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Shock Porn - Kings landed today !

6K views 35 replies 14 participants last post by  HoustonRider 
#1 ·
I ordered the King OEM series a friggin month ago, after chewing on King for two weeks, they landed at my doorstep this evening.

I opened em up and took a few pics down and dirty. These shocks are no joke. I ordered the adjustable pin top fronts, with remote resi's and the rears, adjustable with remote resi's as well.

I'm hoping to install tomorrow, keeping track as I go.


If ya wait a month, you can get some free stickers


Fronts are adjustable pin tops, with remotes mounted. Heavy monkeys, fo sho.




From the King site, I assumed the rears were piggyback adjustables, but apparently they are not.





I think I can get em on in the am, if not, tomorrow night. Turkey Day and all.
 
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#3 ·
what did those cost if you don't mind me asking? I'm looking at ordering the king 2.5 resi's here pretty soon...also what travel did you get?

Chad
 
#4 ·
these are the King OEM Performance Series for stock or leveled. IDK if you can stretch em any more than that. lol. They were just a little over $500 a corner as they sit. The coilover fronts were about $2k for the pair, so I opted for these. Its a work/drive/ranch/cow turd/haul stuff truck, so I didn't wanna get em too pretty
 
#5 ·
Gorgeous, love my Kings and I'm sure you will feel the same. Congrats.
 
#8 ·
Kings are designed for racing and for most of us will be "over engineered.". Which is good, because it means they'll last a long time. I've had 2.5" coilovers on my truck for over 4 years and about 90k miles. The only disappointment is that the finish on them sucks. They'll look like crap in about a year.
 
#16 ·
so, an update... I'm half done. lol.

This am I got up and because I've swapped shocks on this and my other F250 several times, I didn't think it would be a big deal, so I thought I would knock em out.

As I mentioned, all the shocks are marked "driver" or "passenger". I originally thought for tuning, but apparently for clearances, etc. I took off the passenger shock (near the exhaust) in about a minute, and grabbed the King rear markef "passenger". Simple.

The way I THOUGHT it should go, put the hose too close to the frame, so I turned it around. Nothing getting in the way, so I mounted it up, BAM! easy peasy lemon squeezy!

Flopped over to the other side (driver) and pulled the Rancho and grabbed the King. I mounted it same as other one, with the hose away from the frame (if I mounted it the other way, the hose squeezed between the shock body and the frame.

e·piph·a·ny   [ih-pif-uh-nee]
noun, plural -nies.

a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience.


these damn things are on the wrong sides, and why? King marked em wrong. Happy Thanksgiving to me !!!

(heres a pick of the passenger side, mounted with the drivers side shock. you can see if I turned it around, the hose would compress between the frame and the shock body.)


I take a break, go have lunch with my family and get back into it later today. Swapped em OPPOSITE of what the tags said (thanks King) and they fit perfect, look great.

I start on the front shocks. I know with the OEMs you can literally unbolt and push em together with your hands and pull em out of the mount. Simple. I bolted the top of the new King to the mount, and the shock appears to be too long. I know they are already extended, but if I compress em and get em into the mount and the suspension goes back to the height it WAS, I literally am gonna have 2 inches of travel until the shock body compresses 100%.




Before I tackle the front, I gotta call the King guys and see if they have actually installed one of these on a 2011 F250, lol.

**Does anyone know if these shocks are gonna lift that front at all? I'm doubting they can lift that 1,000lb diesel engine, but I'm not getting into that front until I hear from these guys.
 
#19 ·
those shocks are two long and no they won't lift the truck at all
I am wondering if KING has a clue?

the Grey AKA Silver AKA Bare aluminum you would hope it is at least a clear anodized? But with Snake's input it doesn't sound like it ?
 
#20 ·
I couldn't get to the King guys until Monday, as they were out for an extended holiday, unlike the rest of the world. lol.. Anyway, found they made these for a truck with a level/lift kit, so They told me either way it would be fine, but I opted to get a 1.5" kit from ReadyLift and have it shipped out.

I got the ReadyLift 1.5" today and had some time to get on the lift and knock it out. I started about 5, and by 6:20 or so, it was all done, wheels back on truck.

I pulled the wheels, unbolted the shocks, disconnected the lower end link bolt and the axle dropped enough to pull the spring out, unbolt the spring perch and install the lift with the new bolt (its pretty straightforward, and if you have the tools, its pretty quick. If I was in a hurry, or just did the level, I could have done it and back on the tires in 30 minutes).

Before I jacked the axle back up, I installed the Kings, and they actually needed more space than I had with the front axle lowered as far as it would go, so I had a friend step on the axle and force it down another inch or so. Damn shocks. lol

Anyway, these are down and dirty from my iPhone, I'll get some of the road dirt off and clean it up a bit and get some better pics.



 
#21 ·
Just a quick observation, but is it me or does it look like the tires are rubbing on the lower portion of the hoses in the pictures.
 
#22 ·
most of it is dirt, but I noticed the same thing on both sides.

Of course, these came with NO direction, and after talking to King tonight, they had no idea how these are supposed to sit when they are installed. The guy I talked to requested a few pics and would talk to one of the engineers tomorrow.

Apparently I'm the only one in the world with this setup from King, and even King doesn't know how its supposed to work.

Stay tuned, lol.
 
#24 ·
I have enough travel now. These are supposed to be for a stock setup, with no lift, but they build em to spec, so I guess my dealer ordered em for a short lift.

No biggy, If I would have known a month ago when I ordered em, I would have bought the level kit sooner.

After a few more emails from a King VP, he suggests switching them around.
 
#25 ·
I just coated my truck (including Kings) with Fluid Film as I prep for snow. I hope the FF will protect the shocks some.
 
#26 ·
Apparently I'm the only one in the world with this setup from King, and even King doesn't know how its supposed to work.

I Love the set-Up but got gotta call BS on this!

How did King Dial these in for the F250/350 unless they had a truck to set them up on,and this would tell them how they went and supposed to work :~(

Somebody's full of Mud!
 
#32 ·
And its definitely not me. Just a few quotes from a V.P. at King Shocks I've been in contact with via email the last two weeks.

These are VERBATIM, with spelling, punctuation, the whole call/email, from beginning to end, with nothing left out, or added:

Phone call to King (after I sent them the pics above):
King: "Its rubbing because you have bigger wheels and tires on this truck"
Me: "No, these are the OEM 20" wheels and tires"
King: "Well, something is wrong... let me look into it and get back to you"

Me next day: "Did you find anything? do you have a truck you can take a few pics of, or is anyone familiar with this setup to tell me anything?"
King: "we are looking, the F250 was a test/borrowed truck, we don't have one we can look at"


EMAIL 2 days later:
King: "please switch let to right and right to left" (that was the whole email, nothing before or after that sentence fragment, btw).

Me: "I will get it swapped, like I had to do for the rear shocks. did someone swap a set with the hoses facing the front of the assembly and it solved the problem?"

King (next day): "We have mounted them both ways and just depends on truck set up. Let know when you swap shocks should solve your problem"

Phone call to King the next day:

Me: "Did you find anyone to speak with regarding these shocks? Its a pain to drop that front end and swap these fronts, I want to make sure we both agree on the setup before I proceed"
King: " All you need to do is let the Nitrogen out of the fronts and it will allow you to swap the front shocks at ride height"
Me: "really, ok, then how do I put the N2 back into the shocks"
King: " just fill em back up with air, just make sure the water trap is clean first"
Me: "really?"
King: "sure, we do it all the time"

2 days later, I send em an email:

Me (Saturday):
" Hi ****, I can swap em, after looking at the pics and transposing them over each other it looks like it may work.

I'm not to jazzed about letting the Nitrogen out of these and re-filling my new Nitrogen filled Kings with air, though.

I guess I'm gonna have to step it up and get a N2 kit to do this the right way. I can't find a place to rent/buy a N2 kit to properly fill these.

You wouldn't happen to have a kit I could borrow for a few days would ya? $450 for one of these kits or have em installed again are my options right now"

King (Monday): "Sorry I was out sick last week, Did you have a chance to switch shock yet."
Me: " no, sir, I haven't, I'm trying to work it in though :) "
King (4 days ago): "Whats your address"
Me: "are you sending me a Christmas card, lol? "



......cricket, cricket, cricket..... for last 4 days.
 
#27 ·
We use fluid film on our dump trucks that we plow with. It's just hard to get off sometimes. What all did you spray with it sgt?


Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app
 
#28 ·
I used fluid film last year on this truck as well. This year I have the lift and sprayed the shocks and all metal in sight. Just worried about the shocks.
 
#29 ·
Yeah I would be to for what they cost. Lol


Sent from my Autoguide iPhone app
 
#31 ·
Fluid Film is a rust inhibitor that you spray under the truck. I used it last winter with good results so I sprayed it again last weekend (to include my shocks and everything else in view). Google Fluid Film and read up on it. It's some good stuff. A lot of public works departments use it to combat rust on the snow trucks.
 
#33 ·
Those are awesome, I've been wanting to do this same setup once my rancho's wear out. How does the truck drive now?
 
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