[bmombert]

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.

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

 

[Desertcat]

Looks great thanks for the insight

 

[Darryl89]

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]

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

 

[Mustanggeek]

Nice setup. Thanks for posting.

 

[Desertcat]

They appear to be the Snap on of shocks

 

[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

 

[Darryl89]

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]

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]

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?

 

[Darryl89]

I don't know much about the Legend Air Suspension, I do know that some rock crawlers out there use air suspension, but my problem with it is my use is desert racing as well as running up in the Rocky Mountains, where an air leak could sideline you. The nice thing about air suspensions is being able to air them up stiffer or air them down for a smooth ride.
But for me, King or Fox 1st, Walker Evans after that for choices.

 

[ElkoTrailRider]

Thanks, again, Darryl. Probably will be looking at the Kings next. While I don't do desert racing, I ride the high desert of Nevada all the time. And, we have lots of elevation here, like the Rockies.

 

[Desertcat]

I don't know much about the Legend Air Suspension, I do know that some rock crawlers out there use air suspension, but my problem with it is my use is desert racing as well as running up in the Rocky Mountains, where an air leak could sideline you. The nice thing about air suspensions is being able to air them up stiffer or air them down for a smooth ride.
But for me, King or Fox 1st, Walker Evans after that for choices.

Is fox making shocks for the XT and XTX?

 

[warlock]

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?

My brother used there race shocks and everyone who rode in the race rhino with the bilsteins could not believe how much better it handled the whoops than there own rhinos..

The guy you need to talk to is Gary Friess of Microtouch racing
Side by Side Racing Products by Micro Touch, Inc.

He can dial those shocks in and you will not believe how good they will work. Hes located in Havasu.

 

[bmombert]

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

Bob,

I think Daryl probably already started you down the right road.

As for the Kings... they do look like at first that the a-arms are more horizontal. However, I was looking for that stance for my riding situation. I don't do a lot of high speed riding. I do more exploring and technical riding. I was getting frustrated when I got a tire on an obstacle and the suspension was too stiff and wouldn't extend to keep the oposite side on the dirt. I felt like I was always at the bottom of the suspension travel and if I needed the wheel to drop a little to get some traction I was out of travel. Now I feel like I am sitting more toward the middle of the travel range which should give me the bottom end travel I think I need. I have not had sufficient time to test them yet but what little riding I have done so far the Kings are very impressive. The adjustability is very impressive as well. I paid a little extra for compression adjustment knobs on each shock but I can tell already they are well worth the money. I had to move a trailer the other day and I knew that the extra weight would cause some serious sag in the suspension. With a few turns of the preload and the compression adjustment it was a real difference.

I also want to say again how great the guys at King were to deal with. Great communication and very helpfull. The pricing was right there with the Fox shocks as well. I don't know anything about Fox but I would go back to King for any shock needs I have in the future just because of the customer service. I called after I installed the shocks and they reminded me that I have one free revalve if I am dissatisfied with the way the shocks are performing.

I am really looking forward to testing the adjustments out on these things. I know they are going to be great. I will be sure to post as the process goes along.

I will try to go measure the clearance for you and let you know what the measurements are now.

Thanks again to Daryl for pointing me to the Kings!!!

 

[ElkoTrailRider]

Warlock, thanks for the info. I will definitely contact him this week to see what we can do. And Terry, appreciate what you have to say regarding the Kings. Heck, if enough of the guys on this forum chip in I could end up learning what I need to learn!

 

[warlock]

Warlock, thanks for the info. I will definitely contact him this week to see what we can do. And Terry, appreciate what you have to say regarding the Kings. Heck, if enough of the guys on this forum chip in I could end up learning what I need to learn!

Your welcome.

Do you know who Ivan Stuart is. He raced for Team Toyota and he was one of the most most victorious teams in offroad racing for ever and is a legend.. Gary was the guy who dialed in and setup the bistein shocks on his trucks, Gary has forgotten more about suspension than anyone else even knows about it. Im sure he will dial you right in.. Keep us posted...

 

[Desertcat]

Your welcome.

Do you know who Ivan Stuart is. He raced for Team Toyota and he was one of the most most victorious teams in offroad racing for ever and is a legend.. Gary was the guy who dialed in and setup the bistein shocks on his trucks, Gary has forgotten more about suspension than anyone else even knows about it. Im sure he will dial you right in.. Keep us posted...

I have talked to Gary before about the Bilsteins and he really seems to know his stuff. He assured me I would be happy and he could set me up right. To many options to choose from I am getting head ach.

 

[socal2ks]

The race team I chase for runs the Blackhawks and both trucks and they are pretty amazing, and stay very cool.

At this years baja I noticed the new 4runner Ivan was driving also had the Blackhawks.

I think proper shock tuning is critical to any shock.

 

[ElkoTrailRider]

Hey Guys:

Gary emailed me, and asked for photos and lots of information. I am really glad that someone from Microtouch is willing to help. As you could probably tell from my posts, I was getting a tad frustrated. I think we will get this figured out, and be on the happy trail again!

Bob