New King Suspension For the LC! (3 Viewers)

[Evoking]

After much noodling and researching I have finally ordered a coil over kit for my 17'. I went from wanting OME BP-51 to deciding the Ironman Foam Cell kit was sufficient to going back up market and over to King! I read many reviews and spoke to many owners. Some that had had OME and ICON prior.

At the end of the day, I liked what I heard about the Kings a bit more. I also LOVE how they look and the fact that they are a bit different.

Will post pics!

 

[linuxgod]

Congrats. Let us know how your setup feels once it's done.

I considered King but went down market to Tough Dog (though reevesci might disagree with me calling it down market In my case I wanted something that I thought would go 100k miles without a rebuild at a ~$1500 price point, and the foam cell shocks were a fit. I found the foam cells are tuned for the trails at 15-20mph (the sweet spot they soak up bumps) and control sway and body roll better than stock, but the normal highway and city bumps IMO feel similar to new OEM shocks. Wish I had some other trucks I could drive to see what King, OME, and Icon feel like. Maybe I'll try them in 100k

 

[TRAIL TAILOR]

Congrats. Let us know how your setup feels once it's done.

I considered King but went down market to Tough Dog (though reevesci might disagree with me calling it down market In my case I wanted something that I thought would go 100k miles without a rebuild at a ~$1500 price point, and the foam cell shocks were a fit. I found the foam cells are tuned for the trails at 15-20mph (the sweet spot they soak up bumps) and control sway and body roll better than stock, but the normal highway and city bumps IMO feel similar to new OEM shocks. Wish I had some other trucks I could drive to see what King, OME, and Icon feel like. Maybe I'll try them in 100k

Nah... you can't compare the two in the same platform. King's are awesome, I sell them too. For custom kits and the guys that want a top of the line suspension I recommend King, but they come with a $2500-6K price tag.

J

 

[NLScooby]

That's suspension porn right there.....

 

[Yeti White]

I installed my kings recently and absolutely love them! I did have issues with my tires rubbing the reservoir hose and had to install spacers. Other than that it was an easy install and the ride is soooo good! Congrats- you will love them

 

[linuxgod]

Nah... you can't compare the two in the same platform. King's are awesome, I sell them too. For custom kits and the guys that want a top of the line suspension I recommend King, but they come with a $2500-6K price tag.

Next time...

 

[teambell]

@linuxgod how do your Tough Dogs feel when you have an empty truck? I am mostly stock and want to replace OEM, but don't tow and don't have any aftermarket F/R bumpers.

 

[stiffarm]

Me too, strictly stock, no rock crawling, only southern swamp mud.
What is the best?

 

[linuxgod]

Similar to new Toyota feel. I notice less shaking back and forth (side to side) on really bumpy roads and the trails. They don't soak up every bump and road imperfection much better than brand new factory shocks IMO, but going over bigger bumps especially on the highway seems more controlled to me.

I bought the 45mm adjustable shocks. They don't have full compression and rebound control, but they do have a knob on the bottom of each that supposedly provides up to 800% more firmness. reevesci can probably chime in on exactly how they work, but it seems to act more like rebound control. I can say for sure that on setting #1 as you go over bumps you float like a Cadillac. I keep mine dialed in at 4 normally, and increase them to 6 when I tow to cut down on porpoising. Turning the knobs takes about 60 seconds to do all 4.

@stiffarm, FWIW I've not run anything other than factory shocks before on any vehicle, so I can't really compare them to anything but the Toyota shocks. "best" is subjective. There's a triangle (or maybe a square) with comfort, maintenance, cost, performance (etc?) and you get to throw a dart somewhere into it. I hear Kings are more plush and soak up bumps better but they cost more and need to be rebuilt more often. Everything is a trade-off in life, even the LC.

 

[Evoking]

Well looky what arrived today... UCA's. The shocks are en route

 

[Willy beamin]

Are those the greasable nipples or the original ones

 

[Evoking]

Are those the greasable nipples or the original ones

Have no idea. But I generally have no problem with greased up original nipples as well. In fact I often prefer originals

 

[Evoking]

They're here! They look so cool I decided they dress up the foyer better than the painting I also noticed they are slightly oversized!

 

[linuxgod]

Have no idea. But I generally have no problem with greased up original nipples as well. In fact I often prefer originals

If they are greaseable, be careful with the grease zerks. I snapped one clean off when greasing mine the first time. Had to bike to the auto parts shop for a replacement since the truck was torn apart. Fortunately the bottom screw part that was still in the ball joint came out easily when I wedged a small screwdriver into it.

 

[Yeti White]

They're here! They look so cool I decided they dress up the foyer better than the painting I also noticed they are slightly oversized!

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looking good! I drove my brothers bone stock 200 last week so I could compare against my kings. I'm so glad I made the upgrade. Handling is sooo much better.

 

[Evoking]

looking good! I drove my brothers bone stock 200 last week so I could compare against my kings. I'm so glad I made the upgrade. Handling is sooo much better.

Thanks for the encouragement to stave off buyers remorse haha. When you say handles better I assume you mean dive and lean of the squishy stock suspension. But how does it ride. As in shock transference to the cabin?

 

[Ali M]

Nah... you can't compare the two in the same platform. King's are awesome, I sell them too. For custom kits and the guys that want a top of the line suspension I recommend King, but they come with a $2500-6K price tag.

J

I may call you to get more info on these for my '16

 

[Forrest Murphy]

I love me Kings- Went with the compression adjusters and internal bypass- the internal bypass acts as bump stop in theory- I have yet to test the theory.

 

[Evoking]

Here they are installed. They were preset at 2". You can barely tell a lift in the pics. Plus they will settle. But you can def notice the lift getting in and out.

May add another inch then let them settle back down to a solid 2.5 - 2.75.
May need to do something with the rear to take it up an inch or so to match.

Rides and handles great. I notice the improvement most on really bad roads.

 

[Evoking]

I am hoping to end up similar to this Icon equipped truck.