Kings or Icons? I know I know, not again

[mgrande]

I just spoke to gentleman at King and was told the stock coilover spring rate is 550 lbs. The model I am looking at is the one with a resevior and an external adjuster for the compression, with 20 adj. points. I also think the progressive spring rate on the Kings would work well and allow me to increase spring rate compression of front end when using front trailer hitch to move stuff around.

I have trailer hitch mounted on the front and right now when I move stuff around with the 4runner the drawbar is so low it nearly touches the ground. Lift with higher spring rate would help. They can do 600 and recommended that for my application. I also have a large heavy Odyssey battery mounted.

Im not sure what exactly your saying. If you think youll be able to adjust the preload on the springs on the fly your in for a hell of a time. Kings need to be taken off the truck to move the collar because of the way it locks in place.

It's king... They will literally build you anything you want.

This.

 

[ron in sc]

Im not sure what exactly your saying. If you think youll be able to adjust the preload on the springs on the fly your in for a hell of a time. Kings need to be taken off the truck to move the collar because of the way it locks in place

Let me clarify what I thought was the case.

The coilovers will have a remote reservoir and the coilover will have a clicker knob on the top which can adjust compression. I was thinking all I had to do was open the hood and make the adjustments. The reason that would be so helpful is I could stiffen up the front end substaintialy when I use the front hitch to move stuff around on my property.

Am I sadly mistaken on how theses coilovers work?

 

[1engineer]

Let me clarify what I thought was the case.

The coilovers will have a remote reservoir and the coilover will have a clicker knob on the top which can adjust compression. I was thinking all I had to do was open the hood and make the adjustments. The reason that would be so helpful is I could stiffen up the front end substaintialy when I use the front hitch to move stuff around on my property.

Am I sadly mistaken on how theses coilovers work?

You can adjust the shock quickly but not the spring.

 

[ron in sc]

You can adjust the shock quickly but not the spring.

That's what I was thinking. So I will be able to stiffen up front to a certain degree easily. If I wanted to change ride height or adjust preload of spring much more work.

 

[txclimber]

Falling back on my mountain biking knowledge, and assuming it's the same for shocks of all type, I will try to clarify:

The spring will control the rate at which things are compressed. Adding pre-load or a changing to a stiffer spring will slow this rate down. Typically the rate of compression is linear. Some people prefer progressive rate springs, in which they are "softer" at first but the farther they are compressed the harder they are to compress.

Now, just because I've used the word "compress" and "compression" in the above paragraph doesn't mean that has anything to do with a compression adjustment valve. The valve, clicker, you are referring to is the compression adjustment. What that does is essentially change how big of a hit you have to take before the springs start to move. It's subtle though. Don't think that you can dial it up and have a super stiff ride or down and have it plush. That's what I've described above. Think of it more like, do I want it to absorb or ignore fast tiny bumps like a washboard road.

Compression adjustments, again thinking of my bike here, also help with brake dive and washing out in turns due to the shock compressing. These too are subtle forces compared to a huge bump or the overall ride.

 

[ron in sc]

Falling back on my mountain biking knowledge, and assuming it's the same for shocks of all type, I will try to clarify:

The spring will control the rate at which things are compressed. Adding pre-load or a changing to a stiffer spring will slow this rate down. Typically the rate of compression is linear. Some people prefer progressive rate springs, in which they are "softer" at first but the farther they are compressed the harder they are to compress.

Now, just because I've used the word "compress" and "compression" in the above paragraph doesn't mean that has anything to do with a compression adjustment valve. The valve, clicker, you are referring to is the compression adjustment. What that does is essentially change how big of a hit you have to take before the springs start to move. It's subtle though. Don't think that you can dial it up and have a super stiff ride or down and have it plush. That's what I've described above. Think of it more like, do I want it to absorb or ignore fast tiny bumps like a washboard road.

Compression adjustments, again thinking of my bike here, also help with brake dive and washing out in turns due to the shock compressing. These too are subtle forces compared to a huge bump or the overall ride.

I think I understand what you are saying. So now I am wondering if I don't need the external adjustable coilovers. What I'm trying to accomplish is reduce or eliminate, wandering and nose dive. I'll be using vehicle for some towing mostly light stuff and driving on tarmac and some forest service road that do resemble a washboard, but most road driving.

 

[lezavw90]

At the end of the line compression they should add the word damping. It's probably not going to do what you really want. Most shocks with one compression adjustment are high speed adjustment. You turn the dial and the dial opens and closes a small hole that allows oil in the shock to pass through. High speed compression dampening is easy. When you try to move the shock really fast (like a big square edge hit) the hole slows the oil movement down which in turn makes the shock compress slower, but.. You can turn the dial full slow and if you slowly add weight (as in trailer towing) the shock will compress just as much.

 

[Jeremy556]

Damping

 

[KVA]

I think I understand what you are saying. So now I am wondering if I don't need the external adjustable coilovers. What I'm trying to accomplish is reduce or eliminate, wandering and nose dive. I'll be using vehicle for some towing mostly light stuff and driving on tarmac and some forest service road that do resemble a washboard, but most road driving.

What you need is a stiffer spring over stock. The spring that comes with any of these coilover systems should suffice for you with no adjustments on-the-fly. For what you are doing, you may want to just stick to Toytech. Adding weight - like a trailer - is going to have an impact on any system and why some guys are running airbags - so they can adjust the ride height on-the-fly depending on the load using air via a compressor.