WHEN to use compression adjusters?

Compression adjusters can be a great feature to have, but when should you make changes to them? Check out our newest Tech Article that explains more about compression adjusters and when you may want to make changes. Feel free to post up questions below!

Enjoy

 

One of things I discovered with adjustable shocks is it makes it much harder to tell if your main piston is properly valved or not. You can kinda adjust to compensate for less than ideal valving, so a lot of times you just assume that you haven't got the compression settings dialed in properly yet. I did this for months with my Elka's before realizing that I probably needed the main pistons re-valved, which ended up making a huge difference. But still not perfect and now it's ever harder to tell what changes to the valving would improve the ride.

Do you have any tips to help determine when it's just a compression setting that needs tweaking vs the main piston valving being the culprit?

 

The best way to determine if your shock's main piston needs revalving when dealing with adjustable shocks is to start with neutral settings. Set all adjusters to the recommended baseline, or fully open, and test the shock across a variety of terrain types (chop, g-outs, etc.).

If you can’t dial in the performance or ride quality you’re looking for , even after running through the full range of adjuster settings, the main piston valving may need to be re-valved.

 

In regards to Fox, King & Ride, do any of these compression adjusters affect rebound?

Dobinson MMR & Bilstein DSA Zone Control have a 3rd knob to adjust rebound, any insight into why most other brands only have compression adjusters?

 

Curious about this as well. OME BP-51's also have compressions and rebound adjusters, as well as bypass. Adjusters for those are a pain in the a$$ to access. It would be interesting to have a chart with available shocks and features for the Taco. Yes, I'm too lazy to make one, not to mention I barely know what a shock does.

 

Rebound adjustments really matter if your spring rate changes often, like on dirt bikes, SxS, or anything running airbags. But for most trucks and SUVs, where spring rates stay consistent, you usually don’t need to mess with rebound much. In our world, compression is the main thing to dial in, and we set rebound based on whatever spring rate we’re pairing with.