King Shocks on an XTX

bmombert · 11-18-2009, 10:21 PM

First off I would like to say thanks to everyone who helped me along with my decision to upgrade my shocks on my 08 700 XTX. Namely Sandchris and Daryl. It was nice to have some inside info prior to making the purchase.

I also want to tell all of you that King is first class when it came to the whole experience. I contacted them directly as Daryl suggested and they were great to deal with. I was able to tell them what kind of riding I do and they helped pick a set up that would fit for me. The shocks showed up nicely packaged and with all the necessary parts.

I ran into a couple of things that slowed me down a bit but was nothing a conversation with the King Tech wouldn't fix. The shocks came with two blue rubber bushings to protect the top of the shocks from rubbing on the shock mounts. The problem came with the width of the shock mounts on the Prowler are just too narrow to take the thickness of both the bushings. So it was just a matter of cutting the bushings down the a thinner size to make them work. They didn't suggest any protection on the bottom of the shock but I was able to find some nylon washers that were perfectly sized that did the trick. Hopefully the pictures will upload and you can all see what I am talking about.
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Other than the bushing width these things bolted on with ease. They have a compression adjustment on the top of the piggyback reservoir that has 20 positions of adjustment. I took the prowler out for a quick spin and tested the adjustment and it is a noticeable difference in just 5 positions.

I am excited to get out and run with these to really see how much better the ride and traction will be with the added travel. During the short ride tonight the ride was so much better than stock. It is like going from a tractor to a race suspension.

If anyone out there is considering upgrading shocks I would highly recommend King. It was great dealing with them
IMG00013-20091118-1853.jpg IMG00014-20091118-1854.jpg IMG00015-20091118-1920.jpg

Desertcat · 11-18-2009, 11:20 PM

Looks great thanks for the insight

Darryl89 · 11-19-2009, 05:48 AM

Glad to hear you got set up. Each time I go for a run in the desert, I'm amazed at how good the Kings are. And as you said, the techs at King are great to deal with and know their stuff.

sandchris · 11-19-2009, 06:29 AM

I have never heard one bad thing about King. Especially their customer service. Nothing like being satisfied with with your purchase.

Mustanggeek · 11-19-2009, 06:49 AM

Nice setup. Thanks for posting.

Desertcat · 11-19-2009, 07:44 AM

They appear to be the Snap on of shocks

ElkoTrailRider · 11-28-2009, 02:11 PM

Hey Bmombert:

Those look great. It looks to me like your A-arms are pretty horizontal with those shocks. Are they? What is your clearance now? When I put Bilsteins on my Prowler the A-arms were horizontal, and clearance went from 12" to 10". In order to get my clearance back I really had to crank the preload on the springs, which then wacks the ride and suspension travel.

Bob

Darryl89 · 11-28-2009, 02:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ElkoTrailRider

Hey Bmombert:

Those look great. It looks to me like your A-arms are pretty horizontal with those shocks. Are they? What is your clearance now? When I put Bilsteins on my Prowler the A-arms were horizontal, and clearance went from 12" to 10". In order to get my clearance back I really had to crank the preload on the springs, which then wacks the ride and suspension travel.

Bob

Preload is a function of weight versus spring rate. The loss of ground clearance had to do with less preload. Adjusting the height back to 12inches won't change your actual preload from the original 12inches. But going beyond that point will. (Given that the spring rates are proper for the weight of the machine)
A given weight will only compress a certain rate of spring so far. I would suggest that the change in ride is from the shock valving itself as the springs have little effect other than to adjust the shock for the weight of the vehicle. It's the valving that gives you a better or worse ride (dual or triple rate springs will help some with absorbing little bumps to big hits, but it's still just an adjustment to the weight of the vehicle).
That said, I've talked with many off-road racers and haven't heard much good about the Bilsteins as compared to King Off-Road Racing, Fox or Walker Evans Shocks. You might take a try at having Bilstein re-valve your shocks. King and Fox will both re-valve their shocks if you request. They even have support teams that show up at the major races (they were even at Glamis over the Halloween weekend to help adjust their shocks) to help tune their shocks, I've never seen Bilstein jump on that bandwagon.
But that's why you pay more for King and Fox.
Do you have the steel body Bilsteins? How about remote reservoirs.

Darryl89 · 11-28-2009, 03:09 PM

Hope that didn't sound too harsh against Bilsteins as they are a much better shock than stock any day. Anyone that has run stock shocks through sand whoops at speed knows how painfully inadequate they are and how they fade to nothing after a few minutes of hard running.

ElkoTrailRider · 11-28-2009, 03:24 PM

Not too harsh at all, but you are absolutely right: I wrote a letter to Bilstein asking for some help, and they never even replied (sent my letter by US Mail). Honestly, having looked at other aftermarket shocks, I think that the springs are too short on the Bilsteins. They are dual-rate, but not as much as on the Fox, etc.

Indeed, the Bilsteins are better than OEM; they give much greater stability, and provide much more comfort on sidehills/off-camber situations. I just can't ride the stuff I ride at 10" clearance (tried it in Moab last May, and had a horrible time getting over things dragging my belly). So, cranking the springs gave me the lift (these are aluminum body shocks), but now the ride is very stiff, and it seems like the springs really shove the shocks to extension (perhaps, as you said, it is a valving issue). Also, these shocks do not have an external or piggy-back reservoir.

So, I guess it is decision time. Either stay with these until they wear out, or cough up some more cash for another four corners. That said, what do you know about the Legend air suspension?