Are evo King 2.0 spec worth it?

Sharkey said:
I call bullshit. There is another way. MOVE! ;)
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Hahaha, man I'd love nothing more than to live in Utah or Nevada, but I think I remember you saying NV was full, sooo, Maybe I'll look at some Utah real estate this Summer :brows:
 
For how expensive the damn things are. Just go all out and do coil overs. Seriously.

Rebuilding them is expensive. Purchasing them is expensive. Breaking them is expensive.
Do they ride nice? I think so but I wouldn’t buy them again.
 
FWIW I went with the rancho 9000s over the 2.0s because of the cost. I really wanted the Evo spec king's when doing my build. Would the 2.0s ride better?.... Maybe but for the price they cost and to re build I can buy new ranchos every year and not catch up to the price of the king's for quite some time. Just my 2 cents and I think the 9000s pair well with the plush rides I have.

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wjtstudios said:
Living in a salt bath, I can attest to the damage salt does to the kings. I cleared all mine before I installed them, the fronts have held up well, but the rear did not. The clear was blasted off with in the first couple months and the main shock body has corroded. But, aside from the finish issues the kings have been great. I don’t bomb across the desert with them, but I do run a lot of gravel roads and dirt roads for miles and they made a huge difference for me.


2015 JKUR AEV JK350
1985 CJ8 Scrambler
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Did you rattle can them or take them to a shop and have them professionally clear coated? Rattle can clear is garbage but an actual automotive finish clear holds up great.


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Snboarder113 said:
Did you rattle can them or take them to a shop and have them professionally clear coated? Rattle can clear is garbage but an actual automotive finish clear holds up great.


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Rattle canned them. You are right, if I would have had them professionally done, they would have lasted longer. But the rear shocks are so exposed to spray and debris, it would have stripped them anyway after a period of time.


2015 JKUR AEV JK350
1985 CJ8 Scrambler
 
wiseguy127 said:
I dont understand why king doesn't offer the option to make them rust prof. They would obviously sell more shocks.
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King does offer anodizing but it's more of an appearance option than it is a "weather-proofing" or protectant coating. Hard coat anodizing does offer this but it's a little different process and probably one that they aren't equipped for. There are ways to minimize the corrosion, but any coating eventually wears off. I had decent luck constantly spraying mine with WD-40 corrosion inhibitor as it clings pretty well. Staying out of the salt is the only real long-term solution and frankly I wouldn't have taken the step of moving to coilovers if mine was a DD.
 
Very interesting thread. I'd been considering Kings on my build. But I'll probably go with Rancho 9000's. I can toss them and buy new when the rust gets bad.
 
Was thinking King/Evo specs now ...

I wanted to start by thanking everyone who has contributed to this thread - pointing out that the King's potential for corrosion, I don't live in the rust belt but I travel the CA/NV passes pretty regularly and salt is used up there often in the winter.

I was planning on going with the Evo spec King 2.0's for a build, paring with Evo 3in Plush Ride springs, but now I'm going back and forth between the 9000xls and the Fox 2.0s.

Some of the contributors here have had input on some of these, but I was wondering if anyone had any personal experience with both - and what that experience was?

Also, any other shocks I should consider pairing with the Evo springs, I'm all ears and open to learn/take in experience.

Thanks again for any input you might have, and for the input already contributed here - it has helped me out greatly.
 
ironmind said:
I wanted to start by thanking everyone who has contributed to this thread - pointing out that the King's potential for corrosion, I don't live in the rust belt but I travel the CA/NV passes pretty regularly and salt is used up there often in the winter.

I was planning on going with the Evo spec King 2.0's for a build, paring with Evo 3in Plush Ride springs, but now I'm going back and forth between the 9000xls and the Fox 2.0s.

Some of the contributors here have had input on some of these, but I was wondering if anyone had any personal experience with both - and what that experience was?

Also, any other shocks I should consider pairing with the Evo springs, I'm all ears and open to learn/take in experience.

Thanks again for any input you might have, and for the input already contributed here - it has helped me out greatly.
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I have the Evo spec King adjustables on the front. Had them all around, but ruined the rear pair a while ago. I replaced the rear with Rancho RS-9000. In the beginning they were not too far from the King's performance for short bursts, but after a year of use, just a few minutes pushing hard in the desert would make them fade badly, and and the rear would bounce all over, like it had no shocks.

This was while running 3" plush rides.

I have now gone to 4" plush rides in front, and 4+1 Currie in the rear. I ditched the Ranchos, as they were shot, and planned on Bilstein reservoir shocks, but could not get them in time for the Moab trip, so I settled on some cheapo BDS shocks, but with 11.5" of travel. To my utter shock, they performed really well, even when I pushed them at speed a few times. That said, I'm sure they won't last long, but for $50 each, I'm not out much.

I too am on the fence about coilovers, and didn't want to get too much wrapped up in shocks I won't keep.

When I lifted the ex's JL, we went with Fox 2.0 on the advice of Bubba. It was a good choice for a great ride with Evo 2.5" lift. She don't push like I do, so I don't have any comment on how they work when pushed hard.

I would seriously consider the Bilstein reservoir shocks as a good compromise. They are in my opinion better than the Rancho, and much less expensive than the King's.

Fiend has a set, and they have done him well. Maybe he will see this and add some first hand experience. I may go to them, when my cheapo shocks quit working, but for now, they are doing the job.
 
jdofmemi said:
I have the Evo spec King adjustables on the front. Had them all around, but ruined the rear pair a while ago. I replaced the rear with Rancho RS-9000. In the beginning they were not too far from the King's performance for short bursts, but after a year of use, just a few minutes pushing hard in the desert would make them fade badly, and and the rear would bounce all over, like it had no shocks.

This was while running 3" plush rides.

I have now gone to 4" plush rides in front, and 4+1 Currie in the rear. I ditched the Ranchos, as they were shot, and planned on Bilstein reservoir shocks, but could not get them in time for the Moab trip, so I settled on some cheapo BDS shocks, but with 11.5" of travel. To my utter shock, they performed really well, even when I pushed them at speed a few times. That said, I'm sure they won't last long, but for $50 each, I'm not out much.

I too am on the fence about coilovers, and didn't want to get too much wrapped up in shocks I won't keep.

When I lifted the ex's JL, we went with Fox 2.0 on the advice of Bubba. It was a good choice for a great ride with Evo 2.5" lift. She don't push like I do, so I don't have any comment on how they work when pushed hard.

I would seriously consider the Bilstein reservoir shocks as a good compromise. They are in my opinion better than the Rancho, and much less expensive than the King's.

Fiend has a set, and they have done him well. Maybe he will see this and add some first hand experience. I may go to them, when my cheapo shocks quit working, but for now, they are doing the job.
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My experience with Bilstein has been good. Had a set of 5100s for about 7 years and they held up well combined with synergy springs. I’ve read that Bilsteins are stiff but my rig is heavy (6400lbs [emoji15]) so they worked well. I backed one into a rock on Motino Wash and broke it into three pieces. So I upgraded to 5160 reservoirs about 7 months ago. They’ve been great too. Similar feel to the 5100s but about an inch more travel. Mostly up travel, so I could remove some bump stop. I’m happy with them. I don’t bomb deserts or other stuff, because I’m on a SF rear and, like I said, my rig is heavy. But for rock crawling and pavement, the 5160s have been good.


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fiend said:
So I upgraded to 5160 reservoirs about 7 months ago. They’ve been great too. Similar feel to the 5100s but about an inch more travel. Mostly up travel, so I could remove some bump stop. I’m happy with them. I don’t bomb deserts or other stuff, because I’m on a SF rear and, like I said, my rig is heavy. But for rock crawling and pavement, the 5160s have been good.
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fiend - Thanks for this, any issues with corrosion? From the specs the 5160's are zinc plated but still a steel-bodied shock. So I'm thinking better than a clear coat, but probably not as good as an aluminum body in that dept.

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciate you sharing the experience.
 
ironmind said:
fiend - Thanks for this, any issues with corrosion? From the specs the 5160's are zinc plated but still a steel-bodied shock. So I'm thinking better than a clear coat, but probably not as good as an aluminum body in that dept.

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciate you sharing the experience.
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I live in SoCal, which is dry pretty much all the time. So I can’t really comment about corrosion. The 5100s I took off after seven years didn’t have any. The zinc plating was more matte than shiney, but that’s it.


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ironmind said:
fiend - Thanks for this, any issues with corrosion? From the specs the 5160's are zinc plated but still a steel-bodied shock. So I'm thinking better than a clear coat, but probably not as good as an aluminum body in that dept.

Thanks for the feedback, much appreciate you sharing the experience.
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Here’s a picture of my 2.5 kings that survived 4 years of Midwest salt. They still functioned perfectly, just the steel body’s corroded a bit. I did clear them when I installed them, but never kept that up.

Fronts:

IMG_3931.jpg




2015 JKUR AEV JK350
1985 CJ8 Scrambler
 
HighwayTrout said:
For how expensive the damn things are. Just go all out and do coil overs. Seriously.

Rebuilding them is expensive. Purchasing them is expensive. Breaking them is expensive.
Do they ride nice? I think so but I wouldn’t buy them again.
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I'd have to agree with this ^^^^ or at least, to the extent that if you're gonna pay that much for a set of shocks, you might as well run coilovers. IF the idea is to stick with shocks and coils, I think the cost of having them rebuilt LIKE THEY REALLY NEED TO BE ON A REGULAR BASIS needs to be taken into consideration. Also, there can be a substantial amount of down time you'd need to expect when having them rebuilt. Of course, the upside to running just shocks as opposed to coilovers is that you could always run a cheap set of Rancho 5000's while your Kings are being serviced.
 
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