ADS shocks

Agree to disagree…. Plenty of opportunity to use shock travel at lower speeds! Find some sweet jumps and let them eat!!!

 

Jumping is the best part!

 

Braaaaaappppp!

 

If my front performed as well as the rear I’d be jumping er’thang!

 

Atta boy!

 

So i hate to bring up an old thread... But I just installed U748 and it lifted the rear about 4". I threw some 700# springs up front with my King 2.5 and im sitting with maybe a 1.5" rake now. My rear shock is showing about 8.5" out while sitting on the ground, leaving me with only 1.5" of upward travel. "Not much at all" I see my only option for a rear shock is the ADS deaver spec which will set me right.... $1700. Or i go to deaver and they can adjust the leaf pack and drop the rear 2" for $650.... then I would need to drop the front again get alignment etc etc. lol My question is... Is it worth it to jump to ADS in the rear while still running kings up front? or would i benefit more by just getting the leaf pack redone and lowering the truck down.

 

I feel like you've asked this in many threads and have been given options? How long have you had the leafs in? They settle a bit over time. It seems like you want to redo the leaf pack. I'd start there. You don't need to re align the front if you have thread showing on the CO then adjust it down.

 

What are you trying to do with the truck? Are you saying you're still running the stock rear shocks paired with the 748's?

The 748's paired with TC or MCM shackles will give some pretty good lift in the rear. Mine was probably 3"-4" when I first installed, but they will also settle some over time. Some rake isnt a bad thing if you plan to put anything in the bed or tow. Even unloaded, the 748's paired with the ADS shocks are a remarkable upgrade over any combination of stock leafs and/or shocks.

If you're still on stock shocks, you're limiting the performance of those leaf's in a big way. Reworking the leaf to pair with a stock shock will result in the same performance tradeoff. If I were you, I'd just get the ADS rears that are Deaver spec'd. The guys at MCM and ADS would be the best folks to talk with regarding your use case and get you in the right setup.

 

I have the king 2.5” with adjuster in the rear. They only offer 10” of travel. I have a topper, rear ADD bumper and spare tire. So about 350 pounds chillen at all times back there. Deaver swears they don’t settle, but if I get them to make adjustments and then it settles even lower is what I’m worried about. I have my front end maxed out right now trying to accommodate for the 3” rake it gave it lol

 

If you've already got the king 2.5's on the rear with that load, I'd run it as is for a while and see how it goes. If you decide it's not working, you could just sell those King's and pick up the Deaver spec'd ADS. Hell, for that matter you could probably work with King to get an extended travel rear shock and some valving to match the 748's if you want to keep the blue stickers vs yellow

Maxing out the preload on the fronts co combat rake could problematic. My rear got high with the Deaver/ADS system, but so did the front. I think I ended up with about 1.5" of rake all said and done. Perhaps the ADS coilovers are taller to match the rear and keep rake under control? Either way, we're dealing with stock geometry/mounting points so there's going to be a compromise somewhere.

I know Deaver says they won't settle, but they definitely will. They're leaf springs, they all settle some...

 

No need to sell the kings.. All these shocks can be revalved

 

Also, having your suspension maxed out isn't doing you any favors in ride quality.

 

Re valving my kings wont make them longer travel though lol mine max at 10" while ADS max at 13". I just don't know if valving from 2 different companies would be a drastic difference if i were to run ADS rear and Kings front lol.

 

Thats why im on the fence, either lower the leafs or swap out the shocks. If i lower the rear I can drop the front 1.5" to take off some of the pre load

 

Is this travel number you're getting stated shock length? Or are you actually measuring travel? Have you taken the shocks off and drooped out your suspension? The stock location pivots doesn't see much travel.

 

I actually measured it, as the truck sits on the ground im measuring 8.5" of the shaft extended length, when I jack the truck up it maxes out at 10". When i swapped over my shackles I had to remove the shock because it wasn't letting the leaf drop down due to the shock being maxed out as well. it needed to drop about another 1.5" before I could get to the rear eye let of the leaf spring into the shackle. "I know you know way more about all of this then me lol im not jumping the truck, trying to get it dialed in for the road trips and the occasional trails in the mountains"

 

Awesome just checking in if the shock was the actual limiting factor here. lol I dunno if I know more. Worst case is selling the kings and moving to the proper length spec'd ads. Those would sell quickly. But I'd start at the leaf pack and see how she does.

 

So you think just getting deaver to lower the leaf pack? they want $650 lol ADS I can do the piggy backs for 1300 and sell my kings for 900 and be out of pocket 400 lmfao. Baling on a budget over here

 

Well I think we have 2 issues. One you don't like the ride height lol two is the proper length shocks.

 

Ride height is growing on me, in the end it seems cheaper to go with the ADS piggy back setup. But then OCD kicks in with having 2 separate brands lmfao.

 

Yea.. lol that 2 different brand thing doesn't work for me lol. Hence why I moved all my lighting lol

 

Great discussion here. Glad to hear you actually checked the shock travel on the truck. Sounds like you’ve confirmed the shock is your limiting factor.

I have admittedly never cycled and measured my rear suspension but I can tell you 100% that quality and quantity of travel are both increased with the ADS/deaver AND I’m still using stock mounting points. I know there’s “better” options but it’s a good system that’s pretty plug and play.

I’m not an ADS salesman, but I really think your simplest way forward is to swap out those kings for a deaver spec’d shock so you can take advantage of that extra droop.

When I was facing this same conundrum it seemed like ADS was the only one producing a good shock that was valved and spec’d (lengthwise) to work specifically with the U748 or k37 leaf pack. Does king or fox offer an “off the shelf” option for this? Maybe just upgrade to a 12” or 14” stroke king?

 

Just when I thought I could get away with dropping the deavers 2" haha what set are you running in the rear? If i do pull the trigger it may be the piggy back setup. But then I would need to swap my fronts eventually too haha Cant rock kings and ADS

 

I am running u748’s, ads 2.5” triple bypass shock, and ads hydro bumps.

@Chad D. has the same setup, but with the non bypass piggyback I think.

I wouldn’t worry about mixing brands between front and back to get the outcome I want, but that’s just me. I also did my fronts at the same time as the rear with ADS so I’m matchy matchy.

 

So probably wise to not mess with the way the deavers came and just accommodate the added lift with a longer shock.

 

I don’t know if I’d say it’s unwise to modify the leaf pack (assuming the work is done by a reputable shop). I’m just saying I think your best solution is to get a shock on there that matches the spring in terms of valving and travel length. ADS/MCM already put the work in to assemble a leaf spring/shock package that was meant to work together and gets good results. Companies like Camburg and total chaos have done the same thing with fox and king shocks in terms of specifying valving/travel to work with their suspension kits. Last time I checked, the big difference with the fox/king options is that you need to change the mounting points of the shock to take full advantage of the deaver travel. I found it a handy thing that ADS was making a shock that increased travel AND used the stock mounting points. Some would argue that using stock mounting points isn’t the best option, and they’re probably not wrong, but it sure is an easy solution for the kind of performance you get.

Depending on how hard you push your truck, you may never even find the limits of your current setup with the kings…in which case I’d leave it alone.

 

the work done will be by deaver themselves. So not too worried about the quality of work. I just don’t get why it advertised as 2” lift and me and a few others got 4” of lift haha

 

What is the measurement from fender opening to centerline of rear wheel hub? I just took a couple quick measurements that I hope help.

My wheel hub centerline to bottom of fender opening is 26.5”.

There is 6.5” of exposed shaft on my “Deaver spec” ADS 2.5” smoothie rear shock.

From my understanding, ADS’s Deaver spec shock offers no additional travel over their OEM spring spec shock. It is merely 1” longer. If your Kings are stock length, they’d have 7.5” exposed shaft on my truck. With your new springs, I’m not surprised that they’re another inch higher. They will settle…

That said, you should have the correct length shock, regardless of brand. If I were in your shoes and my shocks were too short, I’d be looking at the King 12” set (to match colors) with a relocation bracket.

And for reference, here is my rake as she sits right meow:



Don’t laugh. She’s a dirty girl this morning…

 

My rear is at 27" from center hub to bottom of the fender, the front is 25.5" center to fender. I have 8.5" exposed, but going to follow through with my appt with deaver and let them take off 2" of lift in the rear, and then Ill adjust the front down 1/2" to sit level, maybe even 1" up front to get a slight rake. Should give me about 3.5" hopefully of shock upward travel in the rear if im correct.

 

Well since we're taking parking lot photos measurements this morning I'll definitely chip in!!

My rear is sitting at ~27" from center of hub to fender lip. I can't get a measurement on exposed shaft because I'm running the flexible boots. I'm relatively light compared to @Chad D. Nothing in the bed, just a softopper and some tools under the back seat.

My front is ~25.5" from center of hub to fender lip, so approximately 1.5" of rake.

Picture for reference.