Installing King Suspension Questions

-Plan is rears tonight since I already have those
-UCA and fronts get delivered tomorrow so Ill start those tomorrow night and finish them Sat morning if they take long
-Alignment Saturday
-Big Bear Sunday.

 

Super easy with a pair of channel locks. It's the mental game of bending metal. My fenders had asome grit on them so the sound it made when I bent them didn't help. Totally fine now though!

Here is a SUPER helpful video from @TOTAL CHAOS

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbsTJgb6S_c

 

I've watched that video line 50 times haha

 

You can also cut the bolts and put new ones in backwards.

 

If you've got a floor jack plan on jacking the rear as high as it will go to install the new rear shocks. Way easier than trying to compress them to fit in the axle mount.

 

I heard that for the rear install, you don't need to jack up or remove tire. I heard it's actually easier that way??

 

This is entirely dependent on where the collar is set. In my experience the delivered setting from King resulted in it being exactly level front to rear. Others have reported the same on here.

This shouldn't be the case. If the collars are set to the delivered spot (only 2 or 3 threads showing) you should be level with no lift in the rear. Since you are getting them second hand you'll want to see where the collars are and set them for whatever lift or lack of you want in the front.

Maybe I'm misreading this but it sounds like you got 2" of lift without ever adjusting the collar? That's not expected. More like 1" at first and a bit less after it settles.

Definitely do it yourself. It's not hard. Front is easier than back. Be ready to trim the rear lower shock mounts (on truck, not on shock) with a grinder. I didn't think I was going to have to do that and wasn't really prepared to but it wasn't an option.

 

I'm sorry. Sometimes I can barely turn a wrench so forgive the dumb question, but if you don't add springs/AAL (or blocks, eek) to the back, won't he end up with a major bro lean?

 

Not necessarily. King's have height adjustment built in. You can choose how much lift you want. Range is about 0-2.5". This only applies to the front though. No height adjustment in the rear.

 

I had a helluva time trying to compress my Fox 2.5’s.

You can try to compress yours indoors by hand and see if it’s doable without jacking.

 

I have a jack available so I should be ok either way.

 

Rears came in today so I got those installed. Left side took about an hour. Right side about 20 minutes. Hardest part was actually mounting the brackets because space was so tight. Oh, and instructions say to have 1 bushing on both sides of top mount but they don’t tell you which bushing goes where. They’re two different sizes. I put bigger one on top since that’s how it came installed.

Didn’t remove tire. Removed stock shocks with truck on the ground. Installed rear shocks with rear of the truck lifted.

 

Do not put the uca bolts in backwards as stated in a previous post. If they come loose and the nut falls off, the bolt will possibly drop out as they are on a downward angle.

 

OP can measure from center of his rim to the fender flare before and after install and see where he ends up. I thought I got a 2' lift in front with my collar set from King.

 

This could be said about any bolt that is installed from the bottom up on the truck... Personally I have never heard of a control arm bolt coming loose and falling out. Is it possible? Sure. If you are that paranoid you could always double nut it.

 

I have seen that nut fall off twice. Bolt was half way out when inspection before trail run was done.

 

Had the same prob with nut being loose.
Be sure to not have too many washers in there so that the nut has a chance to tighten against the solid part of the bolt.
Then just locktite it and be done with it.

 

8 hours of fun/hell. The UCA bolt removal was no fucken joke! The job itself wasn't too hard.
Things that would have made the job easier:
ratchet wrenches
A buddy
proper lighting

 

Harbor freight ftw,
Decent cheap ratcheting wrenches, cheap lighting