Kings on the rear...

Dang... I should have done better homework... my installer's job is a lot harder than
either of us though it would be... he's over there relocating my shock mounts...



He seems to be used to fabrication... I've seen some of his frame welding in the past...

I should have paid harder attention to threads like this:

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/how-to-1st-gen-tacoma-rear-shock-relocate.540417/

-Mike

 

What’s the purpose of this post?

 

Where are you located? A relocation on a 1st gen is NOT a hard job. If he thinks it is, I would advise finding a new installer.

 

The three inch gap between the mounting post and the shock bushing hole...

 

That is a short ass shock.

 

I went back over to have a look this morning, the previous picture is from yesterday afternoon...

I no longer have a Toyota, rather, a ToFoEep... The spring plate from a Jeep... it has a flat
surface appropriate for mounting to the spring tops as opposed to the surface of the OEM
spring plate which was contoured to fit to the bottom of the differential/axle. And the u-bolts
are for some kind of Ford.



They machined new bushings at a near-by machine shop to match the King lower shock
mount to the Jeep spring-plate mount point.

The mount point on the passenger side spring-plate had to be cut off and welded to the
other side... I hoped this was going to be a good picture since it will have a shock on it
and the truck will be on the ground the next time I see it, but this is how good of a
camera man I am:



I took a bad picture of one of the old lower ball joints yesterday too, so at least I have that
rectified



I learned about this shop (Southeast Overland) on this board's "regional forum", and am
real glad to have Jeff and Morgan working on my truck.

-Mike

 

...The problem here is that you have the wrong shocks. They are way too short for your setup. The way they are mounted at the top of the spring will work... but it will be more prone to axle wrap. Additionally I am afraid you will likely bottom them out well before you run out of travel on the spring which will destroy the shocks very quickly. How the shop let that fly, I'm not sure, unless if you insisted they make it work.

Also make sure you relocate your brake bias valve as you will have significantly reduced rear braking performance. Make a bracket equal to the length of your lift. Be sure to do a few emergency stops with the truck in neutral after you are done to make sure your front brakes lock before your rear. Plenty of threads/pics on the subject.

 

I don't know much about shock relocating but something tells me that's not an ideal place to relocate the rear shocks...those shocks are simply way too short and probably only meant as OEM replacements (not lifted applications).

Maybe @glorifiedwelder, @desertjunkie760, or @Blackdawg can shine some light on this

 

BAMF and Wheeler's sell brake proportioning valve relocation brackets, I recommend the BAMF one

 

isn't the whole point of a shock relocation to be able to place a longer shock?

 

It’s hard to really tell what’s going on with these pics. The angles don’t really show how much bump travel the truck is capable of. It’ll probably be fine. I’m not a fan of single shear shock mounts on an off-road vehicle but I’m sure it’ll be ok

 

Get some limit straps to stop the travel of your rear end from bottoming out and destroying your shocks.

 

Or at least to make use of the full travel of said shock and leaf combo

 

I wonder how long that mounting point will last. My bet is not very long. That spring pack holder isn't meant for any amount of tension on it let alone holding the axle from unloading.

 

Doesn't pull centrally on the pack either. This looks like a mod of convenience haha. Should go to the axle instead of sideloading springs that will want to essentially bend that right off.

 

Good point.
I found that foto to illustrate what a limiter looks like.
That guy was doing a custom rebuild on his truck and I recall that he said he took the limiters off... probably for the very reason you make.

 

I feel like you wouldve gotten more travel out of a set of ome nitrochargers or bilstein 5125 shocks using the stock mounting points. That entire setup you got going on there defeats the purpose of kings and a shock relocation imo.

 

I drove the truck today. I scooted around on some badly paved and patched curvy backroads. All the "scitter"
is gone and it holds a line real well. The suspension gets from me.

I looked around and ended up reading through a good thread started by the BAMF guy about the brake
proportioning bracket...

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/b-a-m-f-bpv-relocate-bracket.184065/

My truck was lifted when I got it, with this stuff, I don't know what it is, no stickers and partially
spray painted with black...







The proportioning valve has not been relocated. I think the brakes worked "good",
before and after the suspension change, but numerous of the people in the thread
above thought the same thing and noticed an improvement after trying the relocate...

The general un-enthusiam about the direction of my project is deserved though...
I pick this post as being closest to hitting the nail on the head:

I don't know much about shock relocating but something tells me that's not an ideal place to relocate the rear shocks...those shocks are simply way too short and probably only meant as OEM replacements (not lifted applications).

The lower shock will have to be re-relocated if for no other reason that the shocks are
sagged out almost all the way just sitting there.



These shocks are meant as OEM replacements. The Deavers are supposed to provide a "1.5 max"
lift. The Kings in the front are adjustable for lift. I hope the Kings in the back and the Deavers aren't
too far from each other, and they sure do make for good suspension action together... The relocation of
the lower rear shock mount is the only variable I haven't hit yet I hope... version 2 won't happen until
next week...

-Mike

 

So I guess the lesson here is to get the correct shocks for your application or you have to do some funky things to the suspension.

You've basically unnecessarily limited the travel of the rear suspension by using stock replacement shocks (however high end they are) on a lifted truck. The deavers have a 1.5" lift, but that mount raised the shock mount by probably 6", maybe more.

Did a shop do this modification???

If so, what's the name of that shop so I can avoid it? Any shop I'd be willing to take my truck to would have told me to get the correct length shocks, rather than fabing up some goofy mount.

Any U-bolt flip kit I've ever seen (which is basically what you have now, albeit not a good one), has shock mount tabs that are welded to the axle housing.

Sell your Kings before you ruin them, remove that goofy mount, and get proper tabs welded to the axle housing, then measure and get the proper length shocks.

As for the BPV, literally all you need in a piece of flat bar with a few holes drilled in it. It's *really* easy to fabricate one yourself.

 

OP, next time you need this kinda work done, try Apex Overland up here in Central NC.