Need Help with King Coils
- Thread starter CTA791
- Start date
What kit do you have them installed on? Most of the JK ones kind of suck in that they have poor falling rates. That said, you can help some of the better kits like the kind that EVO makes by making an adjustment to your timing and or changing out your primary and/or secondary coils to a heavier spring rate.
To the best of my knowledge, EVO does not make a 3-link.
post up a pic of what you’ve got.
Disciple Off Road
Hooked
Can you post up an actual pic of your rear coilovers? Curious to where your timing rings are set.
CTA791
New member
I will later. Gone right now (the wife's daily).
The slider is sitting on the timing rings at ride height. Just barely. You can lift the bumper with your hands and get a little separation. I'm not positive, but I believe the previous owner added a fifth tire/wheel, I don't think the original setup had a spare on the gate.
I'm really just looking for a setting (if anybody has one). What I've got is mostly fine on the street, but it's way too soft on the trails. I'm about to start changing things, but thought someone here might have a setting I could go off of initially and not chase my tail too much.
The whole point of coilovers is that there is no specific setting. They are designed to be fine tuned with different valving, preload, timing and spring rates to give you what you're needing for YOUR SPECIFIC rig.
That said and if you're secondary is really already at the point of engagement, how much preload do you have set on them? If not a lot, try adding more. If you do already have a lot, heavier spring rates is probably something you'll want to be running.
CTA791
New member
Not much preload at all on the secondary. Is it typical to have preload on the secondary at ride height? I could put more on it. I'd rather not raise the ride height any, but I'm not opposed to it.
I know my way around, mechanically. What I've never had personal experience with are dual rate coilovers. I know they can be setup a thousand different ways, depending on the rig and driver preference. Just curious if anyone had a setup already that works well, so I could at least start there.
Again, YOUR SPECIFIC rig is unique to you. How much weight you carry, what kind of ride you prefer firm or soft, there's just so many variable that what I ran and liked will be what you should run and will "work well" for your taste. Proof of this is that you don't like what you have now and it was what someone else decided he liked.
As far as preload goes, YES, you can definitely add more and while it will raise your ride height, it will NOT be a 1" to 1" kind of thing. More like, an 1" of preload may give you 1/4"-1/2" at most of additional lift, depending on the spring rate.
Also, it sounds like you're running 200/250 springs. On my JK, back when I was running EVO coilovers, I think I was running more like 350/400 but then, I had heavy corner guards, carried the spare on the back, ALWAYS carried a ton of gear and even extra fuel and I needed my Jeep to bomb across the desert. Unloaded, my rig sat ass high but loaded up, it was perfect. All this is said to serve as an example of how different my rig is from a lot of people and why I did the things I did with my coilovers to get me what I want. More than likely, this is NOT something you would want.
JimLee
Hooked
There are some good guides online about initial install and setup of coilovers (bunch of guides on crawlpedia about coilovers, and some other sites with some searching). Since these particular shocks are new to you and you aren't sure what's been done to them, or if they've been tuned for your Jeep I would start with a basic install settings (just follow an install guide, minus the bolting them in) and that will make it pretty obvious if there are any major issues, and should get your preload, ride height, and crossover settings in a good starting range. There's a really easy way to tell if your spring rates are good without having to weigh each corner of your vehicle, and the calculations will get you on to the correct spring rates if yours are undersprung/ oversprung, but you have to have good initial setup to get accurate numbers. From there you move on to testing and fine tuning. Initial settings are very important (for example there are limits on both how much and how little preload you can have for the shock to work properly). I get that you are looking for a quick solution, but unfortunately that just doesn't work with coilovers. If you take the time to set them up right for your vehicle you will be far happier in the long run, than if you run someone else's settings. Getting it dialed in will also give you all the knowledge you need to make easy adjustments in the future. Coilovers can be great, or they can be miserable, getting them set up properly is the key and it's not as hard as most people think.
TrailHunter
Hooked
There’s always Accuair.. 
CTA791
New member
I appreciate all the input. I totally understand the uniqueness of every vehicle. Again, I'm not looking to "copy" someone else's setting. It would jut be helpful to know ahead of time what setup other folks have, as a guideline.
The "builder" of this rig never wheeled it. I put that in quotations, bc somebody just threw the whole catalog at this Jeep and then traded it in. An acquaintance of mine bought it (2nd owner). He took it leaf looking a few times. And like I already mentioned, I'm pretty sure he added the spare tire carrier. I don't think it had that when he bought it. I say all that to say, the shocks have likely never been tuned.
As best I can tell, the coilover kit, at least in the rear, is more of a "bling" factor than anything. IMO, there's really not enough vertical room for them to work in the rear. It's either 3" of up travel, or you have 7" of lift.
I could add hydro bumps, I just feel like that isn't necessary. Strictly an observation, but I don't think the springs are wrong. I just think the weirdness of this specific setup and the way it packages, you really need to set them up low in the stroke (if you want to maintain a lower ride height).
Thanks again for the input. @jeeeep those links to crawlpedia are a huge help. I will call Evo and see what they say. Also King. I'll get an opinion from both and go from there. Just trying to get as much info as I can before I start the take em off, change this, put em back on, take em off, change that, put em back on....
The "builder" of this rig never wheeled it. I put that in quotations, bc somebody just threw the whole catalog at this Jeep and then traded it in. An acquaintance of mine bought it (2nd owner). He took it leaf looking a few times. And like I already mentioned, I'm pretty sure he added the spare tire carrier. I don't think it had that when he bought it. I say all that to say, the shocks have likely never been tuned.
As best I can tell, the coilover kit, at least in the rear, is more of a "bling" factor than anything. IMO, there's really not enough vertical room for them to work in the rear. It's either 3" of up travel, or you have 7" of lift.
I could add hydro bumps, I just feel like that isn't necessary. Strictly an observation, but I don't think the springs are wrong. I just think the weirdness of this specific setup and the way it packages, you really need to set them up low in the stroke (if you want to maintain a lower ride height).
Thanks again for the input. @jeeeep those links to crawlpedia are a huge help. I will call Evo and see what they say. Also King. I'll get an opinion from both and go from there. Just trying to get as much info as I can before I start the take em off, change this, put em back on, take em off, change that, put em back on....
Here's a thread that I started a while ago. Maybe it'll be helpful to you.
www.wayalife.com
Are You Happy with Your EVO Bolt-On Coil Over Springs?
So, I ran into a guy who had EVO Bolt-On Coil Overs and he started to ask about the spring rates we were running on Rubicat back when we were running the same setup. He was telling me that he's looked at our old photos and videos and was wondering how we were able to get the stance we had...
www.wayalife.com
CTA791
New member
Update...
The thread above was a huge help. Before I tried anything else, I wanted to try what @wayoflife had suggested above, and add more preload first.
So as stated before, I had already timed the slide stop down and the bottom spring (on the rear) was engaged at ride height, but just barely. So I added 5 turns of preload (on the top adjuster) on all 4 corners. I ran the timing rings down an inch or more on the rear so that the bottom spring was under some preload at ride height. Then I adjusted the rear about 1/2" higher than the front, and leveled it side to side. Overall, I raised the ride height on the front maybe 3/8", and about 1/4" in the rear.
I immediately noticed a difference on the street. Just a bit more planted. Takes dips, driveways, etc with a lot more confidence. Less "squashy" feeling. But the street wasn't my complaint...
Finally was able to get out to Choccolocco Mountain and do some trail riding. Huge difference. I did bottom the rear out once, but I let it come off a big rock a little too hot, so I'll blame that on the driver.
I still think the bottom springs on the rear could be a touch heavier to make it perfect, but just adding a good amount of preload on that bottom spring at ride height made a massive difference. I'll probably just leave it alone at this point.
Just wanted to update this thread. Moral of this story, small adjustments on coilovers can make a big difference in ride characteristics. Again, appreciate all the input!
The thread above was a huge help. Before I tried anything else, I wanted to try what @wayoflife had suggested above, and add more preload first.
So as stated before, I had already timed the slide stop down and the bottom spring (on the rear) was engaged at ride height, but just barely. So I added 5 turns of preload (on the top adjuster) on all 4 corners. I ran the timing rings down an inch or more on the rear so that the bottom spring was under some preload at ride height. Then I adjusted the rear about 1/2" higher than the front, and leveled it side to side. Overall, I raised the ride height on the front maybe 3/8", and about 1/4" in the rear.
I immediately noticed a difference on the street. Just a bit more planted. Takes dips, driveways, etc with a lot more confidence. Less "squashy" feeling. But the street wasn't my complaint...
Finally was able to get out to Choccolocco Mountain and do some trail riding. Huge difference. I did bottom the rear out once, but I let it come off a big rock a little too hot, so I'll blame that on the driver.
I still think the bottom springs on the rear could be a touch heavier to make it perfect, but just adding a good amount of preload on that bottom spring at ride height made a massive difference. I'll probably just leave it alone at this point.
Just wanted to update this thread. Moral of this story, small adjustments on coilovers can make a big difference in ride characteristics. Again, appreciate all the input!
Awesome! Adjustability is a big part of what make coilovers so nice.
If in the future you decide to try a heavier spring rate, I would recommend that you order up a set of Ebach's. They are a cheaper and typically, places like Summit have them in stock.
