Let the weekend o' wrenching commence! Bumper and Kings install.

Sorta agonized for some time now on which low profile bumper I liked most. The c4 looks good here, thanks for sharing.

 

Haven't had them in the dirt yet, but on road they are considerably better than the TRDOR Bilsteins (which weren't bad). I was concerned because the ride of the Bilsteins was pretty nice, though harsh in the rear. When the W learned I was replacing the suspension I got the "Oh, great, it's gonna ride like hell like your other truck (Gen1 w/Kings and 700's)".

She got in it for the first time the other day on our way to dinner. She said "I don't feel a lot of difference" as we were driving to our destination. I came up on an intersection we cross all the time and has big whoops on either side, and scrapes in the asphalt where all the cars bottom out...that kind of thing. I was doing about 25 as we came up on it and wasn't slowing down, and the W is saying "Babe....babe....BABE!!!" and grabbing the "oh shit handle" and bracing for impact. We hit, went across, hit the far side, and she is like "ohhhh, I see! That is smooth!" With the Bilsteins, it was quite a bit rougher, and I never tried that one over 20 with the Bilsteins.

I've gone slightly out of my way to work every day the last couple months to cross a series of these intersection whoops and get a feel and memory of how the stock suspension felt so I could compare to the Kings and make adjustments. Fronts (even with the 700's) much better. Rears better on the big dips, but the little potholes and the like are a little more jarring. Tried 0 clicks on the rear adjusters, and seemed worse. Right now have them at 3 clicks. 5 clicks seemed too much. For the moment have settled for 6 clicks front and 3 clicks rear for the street. Obviously they will get cranked up a bit more for off roading. I may have to consult with King and play around with the nitrogen charge a little on the rears to see if that helps there, but I'm going to get this thing in the dirt in a few weeks for a 10 day hunting trip, and will make further adjustments then before I do anything else.

 

I've got to say, I'm already sold on the compression adjusters. I dropped tire pressure by 2lbs in the back last night, and took it through my normal work route with the dips today. Nice difference, both through the "street whoops", and over the smaller cracks and bumps along the way.

I went through several different standard shocks on the back of the Gen1 with both the Downey coilovers with 800lb Downey Tundra coils (hey, back in the Gen1, ARB bull bar and winch days, the Downeys and 800's was a thing), then the Kings w/ 700's on the Gen1, and getting a rear shock to perform and provide a ride quality similar to the fronts was not an especially easy task. Usually pretty dissimilar ride from front to rear. The Bilstein 5100's I settled on for the rear on that set up ultimately worked pretty good. But I pitched a couple sets of rear shocks early in their lives during the search.

I'm really appreciating being able to "tune" (for lack of better description....I'm not "tuning" much by turning a dial) is a very welcome capability. As is being able to dial it down for a more reasonable street ride, and bumping compression up once I air down and hit the dirt. Should keep the ride about the same in the dirt, with the added compression and ability to handle some hard hits at speed. And between the 44 mag or the center console taking a beating on my ribs on the slower, rockier sections....well, dialing down compression would be welcome indeed. Two weeks of getting a revolver grip or console jammed in your ribs, and bouncing your head off the side glass, well, it gets old after about 3 or 4 days.

I've got my "street setting" dialed in I think. Once I hit the dirt, I'll figure out where I want to set them at for that. I can't see a need to ever want or need to play with them beyond the pavement to dirt and back to pavement adjustments. Hit the dirt, adjust, come out and hit the pavement on the way back home, adjust, and done until the next trip.

 

Looks great. what size tires are you running?

 

265/75-16's