King Coilover Height Adjustment

Nice Really the only place to legally wheel is up in peacock flats.
https://youtu.be/41WFDdzt4Bs

https://youtu.be/32YCW02wS3o

I can't wait to get my king hydro bumps setup and hydro assist steering in so I can hit that trail again...

 

Im gonna enjoy watching these!

 

Just so we are clear. You don't agree with physics, the manufacturer, and myself? Or you don't agree with the idea of preloading?

 

you are not "preloading" your shocks. Just changing your ride height. Spring rate doesn't change. If you have 600lb coils, they will compress 1" for every 600 lbs. so if you have 1200lbs on that shock they will compress 2". If you could crank your coils at ride height, you would see that the springs stay the same and you are just lifting the truck higher, not compressing the springs. Look at the pic of my shocks above. With the ring backed all the way off or cranked over 3" the compressed length stays the same, so it would ride the same unless hitting the ends of shock travel like I said.
Believe what you want. I'm out

 

That's on your setup.


On my setup (I believe, not 100% sure) tightening the preload does not lengthen the shock assembly it only puts more pressure on the spring.

 

Yes, but you are preloading/compressing the spring at full extension with no weight on it. But like I said, if you measure the compressed length at ride height, it would be exactly the same before and after. When you set your truck back down on the ground, the spring still compresses under the trucks weight right?

Here is some math that might help:
https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads...ery-getter-build.342010/page-89#post-15760034

 

is it possible that by compressing the coil at full extension you are removing the "cushiest" amount of flex creating a stiffer ride?
Really not trying to be a dick, just trying to understand why

 

Why does it appear that the first gen has no ifs skid... am I losing my mind?

 

I'm not trying to be a dick either, if I didn't care, I wouldn't have responded.
Maybe a little, but not enough to feel it. King coils are not progressive. The compressed length of the springs at ride height doesn't change, so it shouldn't feel different no matter where the ride height is, unless like I said you are at the extreme ends of travel. So if you are topping out your shocks over bumps, yes it might feel rougher, But not really under normal driving.
And yes my truck is no longer IFS, but I did have a nice fox midtravel setup before and changed ride heights and springs a few times, and I've installed so many lifts that I bought a wall mounted spring compressor. In fact, i'm installing some King MT shocks front and rear for a friend this weekend.

 

Not sure. Doesn't look like it, but I never got a good look under his truck.

 

BTW, I am far from a shock expert, and do not claim to be. but I have installed and adjusted enough coilovers to understand spring rate and ride height. I know shit about valving

 

I know shit about shit so you got me beat

 

It took me a long time to figure it out. But like I said, if you could crank your coils with the truck on the ground, you would see in real time that you are just lifting your truck higher, not compressing your springs any more.

So if the amount of compression on your springs does not change at ride height, why would it ride any different?

With the shocks fully extended you seem to be compressing the spring more, but it will still squat to the same amount at ride height.

 

Ah that totally makes more sense when you phrase it like that. My next question is this...why does if get harder to crank the threads as you increase height? I would think the force on the adjuster crown would be consistent if there wasn't more load getting applied to the coilover? In theory the weight of the truck doesn't change so the preload would be similar unless if going up in threads causes that much of a "moment" around the coilover top hat or something.

 

Well, at full extension, you ARE compressing the coils more, so it will take more force to compress then since it's a for example 600lbs per inch coil. So if you already have an inch of preload, it will take even more force to compress the spring more at full extension.

If the coil was 14" long, and you adjusted it to 12" of preload, it would have taken only 600lbs of force to get it to 13" and then 1200lbs of force to get it to 12"

If you could adjust the coils at ride height, it would be incredibly hard, but would remain constant until you start running out of shock travel and actually start compressing the spring.

 

Oh ok so to some degree it gets exponentially harder the more you crank on the coils then?

 

It would seem that way, but if you graphed it out, it would still be linear. Progressive springs would have an exponential curve.
But I know what you mean.

 

Right, I just know from my buddys truck and mine that when you are cranking the first few its not bad, but if you get to say 13-16 threads it starts getting really hard. My buddy snapped my T-handle on his last thread rotation.

 

For sure. Since I have a Branick, I'd rather just pull the shocks to adjust ride height. And on the branick, it still gets harder and harder. Even with the shocks fully extended, your springs are still under compression. Your adjustment ring is aluminum and the shock body is steel. The aluminum will wear eventually. A few squirts of lube will help.

These are the kings on my wife's 4Runner

 

So if king sells their oem replacement ext shocks with 600# springs for a stock taco; is compressing that 600# spring with preload, and altering your ride height, affect the performance of how the shock fully cycles? If (Like coot said) you install a 650# coil to lift, is it the same as compressing a 600# coil a little bit? Or do you lose any amount of travel out of the 600# because it can not collapse as far? Sorry if I'm just not getting it