Adjusting KING front coil overs for Tundra lean

… Had some good luck adjusting my Kings and wanted to share my experience:

Background:
After I installed the coilovers (at the default height setting they ship with), I had a 0.5-0.75" driver's lean. Additionally, 2 months in I installed an Expedition One steel bumper and a winch. The stock bumper is surprisingly heavy (at around 60 lbs), so the incremental weight after all was said and done was 'only' approximately 120 lb (ExpOne bumper weighs ~120 and winch weighs ~60). With this modification, I lost around 0.5" of front lift. I didn't like the look of my truck. I needed to get some lift back. I researched in various places (this forum, TacomaWorld, called King, and Filthy Motorsports), and decided to go ahead and try adjusting them on the truck (in spite of King's recommendation).

This is what worked for me:
1- You will need the tool the King provides or a straight 5/16 punch.
2- You will also need a second special tool to complete the turns; you can buy a T-handle tool, but I went ahead 'fabricated one' like @Vizsla 's: Buy a medium-large screwdriver with a round shaft and 5/16 diameter shaft, use a angle grinder to cut the tip and then shave the end nicely flat. Put the shaft on a good fire until it's red hot, and immediately bend the end of the shaft approximately 30 degrees.
3- Lift the front end of your truck to fool droop, remove wheels.
4- Clean the coil-over area as best as possible, and apply tons of lubricant such as Blaster to the threads
5- Mark the original position of the coil nut lock and unscrew 3/4 of a turn (King indicates 1 turn is the limit, but I'd rather be safe to avoid damaging the collar thread)
6- Add preload as needed by turning the collar, and put the coil lock nut back to the original position.

Caveats:
1- my suspension was almost new (5,000 miles/2 months installed on the truck)
2- Adding pre-load becomes increasingly hard. I was able to add 5 turns on the driver's side and 3 turns to the passenger side. Past the 5 turns, it felt that it was getting so difficult to add preload that I was running the risk of breaking the tools.

I will post a couple of pictures below. Let me know if you have any questions.

 

good stuff. that will help some people for sure.

 

Well I’ve read pretty much every thread on the old google search for setting my king 2.5 CO to the best specs and put a bunch of forum pieces together but could not find a solid answer so here is my experience. I found with a stock truck and installed 2.5 kings the sweet spot for my 2014 tundra 5.7 4x4 with TC uca’s to be 7 threads on the passenger and 12 threads on the drivers side. I put in a full day of adjusting the coils over and over and over again. Tried out each adjustment hitting some serious speed bums at 50-60 mph and slower between adjustments. I adjusted at full droop with tires removed (sometimes) and on a jack(sometimes) Once you figure it out small adjustments can be made with truck on the ground. Anyway, I have TC 3/4” shackles which I’m probably gonna remove since the ride sucks bad in the rear but think I’ll be pretty close to lever anyways especially since I have Firestone airbags.(I’ll start a tread in this experience that turned out perfect) Back story, I bought the CO’s used in LA and had them rebuilt by ORW in El Cajon CA (they suck) and the shock “guru” at that store failed big time. I asked for the springs to be set at max ride height without effecting shock plushness, we’ll I think he didn’t hear the plushness part since they were set at 16 threads drivers and 13 threads passenger. They were so bad on a short trip my whole family got headaches from the chatter/chop on the freeway. Max adjustment is 12 on drivers side with lean and that is the max unless you like a rough ride. Seriously though one more full turn to 13 threads makes the ride terrible. Ask me for details on how to make adjustments easily if needed since some say it can’t be done on truck. Found a good thread from this forum on tips and how to.

https://www.tundras.com/threads/need-help-adjusting-coilover-ride-height.38360/reply?quote=982374

 

So this is the driver side?

 

12 on driver...Thank you saybng, your info was a big help!

 

Thank you @TheBeast for starting the thread and community for all info. So I have 12 on driver and 8 on passenger, any of you added coachbuilder shims? If so what did you need up getting as far as height? Thank you.

 

Anyone?

 

some good shock tuners in L.A. I remember one guy trying them and being very happy with the outcome.

https://accutuneoffroad.com/product-category/king-racing-shocks/

 

I would not add shims. Defeats the purpose of coilovers. kinda like adding a small spacer on top of the KINGs. Just add more threads up to a certain point.
12 /13 drivers and 7/8 passenger seems to be the sweet spot for our trucks for oem KINGs

 

Thank you..

 

I was lower an inch on my driver side, I lifted the truck left the tire on and used two of the collar pins and spun it 3 times got me within 1/4” ish. Gonna run it measure again later maybe spin one more go. Right now I’m at 10 threads showing. Sprayed wd a couple hours before, worked out and they been on about 15k miles.

 

Hey fellas I’m waiting for my oem replacement KINGS to arrive in the mail. I want to have 2.75”-3” overall in the front AND compensate for our tundra lean. How much lift comes from KING? How many threads need to be showing on each side to accomplish my desired ride height? Thank you for any input

 

i put them on how they came from king and after about 10k miles I adjusted the driver side to about 10 threads showing, 3 turns, and it about evened it out. I don’t think it’s about 3” if comparing to a straight 3” spacer like some friends have but I’m ok with that. I have read others said the ride quality suffers noticeably around 12 threads or more showing.

 

Ok thanks if you get a chance can you measure from the top of your fender well to the ground pls? Also what size tire you are running. TIA

 

mines around 39.5” but I only went up one tire size 275/70/18