Help: King coilover adjustment

Simple post for simple answers..

I have 2.5 king remote resi. coilovers ext. travel w/650lb Springs on them.

So, while raising the truck entirely off the ground, allowing the suspension to droop. loosening the locking nut (I used a flat head to gently "wiggle" the collar to ensure it had play in it) and having applied a deep penetrating lubricant to the shock sleeve (silver thing with threads) I feel that I am getting too much resistance or am causing a motion that should not be normal in the shock.

The motion being that when I go to turn the collar tighter with the supplied punch drive spanner wrench, the shock sleeve turns in unison with the shock collar. With very little resistance. I feel that this is not supposed to happen, and am afraid to turn it at all. I decided to just snug it back to its original spot and come here seeking answers.

I included a picture. the silver threads in which I believe is the shock sleeve is touched by the tip of the spanner wrench king supplied. this is the piece that spins when I turn the blue collar at the top.

1. is it normal for this sleeve to move at all?

2. how tough should it be to turn a collar down a shock on a mounted vehicle?

3. is it necessary to remove the shock for adjustments like king says?

4. how can I potentially ruin or destroy anything here by just cranking the collar down?

I'm by no means a certified mechanic, and am just beginning to learn and understand the mechanics of alot of these pieces. it took me about 20 hours to remove and replace uca's, coilovers, rear shocks, leafs and add airbags on a 3 year old north country vehicle. I had no help and have only done my own drain and fill services/ brakes and rotors. If that helps you evaluate my level of expertise..

Added extra pics for references before and after. still trying to raise the front though...

 

Note: I did achieve about an inch of lift just from the factory settings. I know that the spring helps with that and that king has a preload on these Springs from the factory to supply about an inch of lift. will that preload make adjusting these any harder?

I'm worried that I will enscrew a piece or damage a thread that is a critical component of the assembly..

 

You don't want to go too crazy loosening the pinch bolt, you don't want it to jump threads. The shocks can be adjusted on the truck, but as stated king and some of the other shock shops don't recommend it. I adjust c/o's on the truck all the time. If the collar has zero pre load on it from the spring it will turn very easy. When the truck is dropped out does the spring have any play?

 

Its normal for it to be that difficult. It takes a good bit of effort to adjust while on the truck. It's much easier to adjust, with them removed from the truck.

 

I have the King extended travel version with the 650# coil. These are a pain in ass to adjust on the truck. What worked awesome for me was to jack up the truck, remove the tire, loosen the collar and insert the tool into the collar. I actually spray a teflon base product (triflow) on the shocks threads to make it a bit easier. Next while turning the collar with one hand grab the coil with the other hand and turn the coil and the tool at the same time. Make sure the coil is orientated perfectly so when at full droop the UCA falls in between the gap of the coil otherwise the UCA where the uniball sits will hit the coil. The measurement of exposed threads is 1"and it yields close to 2.75" of lift.

Good luck.

 

The collar definitely takes a bit more force to turn, while lifted up the spring has no play that I can tell of. again my big fear is that the sleeve is not suppose to spin at all. yet alone when I'm turning the collar. I almost feel like I would be disassembling the shock by letting the sleeve turn like that.

 

Make sure the shock body isn't spinning in the top cal. That's the main reason they don't want them adjusted on the truck. King is afraid that you will start to unscrew the shock body from the top cap why trying to adjust the c/o's

 

So if the body is spinning in the top cal. how can I correct this? I would think from the factory the amount of torque that would be applied to secure the body in place would be much greater than w.e force I put on it to test out the collar adjustment. seems odd to me that this would be so loose. :-(

 

Thanks for the quick responses guys.

 

You'll have to watch it to see if it is spinning. That's why they specifically tell you not to adjust them on the truck. It's not a flaw of the coilovers. It's just the nature of everything. Coilovers deal with orings o rings aren't meant to be tightened down to a crazy torque value. I've never had one spin on me from adjusting on the truck, but any spring over 600 lbs I pull the coilovers off and use a spring compressor when adjusting, but that's just cause I've already bent or broke a couple of spanner wrenchs on various c/o's and I don't stock any spare spanner wrenchs

 

Hey man sorry no advice on your question but I was wondering what length shocks you have in the rear and what leafs those are?

 

The leafs are the OME Dakars. and the shocks are 24" with 8.5" of travel.

 

Any thoughts on utilizing a spring compressor while the coilover is still mounted on the vehicle? figured since it's so new, and if the compressor is new and both pieces are well lubricated.. I can tighten the spring maybe an 1/8th of an inch at a time, then lower the collar, repeat until I get my desired thread count. I can't think of any reason why this wouldn't work or would cause anything to seize up. does anyone have any experience doing this? is it relatively easy / safe to do it this way?

Even if I unmounted the coilovers I do not have a shop or vice that I can use to do this while unmounted. so for now this seems to be my only option short of driving hours away and paying hundreds of dollars to have someone else do this for me..

 

The only spring compressors I have that fit are too big to do what your talking about. I also have one of the cheap autozone style compressors that uses long bolts to compress the springs but the hooks don't fit between the coils.

 

Did you ever figure out how to add preload to these without having the shock body turn as well?

 

Pmd

 

if you havent got an answer or a solution:
use the spring compressors from autozone. remove the shocks from the truck, you wont need a vice to do the job.
much faster if you add preload with the shocks off the truck

 

Are you sure the spring compressors from Autozone works? I borrowed the ones from O'relly and they didn't work, the clamps were too thick to fit in between the coils

 

I have no experience with those death sticks but I used 4 ratchet straps to compress the springs. Tighten them little by little and its pretty easy to compress them. Watch out a little when you release them. They go pop! but never sprung out wild because they are still somewhat bound when you release them. You have to remove the coilover to put all 4 on though. I did this about a half a dozen times to get my ride height just how I wanted it. Wear eye protection and gloves as usual, be cautious as this is still a backyard kinda way to do it.

 

Trust me I was there once... Not a great way.. but a way.