King coilover question

First off I don't have a raptor, I have a '13 FX4 but you guys mod more than the other forums I'm on so I figured I'd ask here. Hopefully I don't get too much flack for not being one of the cool kids.

So my truck has been in the shop for what seems like forever. Every time I go in its another problem. The current issue deals with the long travel kit that's getting installed and the King 3.0 coilovers.

First in order for the truck to sit level they preloaded the **** out out of the shocks as seen in this pic. Shop tells me I'm going to get coil bind running it like this in addition to having a super stiff rides like **** front end. The following pic shows how the truck sits:



The kits is from BajaKits / Brenthel. They use 600lb springs. The fab shop says they use those on Rangers and smaller trucks and that I need heavier springs. . BajaKits says that They tested with King and that's the spring they sell with all their 4wd "race" kits.

What I want to know is if anyone has had similar issues and what did you do to resolve it?

This is all relatively new to me. The only suspension I've ever messed with has been on motorcycles. Spring too short? Too light? Fab shop in over their head? I called King today but no techs were available. Just looking for ideas.

You can cuss here so you don't have to use a bunch of asterisk
*shit

Lol I copied and pasted some of the text from another forum.

I'm not the one to tell you what to do to fix your issue, but I'm gonna keep an eye on this thread. It looks like one hell of a project. That truck is gonna be a blast when you're done with it!!!!

Hard for me to say what the issue is without being there, and kinda broad pictures.

With that said, I believe the spring rates on the Baja kits setup is a dual spring (correct me if I'm wrong) and should have 550lb and 700lb springs on the coilovers. If you have one single spring, then its probably not the right one.

Another thing that should be noted is if the shocks have been charged with nitrogen yet. If they have, they need to be checked for accuracy with a proper "no leak" nitrogen shock gauge, NOT A TIRE PRESSURE GAUGE. Contact bajakits/brenthel for reccomended pressure specs.

The nitrogen charge will make a difference in ride height, it will make a difference as the shock will have another 200ish psi (depends on setup). Not having proper nitrogen pressures will also have a negative effect on performance as the pressure also has an effect on dampening.

-Joseph Haynes

Thanks Haynes Offroad these are things I will bring up to the fab shop. I know for a fact that when the shop installs long travel kits they release the nitrogen and refill. I didn't ask specifically about the shocks but the bumpstops were compressed so I asked if they'd not been filled yet and shop guy (main fabricator was at SNORE race today) confirmed they hadn't. It makes sense that they shocks haven't been filled either.

When you say dual springs do you mean two actual springs or one dual rate spring? I believe the older kits were different but the newer ones are one spring. I will have to confirm with King on Monday. All the tech guys were probably out in Laughlin today.

@ntm has the brenthal kit on his raptor

I'm running an 18" 700 psi spring with a 6" 550 psi tender.

First things first, you need to determine where your suspension really is in its travel. Measure how much droop and compression you have from ride height. You want about 55% compression and 45% droop with the 4wd kit. Now measure the spring at ride height, subtract remaining shock travel, and see if it's going to be coil binding using kings provided measurements.
Make sure you have a problem, before kicking up a fuss.
What are the provided springs length and rate ?

And yes, setting ride height without nitrogen is like taking a **** with your pants up.

22" 600lb. It's a problem because the truck lives at a fab shop that continues to do stuff last minute and I'm trying to determine if maybe they just don't know what's up.

They've installed these kits on 2WD vehicles more than once. This is the first 4WD. I appreciate the response because it at least puts me in a position to be able to have an intelligent conversation with them.

If you're the guy that did the raptor that eventually went 2WD that was a thread I scoured when first researching the kit. It's one of the only builds out there that isn't bashing the hell out of Brenthel. I can't get any useful answers on some of the other Offroad site because the answer to every question is "beams bro."

Lol don't get me started on the glass... At least I can fix that myself.

ntm said:

I'm running an 18" 700 psi spring with a 6" 550 psi tender.

First things first, you need to determine where your suspension really is in its travel. Measure how much droop and compression you have from ride height. You want about 55% compression and 45% droop with the 4wd kit. Now measure the spring at ride height, subtract remaining shock travel, and see if it's going to be coil binding using kings provided measurements.
Make sure you have a problem, before kicking up a fuss.
What are the provided springs length and rate ?

And yes, setting ride height without nitrogen is like taking a **** with your pants up.

Click to expand...

somerandondude said:

22" 600lb. It's a problem because the truck lives at a fab shop that continues to do stuff last minute and I'm trying to determine if maybe they just don't know what's up.

They've installed these kits on 2WD vehicles more than once. This is the first 4WD. I appreciate the response because it at least puts me in a position to be able to have an intelligent conversation with them.

If you're the guy that did the raptor that eventually went 2WD that was a thread I scoured when first researching the kit. It's one of the only builds out there that isn't bashing the hell out of Brenthel. I can't get any useful answers on some of the other Offroad site because the answer to every question is "beams bro."

Lol don't get me started on the glass... At least I can fix that myself.

Click to expand...

The Brenthel kit is solid.
Sounds like these guys are attempting to set the front end at a 2 wd ride height.
There's a 4" difference in vertical hub position between a 2wd and 4wd