King shocks riding incredibly firm after shackle install

I only have about 1/2" to 5/8" before the front settles to its final position. Which I am assuming it will drop down to at least 2.5"s overall as king stated during a phone call. So possibly in the end I will have roughly a inch +/- difference in positive rake then I have now. That being said, if I drop the shackles to the lower/middle setting (the first is not used on our trucks), will that still not be enough? Or is 3/4" just the way to go, because I don't mind selling these if I have to. But I would be nice to have enough rake not to the California lean or even the optical illusion of such.

King stated they would give me a one time revalved per side (front and back) for free, other then shipping. So if that is the worse case scenario, that's not to bad at all as I still have the rear shocks in my garage to get me by till I could get them back and reinstalled.

I had called King before I even had the fronts installed (in a separate phone call) because I had to charge my front coilovers before they were installed. They stated they recommend 120psi in the front and 90psi in the rear, not dropping down to 90psi I asked them about the multiple posts on different forums about people charging to 180-200psi all the way around and they stated absolutely not. But if they said if they felt mushy I could go up about 25psi per shock (115psi total). As anything much more would be to firm and possibly blow a seal. So is going to 150psi all the way around needed or just beneficial? Or am I once again just way off bases?

When you say lipstick on a pig... what is the best course of action without swapping the king system out? Taking out enough preload of the front coilovers to get 2.5" (though hopefully it will settle to that height naturally and further adjustment is not needed) and then adding a 3/4" shackle? Or is it possible the middle setting on the Toytec's would be enough? I just want the best solution so I get the plush ride that kings is known for while getting extra height.

Is there any chance the bushings I had installed is causing this or even that the shackles or bound up? Or maybe it was tighten while the shops lift and not on the ground as they stated? Or lack of grease applied?Anyway to check for this? Someone on another thread said to loosed the shackles and drive around the block and see if that helps. That way it can rule out the shackle/bushing install. But if it did help, they had some idea about the problem. They didn't say what the additional idea were. I jusst have to wait for my wife to get home so she can watch the baby while I go try this theory.

 

I just noticed that I left out two details in my original post; not sure how much this matters. Sorry

1) I have a Magnum steel bumper on the rear of my truck

2) I originally called Kings last week to get the psi values because my rear was starting to ride overly firm. And they stated they could be low. At this point my truck only had the rear Kings on. That is when they gave me the psi values for both fronts and backs. A local shop purged and refilled the rear shocks, and it fixed the problem and started riding almost plush again; my setting were on the softest setting so they could have been to soft. They also did the front shocks as they were low directly from Kings.

Is it possible the shop didn't put enough nitrogen as the rears were on my truck during the refill? As I just found out they should have been removed when this was done.


Worthless info: While playing with my adjusters, it seems like the rough setting of 13/20 gives the best improvement for the rears. Still rough, but better. Speed bumps still hurt, not soaked up like before the shackles were installed.

 

I think I know what you are saying now. I would have to revalve to run a setting of 150psi?

 

Your valving is sounding exactly what I want and was expecting "out of the box". Plush around town yet able to do mild off-roading.

 

Anyway to tell if this is the case?

 

That's where I am getting confused. If I need to bump the pressure to 150psi, why did King tell me that the shocks are designed to run 90psi in the rear? This was said a week before this problem even existed. They never said to drop the pressure in my shock.

 

Thanks for the clarification. I will try to call king today get more information. I am pretty certain they are closed till Monday though.

 

this is a great thread.

 

N2 is mostly to prevent cavitation of the shock and not for tuning. If you beat on the shocks hard in the desert then you might want to run a bit higher pressure. When king rebuilt my first set they charged to 200psi. That was the race tech from King that suggested that. Why I don't know as the cap says 150psi. I run about 160psi. But I also carry a lot more weight than stock. Truck is about 6800 before I load it up with gear. I am valved aggressive and have dual front shocks and triple bypasses which is a whole other story.

 

So while looking for something on here I came across my old thread; so I will give a little update. Sorry for the extremely long delay.

At some point after posting this thread, I ended up getting a oil change at the dealer. When it was time to settle up and get my paperwork they mentioned my tires were at max psi- 80 psi if I remember right. They aired them back down to the normal psi on the door (still had the factory tires then). The vast majority of the roughness went away. I couldn’t believe it. The install shop for whatever reason changed the psi levels in all my tires. So ya, it was the tires that whole time. King also corrected their stance and said even with shackles; they were still in spec and not sure why I was told that.

I found one of the rear shocks leaking last week and it didn’t have any nitrogen in it. So I had them all removed today and I am going to send all 4 in to get rebuilt and valved a little softer since I have adjusters and my truck will be down regardless.