... so, King shocks are better because King shocks says that it's better. Awesome. Somehow, I bet I can find self-descriptions from Fox all the way down to Monroe in which they all declare themselves as having the better shocks.

 

Because nothing rides like a King. Come on man! lol

 

Don't knock King Shocks unless you've actually used them. I have. King Shocks is family owned and I have worked with them setting up my off road car. Not saying Fox doesn't build a quality product, they do. But Fox is defiantly is not the only game in town.

 

 

 

 

I looked at several options and heard about King products as being top shelf. I saw they made 1 for the Super Duty and am 100% satisfied. A few reasons that swayed me;

King steering stabilizers are the solution to front end stability issues when running aggressive tread patterns or oversized tires. They employ our "balanced flow" piston technology that gives you total control over unwanted steering forces. They have the damping performance and adjustability needed to tame the biggest oversize tires and they look great too.













1. Stabilizer bodies are bored and honed after cadmium plating to ensure cylindricity and an efficient piston seal that enhances valve function. 2. Highly developed "balanced flow" port designs on our 6061 aluminum alloy piston provide superior damping.

3. Heat treated stainless alloy valve shims do not fracture like plain carbon steel and resist deformation at high temperatures providing consistent fade free performance. 4. Wear bands are made from a Rulon composite that offers incredible wear resistance, low deformation under load and high compressive strength. Overlapping end design enhances sealing. 5. Special long wearing urethane seals have been tested on 18 wheelers for 450,000 miles without a failure.

6. Large 3/4" or 7/8" diameter shafts, depending on the stabilizer length, have a tensile strength of 100,000 pounds per square inch. They are hard chromed to combat rock bruising and micro-polished to a 6 RA finish for extended seal life.
7. Replaceable Teflon lined stainless steel spherical bearings will not rust and provide smooth articulation with no metal to metal contact.

 

King, Fox, Icon, ADS, SwayAway, Bilstein (their racing series shocks, not 5100), and Radflo are all top tier companies that all use similar materials to build shocks. Minor differences/valving changes between them but you're safe with all of them. Honestly it comes down to brand loyalty, stock availability, and color preference.

 

Here's some reasons I chose Fox over King, this is why I chose their 2.5 Factory Edition shocks, but also why I picked a matching stabilizer....this is without getting into the friction part of the equation or the valve stacks, since that matters much less in a stabilizer.

There is a substantial difference in the quality of the piston rods used in Fox and King. Fox 2.0 Factory Series use a 17-4 H900 stainless steel piston rods with hard chrome plating. Fox stainless steel piston rods are very corrosion resistant and extremely strong at 190 ksi of tensile strength. King 2.0 Performance Series coilovers use industry standard 1040-1060 high carbon steel piston rod with hard chrome plating and are rated at 100 ksi minimum tensile strength.

Piston rod hardness is also very important to consider. Rockwell hardness is measured by pressing a ball into the material at a preset force, and measuring the depth of deformation. This very closely mimics flying rock debris and the amount of damage it may cause to the piston rod. Damaged piston rods are the leading cause of shock failure, harder rods are more resistant to rock debris and therefore offer substantial durability advantages. Results from 3rd party Rockwell Hardness Testing:

Fox: 45 HRc
Sway-A-Way: 32 HRc
King: 23 HRc

Seals:
Seals are responsible for keeping the oil inside the shock across harsh conditions without contributing large amounts of friction. Fox 2.0 Factory Series shocks come with viton seals, viton is the benchmark material for high temperature and low friction seals. King 2.0 Performance Series coilovers use industry standard Buna seals which provide excellent sealing, and viton seals are available as an optional upgrade. From the outside in, Fox uses a heavy duty wiper, then a u-cup with a secondary wiper lip, and finally a viton o-ring. King uses a heavy duty wiper, u-cup and o-ring seal. Fox’s use of the u-cup with secondary wiper offers extra protection against dirt intrusion in order to help the shocks last longer.

Oil:
Oil is responsible for providing consistent damping across a range of temperatures, conveying heat, and lubricating the seals. When oil breaks down shock failure isn’t far behind. Fox shocks use a conventional oil rated by the manufacturer for use from -65 to 275 F and has a viscosity index of 370. King shocks use a conventional oil rated for use by the manufacturer from 14 to 230 F with a viscosity index of 150. It is common for oils to operate outside their rated range in shock absorbers due to the unique nature of the application (Fox rates their oil up to 400F). Fox oil offers substantially better lubrication across a wide range of temperatures based on the manufacturer ratings. Viscosity index (VI) is a measure of how much the damping will fade due to heat. Fox’s VI of 370 is very high and provides exceptional performance. King’s VI of 150 is an average rating.

 

Yea but Fox customer service "good luck"........

 

Ha, that's actually my experience with King.

 

Has anyone tried the Carli steering stabilizer, see lots of Carli leveling kits on here but no one seems to mention their stabilizer?

 

Thats brand new isnt it? i saw they just added it to their site a few months ago. They also are developing their own shocks similar to the bilstein 5100's.

 

I have a carli stabilizer at home, ran it on my lifted 2012. Seemed to work well, has a lot of positive rebound though (like a shock). They come initially with like 200lbs of nitrogen, if you're not running really large tires, they suggest dropping that down to around 100.

I ended up taking it off an ran a dual icon set up (along with the stock stabilizer). I can't say that either set up was significantly better than the other.

 

Oh, I did not know that, thought it had been on there awhile. Guess that explains that. Thanks