Shock shopping

You tune a shock's ride characteristic based on the valve shims inside the shocks. I'm guessing this is a foreign to you, but it's a series of thin washers that progressively change in size. Different thickness shims results in a different shock dampening profile. Revalving (changing the shim count, configuration, and thicknesses) is what us big boys do. Change it the wrong way...the truck rides like shit. I could throw in a double stack of .020" shims on your comp and rebound and plug the free bleeds and you would hate your shocks.

 

They are pretty easy to tune. Most of us in rock racing do flutter stacks, where as a tundra may not want that at all.

I like seeing people valving their own shit. Almost brings a tear to my eye.

 

I did comp flutters on my tundra, but I put the flutter between the second and third shims. Cushy ride around town, and stiffened up the high speed shims for doing stupid stuff. Works really well.

Front:
170-.010
160-.010
100-.010
160-.012
145-.012
130-.012
100-.012
over .012 rebound

Rear:
175-.010
160-.010
100-.008
145-.012
130-.012
115-.012
100-.012
over .010 rebound

 

Honestly i didnt know how valving was accomplished mechanically. Now i do.

Question @jberry813. If you took an Icon, King and Fox shock of same diameter and added the same exact valving to each would they all ride the same or is there characteristics of each that would make them ride any different?

 

Pretty cool setup. I bet that does work pretty good from the looks of it. Ever consider running a bypass shock along with your CO setup?

I have a friend in CA that runs Fox CO's up front, Deaver spring pack out back with a ADS triple bypass on all four corners. Hold shit he can hit some big shit at 90 mph in the desert.

 

They would all ride different. There are SOOOOO many variables. King uses a different material for their shims than Icon and Fox. Icon uses a two piece dished piston that preloads the shims making a digressive dampening profile. King's piston has 6 compression flow ports and 3 rebound flow ports while fox uses 4 and 4 but oval ports. The piston sizes are all different masses. The valving is just one piece of the puzzle.

I've got bypasses on all 4 corners of my Tacoma and literally hundreds of hours in tuning/revalving. Figured it would be completely overkill for the grocery getter/tow pig.

http://www.fourwheeler.com/features/this-2004-toyota-tacoma-owner-has-his-cake-and-eats-it-too/

 

Yep, total waste of money and time on a DD.

 

That is what i figured. Just saw this comment from you "Good ride and bad ride has nothing to do with the shock brand (Fox vs King vs Icon vs xxxx), it's all about the valving." and thought i would ask.

 

Thread cleaned

 

Now I'm making thread dirty...with a King and Fox combination

 

Kinda hard to do with truck not here and getting some butt time in the seat. I kinda have an OCD problem and need to see it and feel it. It's also subjective. What feels tits to me may not be the same perception of others. Spring rate, preload, and truck config all play a role as well.
But...if you tell me what you got in there now, what it's doing (video helps), and what you want it to do and I'll certainly send you recommendations. Lot cheaper to get someone local to valve it than shipping to me.

 

To update this thread a little:

-I was waiting a bit to see if we were going to keep the Tundra or not. We....let me rephrase, I am keeping my 12' Tundra. The research I did on 3/4 ton diesels would put me in the same boat that had me running to a Tundra. F that. This truck needs to stay for 2 more years or 150-175K miles on the clock.
- I will be ordering a set of Bilstein 6112 and 5160 rears (may have to go with the 5100's due to length). I have wanted a smooth ride on/off road. All the research I have done so far has lead me to this setup and is the next best thing to a King/Fox CO. The pricing has come way down (found them for 599.00 shipped) so this is more tempting than ever.
-On the rear, the ToyTech shackle will most likely be utilized for my needs. They make great products with very good pricing.

Since the truck is staying, I'm going to enjoy it. Been looking at 17" wheels and want to make them flush with the fenders, or maybe get flairs and make those flush.

 

Yes, those are 14" 2.5 Kings. 150/200 front and 125/150 rear.

Thank you for the generous offer for your next to new shocks. I appreciate that but I am looking for some added performance since I have 4600's now.

These roads (pavement) in Colorado suck. Starting to think a trophy truck might be needed or the daily commute.

 

Dropped the coin today. Bilstein 6112 and 5160's on the way.

My shocks must be really shit...my truck has never been smooth good anyway, so this should be a major improvement.

So, I purchased my shocks from two different places:

Shock warehouse was not the cheapest but had them on hand for the 5160. 175.00 each, free shipping.

Ebay 6112 kit for 599.00 free shipping.

 

I will wait for the install to see if a shim is needed, but totally plan on it.

Thanks for the heads up and looking out for a brother!

 

Damn these things are big.....

 

I hear it all the time...never gets old though....buahhhahhhhhaa

 

I ordered Coachbuilder shims. I can't machine shims for 18.00.

 

It's not even worth it. The design and machining time is beyond what it costs for the CB shims.