King, ADS or BOTH. Recommendations Please

C

CRB Racing

New member
I'm ready to take the plunge and get a set of high end shocks for my black rig. I narrowed my choices down to either King or ADS.
A few things are keeping me from pulling the trigger.

The issue I have with ordering a set of King shocks are they just upped their prices, yet don't offer a front shock with resi for a 3rd Gen. Maybe people that have Kings can chime in and give some input.

Now for ADS. They do offer a front shock with a resi. but they don't offer a rear shock. There are websites that claim that they are waiting for the rear shocks, but when I emailed ADS directly their reply was that they don't have any plans to develop a rear shock for a 3rd Gen due to low demand.

Last option would be mix and match brands to possibly get the best of both brands. Get a set of ADS with resi for the front and King rears with resi and compression adjusters.

Some help/recommendations would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
 
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I personally don't have Kings in the front but will soon and have them in the back already. The consensus I have gotten from people who have ran Kings in the front is there is absolutely no need for the resis. You can't push the stock front suspension hard enough to need them. I've ran my current setup very hard and even with 2 inch body shocks I've never experienced any shock fade.

The rear in the other hand the resis make front. I cooked my 2 inch shocks I ran originally several times because they just didn't have the fluid capacity. Not the greatest feeling when you hit a section of washboard and find out you have no control over the rear suspension. When I upgraded I did outboard shocks with resis and now even running the truck as hard as I can the shock and resi get warm, but I have yet to experience any shock fade.

You have to keep in mind the Kings in front are a 2.5 body shock. Stock was 2. So already you have a massive increase in fluid capacity. Then there's the issue of packaging. A lot of the remote resi options for the front will rub the tire at full droop and full lock. Personally I'd go with Kings but that's just me.
 
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I personally don't have Kings in the front but will soon and have them in the back already. The consensus I have gotten from people who have ran Kings in the front is there is absolutely no need for the resis. You can't push the stock front suspension hard enough to need them.
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Edit: My comment refers to King because I have a set. I definitely won't claim they are better than ICON or ADS which I have no idea about.

I have King w/ 600 coils and I am running about 2" front end lift. That is all I can get without cranking much harder than I'd like to. I suggest if you do go King, that you go with King w/ 650 coils. Not the 700 coils unless you are an extreme outlier and carrying a whole lot of front end weight. Also I suggest you call King direct, talk to their sales technicians. Hear it from the source!

This is my experience. I don't have front resis and I don't think I need them. Unless you are doing some kind of high speed desert jumps or running I think you would be fine without them, just like the rest of us who don't have them. With that said, yes King does sell front Resi it is just that most of the reseller's don't carry them.

One fun fact about having an external reservoir with your King shocks: if you want to adjust the shocks preset level, eg raise the lift height using the tool while the shocks are installed on the vehicle (with tires off the ground), well you can only do that if the King setup installed does NOT have a external reservoir. If it has one and you wish to adjust, you will actually need to remove the shocks from the truck each time you adjust. That is based on my research on the topic, I don't have any links handy at the moment but they aren't hard to find.

Not being able to adjust while on the truck (eg if you have King's and a resi) is actually a big deal for most people because it seriously increases the cost of small adjustments (assuming you are paying a shop) to get your lift to feel right.
 
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Twitchstyle13 said:
Why is Icon out of the question
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Just my preference. I have had friends with issues with Icon and upgraded to King.

BrianSD_42 said:
This is my experience. I suggest you go with King w/ 650 coils. Not the 700 coils unless you are an extreme outlier and carrying a whole lot of front end weight. Also I suggest you call King direct, talk to their sales technicians. Hear it from the source!

I don't have front resis and I don't think I need them. Unless you are doing some kind of high speed desert jumps or running I think you would be fine without them, just like the rest of us who don't have them. With that said, yes King does sell front Resi it is just that most of the reseller's don't carry them.

One fun fact about having an external reservoir with your King shocks: if you want to adjust the shocks preset level, eg turn the coilover with the wrench while installed on the vehicle (with tires off the ground), you can only do that if the King does NOT have a external reservoir. If it has one and you wish to adjust you will need to remove from the truck each time. That is based on my research on the topic, I don't have any links handy at the moment.
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Thanks, I’ll call them in the morning and see what they recommend.
 
Like others have already said- you can get King with external resi's. They will actually build you ANYTHING you want. Just give em a call and they'll get you dialed.
I have no experience with ADS or King, so I can't help there. I do plan on King when I can, so I've done quite a bit of reading and research on what they offer.
 
Personally I think you will be best off spending your money on:


* Kings 650 for the front end, no Resi [edit .. or ADS or ICON or whomever]


* Plus ... OEM/Toyota (specifically) LC coils and shocks for the rear (see Sonoran Steel’s website Build It Yourself section, they have the part #s posted). I’ve run this and it has worked out great for years and years on trails all over the West. The parts are exact per Steve - substitutes likely will render poorer results.

Rear Land Cruiser Coils: 48131-6A570 (2)
Rear Toyota Tokico: 48531-69417 (2)
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* And Especially ... Maintenance and replacement of aging front end suspension parts (as needed) like steering rack, OEM tie rods, LBJs, and the Spindle upgrade + wheel bearings to your hubs
 
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I have very limited experience with a couple different brands, but here's my thoughts:

A front 2.5 will be totally fine for 99% of people. Any of the big shock companies can do custom stuff, everyone acting like King is the only one capable of doing that is full of shit. Fox, SAW, ADS, King, Icon, etc can all do whatever makes you happy. Just because it's not listed on their site doesn't mean they can't give you a custom valved shock that will fit your application--now if a company has put in time already and tested then they have a step up (like King selling shocks already setup for a stock 4Runner), but I'm sure ADS can get you just as close for a rear setup.

IMO the biggest thing for high end shocks is customer support, granted that doesn't really apply for stock applications since it's (usually) an off the shelf part, in which case anything will work totally fine. You'll read how people liked one shock setup from one brand over another or they think the progressive piston on one is so great over the digressive piston on another, but what most things turn out is people just want to spend money hopping around brands and not actually tune their suspension. Buy any decent brand shock, and you will be more than happy and can have it setup to perfection regardless who's sticker is on the side.

I've had FOAs (which consistently suck), bilstein's that felt great, Foxs that felt great, Kings that I didn't end up running (for reasons that aren't relevant) that looked awesome and I would've run in a heart beat, Eibachs, and a couple ADS stuff. At the end of the day, lots of different shocks and setups all felt amazing. If you like blue or like a certain company that sells King, go with King. If you like ADS and their claim of being "true race shocks" unlike the basic Kings or you get a discount from an ADS distributor, go with them. Point being--take all the marketing hype that people regurgitate with a grain of salt.
 
Well, Im getting a great deal on the set of King. That doesn't mean that I'm not open to other brands.

What do you guys think of Radflo?
 
Silver Supra said:
I've owned both Icon and King and much prefer the ride of the Kings FWIW.
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Thanks for the reply.

Im kind of on the fence now.

When I spoke to the guy at King, he basically told me people usually don't need the resi and its a hassle to mount the resi.
Kind of basically talking down to me as I had no clue.

I emailed Glenn at Radflo today and told him what I was looking for and he replied within 10 minutes (for all replies). He told me he could do a 2.5 front coilover and a double bypass shock for the rear! Hmmm...
 
What's "a great deal" mean in $s ?

Sorry to hear you feel talked down to. I've spoken with them in the past and they seemed helpful and informative.
 
CRB Racing said:
Well, Im getting a great deal on the set of King. That doesn't mean that I'm not open to other brands.

What do you guys think of Radflo?
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I have Radflo 2.5 front and rear with resis and am happy. I think I was the first 4Runner customer of theirs as the top hats did not work nor did the rear resi mounted to the shock body. They shipped out correct top hats after I emailed Steve at Sonoran and I remote mounted the rear resis even with the short hose they came with, but I think they now come with longer hoses for easier mounting. I also accidentally opened the system and called Radflo for the shock oil spec & nitrogen psi & they answered me right away.

FWIW, I had Fox 2.0 front coil overs on my ‘02 Tacoma and I could get those to fade. Everyone has different needs and a 2.0 may be fine for some and others need 2.5 resis with a secondary shock and hydraulic bumps. Different strokes for different folks. Depends on speed and how much weight they’re controlling.
 
I’m a little bias towards ADS but absolutely love their products and customer service. We are a dealer for ADS and happy to get you set up with exactly what you want. There are a few members on here that just recently bought ADS coilovers w/ resis from me and seem to love them.

As for the rear, ADS doesn’t make a 3rd gen shock currently. However, the FJ cruiser 2.5” piggyback will work great in the rear for a lifted application. At 9” of travel it is a great upgrade. Unless you plan on going LT in the front I don’t see why you’d need a rear bypass setup.

My current ADS setup:

df0421879436c42bfe9b64fef6632366.jpg
 
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