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FOX or KINGS!? WHICH IS TRULY BETTER?

Rebelyell20

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Alright I know there are a lot of variables. But as far as ride quality off and on road which is better? I have a 20 rebel and I wanna bring this thing to its max potential. The two kits I’m comparing are below. Both 2.5 coil over kits by fox and king. I would ask for a upgrade on the rear for FOX shocks since they are only 2.0 monotube I would upgrade to a 2.5 piggyback. I heard king shafts have a problem in salty environments as they corrode and tear the seal any truth to this? So which one!?

KING

FOX
 

Ram1500rsm

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Kings in this case, you're comparing 2.5 displacement front and rear components vs 2.0 rear in that BDS kit. If you're in Socal i'd recommend you to go with Accutune offroad.. If you buy from them they'll change the valving and retune them for you depending on yout want/truck mods etc. They also sell Fox so you can get either option valved and tuned for your truck. Go with 2.5 displacement shocks all around. 2.0's are good for a street ride and/or light fast pace offroad, 2.5 body shocks will run circles around the 2.0 shocks street or offroad, you get better control, more oil and a harder to kill shock specially considering the weight on our trucks. You can get your choice of UCA as well. I had Zone UCA's before my Icons. I can vouch for both Zone or Icon Delta Joins UCA's. after having both i like Icons better, poly bushings keeps things tight and the delta joints flex better than the Moog in the Zones.

Good luck.
 

Rebelyell20

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Kings in this case, you're comparing 2.5 displacement front and rear components vs 2.0 rear in that BDS kit. If you're in Socal i'd recommend you to go with Accutune offroad.. If you buy from them they'll change the valving and retune them for you depending on yout want/truck mods etc. They also sell Fox so you can get either option valved and tuned for your truck. Go with 2.5 displacement shocks all around. 2.0's are good for a street ride and/or light fast pace offroad, 2.5 body shocks will run circles around the 2.0 shocks street or offroad, you get better control, more oil and a harder to kill shock specially considering the weight on our trucks. You can get your choice of UCA as well. I had Zone UCA's before my Icons. I can vouch for both Zone or Icon Delta Joins UCA's. after having both i like Icons better, poly bushings keeps things tight and the delta joints flex better than the Moog in the Zones.

Good luck.
I mentioned in the thread that I would upgrade the fox kit to 2.5 in the rear. Still think Kings? So accutune sells them tuned and these are untuned? What’s the difference? Excuse my ignorance I’m new to off-roading.
 

Ram1500rsm

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I mentioned in the thread that I would upgrade the fox kit to 2.5 in the rear. Still think Kings? So accutune sells them tuned and these are untuned? What’s the difference? Excuse my ignorance I’m new to off-roading.
Accutune can tune them and revalve them. when you order through them they might have some in stock cause they can order a few sets to have in stock, don't know if the RAM market is big enough for them to do that, last time i was there i saw they stock Jeep Wrangler and Tacomas/4runners sets, So the sets are pretty much OE, or Fox or King will send their OE versions to them, and they'll prep them for you according to your needs. The tune and valving is optional but included in the price. You can always buy OE valving, but later on when you decide to revalve and tune it'll be more expensive, ask me how i know :) I bought King OE valving through SDHQ Motorsports with 20% off 3 years ago, and drove them for about 10k miles. then sent them to Accutune for revalve and tune. Nothing wrong with OE valving on the street or offroad, when you want to get more aggresive depending on the pace you drive offroad you may find the OE valving is inadequate for some big potholes/ruts, I was busting the steel washer at the bottom of the CO's that's there to let you know when you're bottoming out your CO's, so i asked Accutune to valve them more heavy for fast pace whoops/portholes etc and to account for my truck weight front and rear. (steel bumpers, rock sliders,full spare at the time on 37's,tools/gear, swing out carrier etc etc)

From Accutune the Fox shafts are supposed to be more resilient and less prone to pitting, I protect my shaft with a cheap solution so i haven't have a single issue with the rear shocks shafts getting pitted in years. Also Fox adjusters are prob the best on the market when compared to King or Icon why ? last two give you a mid speed compression adjuster that blends the high speed compression with the low speed compression, Fox gives you 2 knobs to adjust that, for a street ride you only need to adjust the low speed compression. then you dial the high speed one when you're hitting the whoops if you need to firm up the ride. I had a Taco with Icon Stage 6 and found myself playing with that knob the first month like a kid with a new plastic gun. After that i was always on the firm side haha. i don't have adjuster on my Kings and i wanted to see if the OE valving was enough. In my case it wasn't but i beat the crap out of my truck so i needed to stop my shocks from bottoming out. You can still beat the chit of the shocks on OE valving, maybe i demand more out of my suspension after having a more sets of past hi performance shocks.

Also regarding King seals, i don't know how they'll behave in a salty environment. I've had Kings for 3 years now first time, after doing Radflo and Icons before. Never had rust issues with none of them but i don't live in the salt belt or the beach so i don't know first hand. I've driven them all through snowy roads where salt is used during winter times, but mostly on Vacations and some offroad trips to the mountains and the ocasional visit to a beach where i can drive in front of the water. I coat the outside of my CO's/Shocks and springs every year with Boeshield T9 for prevention and i've always been rust free when it comes to that stuff.

When you order from Accutune you can talk to them about internals and what options do you have if you live in the salt belt. They have a comparison King OE vs Fox OE for Tacomas here https://accutuneoffroad.com/fox-vs-king-oem-coilovers/

I paid for all the good stuff when they did my revalving and tune, i also had the digressive piston in my rear OE shocks so they changed as well and i went their double flutter stack as well. That's why i'm saying it'll be more expensive to fix those little things later on if you buy OE vs tuners that can revalve and tune with all the goodies :) that's why you pay a little more with tuners but trust me it's well worth it in the long run. Your future services will be cheaper too.
I went with a 2nd set of longer rear King shocks and i ordered them straight from Accutune, custom made to mimic Dirt King long travel rear bypass 4th gen RAM 1500 in lenght and i'm running those in my truck right now. I asked Accutune this time to spec them for me right out of the bat. revalved and tuned the same way they did for me on the OE ones and all with all the goodies inside.

Hope it helps.
 
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Rebelyell20

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Accutune can tune them and revalve them. when you order through them they might have some in stock cause they can order a few sets to have in stock, don't know if the RAM market is big enough for them to do that, last time i was there i saw they stock Jeep Wrangler and Tacomas/4runners sets, So the sets are pretty much OE, or Fox or King will send their OE versions to them, and they'll prep them for you according to your needs. The tune and valving is optional but included in the price. You can always buy OE valving, but later on when you decide to revalve and tune it'll be more expensive, ask me how i know :) I bought King OE valving through SDHQ Motorsports with 20% off 3 years ago, and drove them for about 10k miles. then sent them to Accutune for revalve and tune. Nothing wrong with OE valving on the street or offroad, when you want to get more aggresive depending on the pace you drive offroad you may find the OE valving is inadequate for some big potholes/ruts, I was busting the steel washer at the bottom of the CO's that's there to let you know when you're bottoming out your CO's, so i asked Accutune to valve them more heavy for fast pace whoops/portholes etc and to account for my truck weight front and rear. (steel bumpers, rock sliders,full spare at the time on 37's,tools/gear, swing out carrier etc etc)

From Accutune the Fox shafts are supposed to be more resilient and less prone to pitting, I protect my shaft with a cheap solution so i haven't have a single issue with the rear shocks shafts getting pitted in years. Also Fox adjusters are prob the best on the market when compared to King or Icon why ? last two give you a mid speed compression adjuster that blends the high speed compression with the low speed compression, Fox gives you 2 knobs to adjust that, for a street ride you only need to adjust the low speed compression. then you dial the high speed one when you're hitting the whoops if you need to firm up the ride. I had a Taco with Icon Stage 6 and found myself playing with that knob the first month like a kid with a new plastic gun. After that i was always on the firm side haha. i don't have adjuster on my Kings and i wanted to see if the OE valving was enough. In my case it wasn't but i beat the crap out of my truck so i needed to stop my shocks from bottoming out. You can still beat the chit of the shocks on OE valving, maybe i demand more out of my suspension after having a more sets of past hi performance shocks.

Also regarding King seals, i don't know how they'll behave in a salty environment. I've had Kings for 3 years now first time, after doing Radflo and Icons before. Never had rust issues with none of them but i don't live in the salt belt or the beach so i don't know first hand. I've driven them all through snowy roads where salt is used during winter times, but mostly on Vacations and some offroad trips to the mountains and the ocasional visit to a beach where i can drive in front of the water. I coat the outside of my CO's/Shocks and springs every year with Boeshield T9 for prevention and i've always been rust free when it comes to that stuff.

When you order from Accutune you can talk to them about internals and what options do you have if you live in the salt belt. They have a comparison King OE vs Fox OE for Tacomas here https://accutuneoffroad.com/fox-vs-king-oem-coilovers/

I paid for all the good stuff when they did my revalving and tune, i also had the digressive piston in my rear OE shocks so they changed as well and i went their double flutter stack as well. That's why i'm saying it'll be more expensive to fix those little things later on if you buy OE vs tuners that can revalve and tune with all the goodies :) that's why you pay a little more with tuners but trust me it's well worth it in the long run. Your future services will be cheaper too.
I went with a 2nd set of longer rear King shocks and i ordered them straight from Accutune, custom made to mimic Dirt King long travel rear bypass 4th gen RAM 1500 in lenght and i'm running those in my truck right now. I asked Accutune this time to spec them for me right out of the bat. revalved and tuned the same way they did for me on the OE ones and all with all the goodies inside.

Hope it helps.
Thanks for all your input! I’ll have to check accutune out. So your running tuned KING shocks right now? Would you recommend those over 2.5 tuned shocks from accutune? I know you mentioned their adjusters are the best on the market. So would that sway you towards a tuned set of FOX over the KINGS?
 

Ram1500rsm

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Thanks for all your input! I’ll have to check accutune out. So your running tuned KING shocks right now? Would you recommend those over 2.5 tuned shocks from accutune? I know you mentioned their adjusters are the best on the market. So would that sway you towards a tuned set of FOX over the KINGS?
I’m running Kings revalved and tuned by Accutune. They will revalve and tune either choice so they can do Fox as well. The Fox adjusters won’t sway me towards either choice. They’re nice to have though so if you want to have them go for them. It’s cheaper to get them if you buy the COs and shocks with them. Or you can add them later on but it’ll cost you more that way. Accutune can adapt the Fox dual adjuster system to run With Fox, King and SAW shocks. $330 per shock :)
 
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Ram1500rsm

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And just in case I don’t work for Accutune lol. You can buy from any vendor. Filthy can tune and revalve your Kings as well but they’re King only dealer. Accutune sells both. Downsouth Motorsports is also a King dealer and tuner. I’m sure they’re are more out there that are local to you. I support our local dealers so I go with Accutune cause they have been awesome to me. You also have Carli as well using King stuff. King is King :)
 

Alxmlr789

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I can’t speak much to the kings but I just put the fox 2.5 DSC on my front end and they have blown me away. I came from the Mopar 2” and the ride is so much better,
 

Rebelyell20

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And just in case I don’t work for Accutune lol. You can buy from any vendor. Filthy can tune and revalve your Kings as well but they’re King only dealer. Accutune sells both. Downsouth Motorsports is also a King dealer and tuner. I’m sure they’re are more out there that are local to you. I support our local dealers so I go with Accutune cause they have been awesome to me. You also have Carli as well using King stuff. King is King :)
Thanks for all your help man! One last question, how will this upgrade affect towing?
 

20Ram4X

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Towing should be the same since you're not changing the rear springs, maybe better with the 2.5 shocks in the rear. I went with the extended travel Fox 2.5's with Zone uca's and the 2.5 rear shocks and am simply blown away by the plush ride and their ability to soak up everything. Expensive but worth every penny.
 

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Ram1500rsm

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Thanks for all your help man! One last question, how will this upgrade affect towing?
Towing is not affected if anything towing gets better cause the shocks have a lot more damping power. If you go with adjusters you’ll make the rears firmer. Also good to beef up your rear sway bar and links if you’re towing heavy or hauling heavy. Make the rear more predictable.
 

Rebelyell20

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Towing should be the same since you're not changing the rear springs, maybe better with the 2.5 shocks in the rear. I went with the extended travel Fox 2.5's with Zone uca's and the 2.5 rear shocks and am simply blown away by the plush ride and their ability to soak up everything. Expensive but worth every penny.
Yeah man those look awesome I love them! Just can’t decide which way to go between FOX or KING lol feel like you can’t really go wrong ether way it’s just preference
 

Rebelyell20

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Towing is not affected if anything towing gets better cause the shocks have a lot more damping power. If you go with adjusters you’ll make the rears firmer. Also good to beef up your rear sway bar and links if you’re towing heavy or hauling heavy. Make the rear more predictable.
Thanks again man!
 

Ram1500rsm

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Yep you definetely can't go wrong with either choice. Both will put a grin in your face everytime you put the truck in the dirt and you press on the gas pedal :)
 

Alxmlr789

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My front Fox's were so nice I ordered the rear shocks lol. Was definitely not planning on it, but they should help a good amount with towing too.
 

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