Do not buy Carli tuned king coilovers

[gunner_herman]

Who did you call?

accutune. i do not remember the guy who I spoke to. he seemed to actually look up information for the 4thgen but didn't have any recommendations for tuning or state they could help me with tuning. I don't think I asked them about the springs that day as that wasn't something I was really looking at yet.

 

[gunner_herman]

So accutune told me via email that they don’t perform work on the vehicle. They said I would have to send them the shocks and they would send them back with approximately a two week turnaround. I don’t think that’s the route I want to go.
I jacked up the front of my truck to get some measurements of the shocks and to attempt some adjustments to the Carli UCAs. When I measured the spring and shock lengths with tires on the ground compared to tires off the ground and I didn’t even get one full inch of articulation. WTF?

Tires on the ground:
Driver side:
Shock length from bottom of top hat to center of the bolt; 20 3/8”

Spring length; 9 5/8”

Passenger side:
Shock length from bottom off top hat to center of the bolt; 20 1/4”

Spring length; 9 3/8”


Tires off the ground:
Driver side:
Shock length from bottom off top hat to center of the bolt; 20 7/8 - 20 3/4””

Spring length; 10 1/8”

Passenger side:
Shock length from bottom off top hat to center of the bolt; 20 5/8 - 20 3/4””

Spring length; 10 1/8”

I took the measurements a couple of times and got very slight variations.

The suspension hardly changes at all when the front tires are lifted off the ground.

 

[olyelr]

So accutune told me via email that they don’t perform work on the vehicle. They said I would have to send them the shocks and they would send them back with approximately a two week turnaround. I don’t think that’s the route I want to go.
I jacked up the front of my truck to get some measurements of the shocks and to attempt some adjustments to the Carli UCAs. When I measured the spring and shock lengths with tires on the ground compared to tires off the ground and I didn’t even get one full inch of articulation. WTF?

Hmmmm, every time i put my half ton up on the hoist i have always been fairly impressed how much down travel it seems to have (all stock suspension). That being said ive never actually measured the length of the shocks down travel…but i do know the tires droop at least 4-5” away from the fender from ride height.

Your numbers seem like an abnormally minimal change.

 

[Cmz2800]

your front axles are definitely taking a beating. I’m presuming that’s a leveling kit? At least the kit looks pretty nice lol

 

[olyelr]

Big night tonight. Just measured my stock/oem ‘17 ram 1500 big horn 4wd. At ride height, driver front shock length from bottom of top-hat to center of bottom shock bolt…16.5”…at full droop, 19.5”. Tire to fender gap at ride height is 5.25”…at full droop is 9.5”.

You are suffering from lack of down-travel for some reason. Are the rest of the factory components lacking available down-travel?

 

[olyelr]

So 3” of droop at the shock from ride height, and at least 4” out at the tire.

And you didnt get even one inch of droop. Hmmmm.

 

[gunner_herman]

Exactly guys. I know there’s something wrong but I don’t know what.
My last couple of emails to Carli haven’t been answered.
I was discussing this stuff with accutune and really appreciated their quick replies but they apparently don't do work on the vehicle itself. if I send them the shocks to assess and/or. well what if it's something else like the Carli UCAs. i have no idea at all what it could be.
i believe Carli advertised 9" of travel up front. i don't know how that would normally be measured but if i can't barely get even an inch of travel between tires on the ground or off the ground where is the other 8” of travel going to come from?
I just don’t see how anything could be installed wrong. Seems pretty simple.
I’m not a real mechanic by any means but think I’m going to have to try to put the factory coilovers that has the Bilstein 5100 shocks to see what results I get. Process of elimination I’m thinking. Maybe the Carli UCA is the problem. No idea how that could be it but if the suspension still gives me trouble after pulling the king coil over that’s basically the last thing to look at because my truck rode very good with the mostly factory set up. I was thinking the kings would just take me to the next level and then some. I went the wrong direction in performance improvement.
I took a pretty small speed bump a couple days ago thinking maybe things just need to be broken in, well all I got was two new rattles in my interior panels. It came off the other side of that speed bump really hard.

I need someone with better knowledge of these suspensions to ride with me to give me their opinion on how the truck rides. That’s what I’m trying to get Carli to do now. They’re not too far from me I believe. I just want this coordinated first before I drive up there. I’d drive further as well because I want this to work and feel like this is a quality product that just isn’t performing like it should. Fine, what needs to happen to give me that travel and good ride.
I’m at the point now that I’ll leave my truck for the diagnosis because my truck rides very poorly. I’m honestly scared something significant is going to break because of how stiff the front is.
I keep saying front because the rear is great. It’s not presently as good as it was just after install but that’s because I put the air bags back in. The front lifted so darn high compared to where it was that it made the rear sit nearly two inches lower than the front. If I can get the front figured out I’ll be taking those airbags out.
Any recommendations on a company in Southern California who can do the full assessment and can also make the changes?
Greatly appreciate it

 

[gunner_herman]

Are the rest of the factory components lacking available down-travel?

I’m not clear what else should move? The coilovers barely move when jacked or lifted individually. The UCA is Carli. I have the front sway bar disconnected now in an effort to try to get some kind of bump compliance. It helps a little.
Can you tell me what else you meant please?
I really do want to find an answer.

 

[gunner_herman]

So 3” of droop at the shock from ride height, and at least 4” out at the tire.

And you didnt get even one inch of droop. Hmmmm.

That’s right. Not even a full inch of changes with tires all the way off the ground AND with the sway bar disconnected as well.

 

[gunner_herman]

your front axles are definitely taking a beating. I’m presuming that’s a leveling kit? At least the kit looks pretty nice lol

I don’t think this version is considered a leveling kit but that’s kind of what it does. My front is now about two inches higher than the rear for some reason, so the level didn’t quite work. I barely have any preload at all. I tried taking out the rest of the preload but just can’t get that collar to move. It’s just about five or six threads showing. It came that way from Carli

 

[olyelr]

I’m not clear what else should move? The coilovers barely move when jacked or lifted individually. The UCA is Carli. I have the front sway bar disconnected now in an effort to try to get some kind of bump compliance. It helps a little.
Can you tell me what else you meant please?
I really do want to find an answer.

I guess what i meant by that is at your current ride height i simply think the constraints of the factory suspension cycling is maxed out. The new a-arms are nice, but they are not gonna give you more suspension cycle.

Out of curiosity, what is the distance from the center of your wheel to the bottom of the fender lip? On my stock big horn it is 20 3/4”…if u are 3-4” more than that, that is too much without drop brackets and is your issue. But, then you have to figure out why you have that issue though lol. Those should only be lifting the front a few inches or so.

 

[Dinky]

Late to the party here, but reach out to Thuren suspension. I know they sell custom tuned King coilovers. Don is a very knowledgeable guy with ram trucks and their customer service is top notch.

 

[gunner_herman]

I guess what i meant by that is at your current ride height i simply think the constraints of the factory suspension cycling is maxed out. The new a-arms are nice, but they are not gonna give you more suspension cycle.

Out of curiosity, what is the distance from the center of your wheel to the bottom of the fender lip? On my stock big horn it is 20 3/4”…if u are 3-4” more than that, that is too much without drop brackets and is your issue. But, then you have to figure out why you have that issue though lol. Those should only be lifting the front a few inches or so.

I just measured it. I’m at 25 1/4”. That’s just way too much front end lift. I only wanted it to be level.
There is hardly any preload at all. I have maybe four threads / five at the most. I’ve tried to take all of the preload out but I can’t get the collar to turn.

 

[gunner_herman]

I guess what i meant by that is at your current ride height i simply think the constraints of the factory suspension cycling is maxed out. The new a-arms are nice, but they are not gonna give you more suspension cycle.

Out of curiosity, what is the distance from the center of your wheel to the bottom of the fender lip? On my stock big horn it is 20 3/4”…if u are 3-4” more than that, that is too much without drop brackets and is your issue. But, then you have to figure out why you have that issue though lol. Those should only be lifting the front a few inches or so.

what specifically do you mean by drop brackets?

 

[gunner_herman]

Front end being 1" higher definitely takes front end travel away. Lower the front an 1" or 2.

The suspensionmaxx front links look like they are installed incorrectly or you have the 2wd version. They will limit down travel when not functioning properly.

Dirt king also uses 700lb springs while

View attachment 508091

Another used 500lb with 600lb available as well from Filthy Motorsports.

Crappy thing is if you change your spring rates you're going to want to get the shocks revalved for the new rates. I'd start with just lowering the truck.

View attachment 508092

I tried lowering the collar/reducing the preload to zero. I can't get that thing to spin. I get the Allen loose and when I put the punch tool in to turn the collar I can't get it to go anywhere. that is with the vehicle lifted off the ground and no weight on the front tires.

 

[olyelr]

what specifically do you mean by drop brackets?

Holy ****. Your ride height is sitting over 4” from factory height…that is definitely your issue.

By drop brackets, im talking about the bracketry that drops the lower a-arms and differential and such, that normal lift kits of that height come with. At that height it is necessary, as you are finding out.

 

[olyelr]

I tried lowering the collar/reducing the preload to zero. I can't get that thing to spin. I get the Allen loose and when I put the punch tool in to turn the collar I can't get it to go anywhere. that is with the vehicle lifted off the ground and no weight on the front tires.

Be careful doing that without taking the load off the spring! Not sure with the kings, but i tried that on a set of fox coilovers for my wifes denali and the collar jumped threads and fubared the threads all up!

 

[gunner_herman]

Be careful doing that without taking the load off the spring! Not sure with the kings, but i tried that on a set of fox coilovers for my wifes denali and the collar jumped threads and fubared the threads all up!

that is exactly what I was worried might happen. I'm thinking I need to get the spring compressors and take that tension off.

I am still trying to get Carli tech support to take a ride with me to see if this is how my truck/suspension should behave. They haven't replied back to me since late August and I've left one voice mail and even spoke to one of the other techs who was going to give the person who I was corresponding with the message to call me. He never did. I don't want to drop names. I am still hopeful we can get this resolved as Carli seems to be a very good company making a solid product. I just haven't had great results myself. Initially I made the mistake of only engaging with CJC. All CJC could tell me was to lower my tire pressure, which I did but it hasn't helped with any of the harder transitions. It seems to bottom out as soon as I hit anything substantial.

if this is all how it was designed to work, I will attempt the preload adjustment, and depending on how that works out I will either live with it or go back to the factory set-up (I don't want to have to do that/ but I also don't think I can live with how bad the suspension feels). If the factory set-up (plus the Bilsteins) works out I will either stick with that or maybe have accutune or someone do a rebuild and revalve the Kings. Probably go ahead and pay to have the adjusters added to that as well. Not sure.

This is all just one big letdown. Hopefully others will be more aware of potential "issues" before they pull the trigger. I know that had I read this specific thread before I put down this money I would not have done it. I would have left my truck the way it was or I would have gone to Fox or maybe Thuren. I haven't read anything negative there yet.

I still have my fingers crossed I will get assistance from Carli on this so I can come back here and tell everyone how incredible Carli tuned King shocks are. If we can discover the issue and resolve that I would be very happy with the outcome.

thanks for the advice.

 

[olyelr]

that is exactly what I was worried might happen. I'm thinking I need to get the spring compressors and take that tension off.

I am still trying to get Carli tech support to take a ride with me to see if this is how my truck/suspension should behave. They haven't replied back to me since late August and I've left one voice mail and even spoke to one of the other techs who was going to give the person who I was corresponding with the message to call me. He never did. I don't want to drop names. I am still hopeful we can get this resolved as Carli seems to be a very good company making a solid product. I just haven't had great results myself. Initially I made the mistake of only engaging with CJC. All CJC could tell me was to lower my tire pressure, which I did but it hasn't helped with any of the harder transitions. It seems to bottom out as soon as I hit anything substantial.

if this is all how it was designed to work, I will attempt the preload adjustment, and depending on how that works out I will either live with it or go back to the factory set-up (I don't want to have to do that/ but I also don't think I can live with how bad the suspension feels). If the factory set-up (plus the Bilsteins) works out I will either stick with that or maybe have accutune or someone do a rebuild and revalve the Kings. Probably go ahead and pay to have the adjusters added to that as well. Not sure.

This is all just one big letdown. Hopefully others will be more aware of potential "issues" before they pull the trigger. I know that had I read this specific thread before I put down this money I would not have done it. I would have left my truck the way it was or I would have gone to Fox or maybe Thuren. I haven't read anything negative there yet.

I still have my fingers crossed I will get assistance from Carli on this so I can come back here and tell everyone how incredible Carli tuned King shocks are. If we can discover the issue and resolve that I would be very happy with the outcome.

thanks for the advice.

Well, this is all definitely not normal. It being a little firmer than stock is one thing, and should be expected…but not this. The truck should not have gained anywhere near 4+” of lift. That is no doubt 100% your issue…but why it gained that much is what needs to be figured out.

Its kinda sad that it has been so long with no response from them. WTH. Lets get this crap figured out already guys!

 

[olyelr]

Dumb question…but there isnt any strut spacers installed, right?