuild how to video from AccuTune is damn good but make sure you defer to the technical drawings for setting the IFP depth, don't do the final step putting the seal head in how he does in the video or you'll end up with too little nitro volume and follow the drawings for seal locations, he puts the main seal head outer body seal on the wrong groove in the video too. The rebuild seal kits from shockseals.com are a great value too BTW, save the scratch paying for shipping from aFe.

https://youtu.be/XsACjUE9awE?si=bsdlF4wzVMvYapne

 

Nice, those tech docs should be a big help. It will probably be some weeks before I actually work on this. I'll watch the video a few times in the meantime. I've got some Bilsteins I can swap on so I'll be able to take my time while still keeping the truck drivable. Should be an interesting project.

I'm a basically stock (apart from the suspension) regular cab. Just a cross-bed toolbox for constant load. I think the Toyota-advertised weight for my truck is around 3300lbs, so I'm probably around 3500lbs not counting humans. The springs on there are 14" 500lbs Kings. I know that's a super light spring, but they do give adequate ride height without a ton of preload.

The main thing I'm trying to do is soften up small-bump sensitivity at low speeds. The front end is good above 25mph or so but slower than that you feel every gap in the pavement. I know a suspension engineer and he suggested removing one of the bleed screws to start with. Once I'm in there, I'm curious to see how my shim arrangement compares to yours.

I'll probably also need to upgrade my rear shocks to better pair with the front. I've got 5100s (and Deaver J59 springs) on there right now and the rear tends to hop around. Of course that's somewhat expected with an empty bed, but I'm sure it could be better.

 

I'd pull a bleed for sure if your main complaint is the small bumps and cracks in the road.

 

I committed a sin today finishing revalving my final King... but I'm not going to say what it is because I think it won't be noticeable and I have friends that will no doubt drive this truck and the last thing I want to di is tip them off to the difference. Can't be introducing confirmation bias into my little test haha. Either way i'll be rebuilding the kings again after the trip I'll be taking soon. I know I won't have gotten them perfect, I'm just shooting for better than before for the moment, need to get a better feel for what final changes need to be made...

 

This should be interesting.

 

Slammed the truck back together last night... 1st impressions, I think I made the front better. Small bumps and imperfections in the road and super gradual ones have disappeared. Not sure if I did the rear any favors yet though, remains to be seen as I'm still dicking with the compression adjusters.

 

you have 2.5's in the rear right?
In my conversations with accutune, you have to valve 2.5's for a truck like yours pretty damn light since it takes a a fair bit of initial force to get them moving due to the larger size.
Might be reciting that wrong, but the logic was sound in our discussion.

 

I have 2.0 in the rear. The valving isn't super light but pretty light and the flutter lets em get moving I think

 

This is encouraging. Your front needed some help, especially on the bigger hits. I know you carry some weight in back all the time, but expect it to be different again, both front and rear, when you are loaded up for an adventure.

 

I suppose we will see really soon. I took it down a little dirt road faster than I normally would and it felt pretty decent.

 

Hmmm, won't be for this upcoming adventure, but found a fridge for the truck so I think I can retire my cooler. Found someone selling unbranded Alpicool fridges... regular DanFoss refrigeration components in it so I have no reason to believe it would be worse or better than any other car fridge on the market.

 

Snippet of something I found on another web page, but it's a good bit of thought that I need to continue to remind myself of.

 

Very accurate.

 

Okay so post trip feedback on valving. I've concluded I've done almost no favors to the rear shocks, I just plain do not like what I've come up with and it's a combination of the shock valving and springs in this case and I've poorly matched the two. I can fix this but I have to start fresh and I'm going to ask for some advice before I do. The fronts, I'm pretty happy with actually, needs a touch more rebound but damn if it isn't a lot smoother and better handling now. The rear should be a pretty easy fix but I am going to eliminate two variables for the sake of learning next time. Going to remove the flutter, King 2.0 have three bleed holes that cannot be blocked so my flutter is just making the piston too free moving, and I'm going to reduce rebound, seems there is too much.

 

Regarding too much rebound damping in the rear, it seems like that issue would change based on weight in the back. Does it feel worse when you are at your every day street weight compared to when you are loaded up at adventure weight?

 

It feels worse unloaded yes, but it still feels not great loaded. It's not letting the truck recover from compression effectively, trapping it low when heavy and letting it return harshly (causing bucking sensation when unloaded). Bucking is almost always a rebound issue not a compression one.