Yamaha King long travel shocks bottoming out

[JRLoos]

I'm having some issues with my King shocks bottoming out at full droop. It feels terrible and it scares me every time. I just put this LT kit on right before mud nationals and I went through that entire front end at least 5 times before I figured out that it was the shocks ... Any suggestions?

 

[dezerteryx]

You meen full bump? Full droop meens fully extented.
Most likley the shocks didnt come pre adjusted. You need to set proper ride hieght, spring preload. Then if it has adjusters for compresion need to add afew clicks till it dosent bottom out.

 

[megonzo]

Check your nitrogen. Should be 225-250. If you have clickers you can check and change how the shock works. Also, your preload. No more than a 1/4 inch...unless you have a fuel cell, in which that can be adjusted accordingly.

King is very good for customer support. Give'em a call.

Good luck,

JL

 

[Aspendell Rover]

man how do u bottom out in mud, I ride 2' whoops and my bike loves it!

 

[JRLoos]

No at full droop... I know I thought the exact same thing. That's why I went through my entire front end twice... When my suspension bottoms out, the shocks are bottoming out. I didn't think it would happen. I asked a vendor at mud nationals and he said that kings don't have damper, only compression/rebound...? I didn't even crank them down halfway and they're doing this. It's freaking scary!

 

[dezerteryx]

No at full droop... I know I thought the exact same thing. That's why I went through my entire front end twice... When my suspension bottoms out, the shocks are bottoming out. I didn't think it would happen. I asked a vendor at mud nationals and he said that kings don't have damper, only compression/rebound...? I didn't even crank them down halfway and they're doing this. It's freaking scary!

All lt kits will hit the shock full extend limits or full droop not to let the arms travel to far causing a cv to snap. It will happen unless you add limit straps.

 

[Glamisfan]

Do you maybe mean topping out? A picture would be worth a thousand words.

 

[Bumpers]

Limit straps ?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk 2

 

[JRLoos]

Yeah I know they're supposed to bottom out or top out at full extension but these are hitting so hard it feels like metal to metal contact. Maybe shocks need recharge but they ride awesome on the compression stroke, so I didn't think it was the charge. I've been considering the limit straps, but I just thought they were mainly to prevent over extension and grenading CVs. I've never heard of this problem before, so I'm just reaching out for ideas.

 

[Scottysspeedshop]

Nope it's normal I had the same problem. Some of the kings do not come with internal bumps usually because of the specs from the suspension manufacture. You have a couple of choices you send them in and have internal bumps installed you will loose some shock travel that route or you put on limit straps which will also help with cv bind at full droop and you won't loose much travel usually about a 1/2 inch.

 

[dezerteryx]

Yeah I know they're supposed to bottom out or top out at full extension but these are hitting so hard it feels like metal to metal contact. Maybe shocks need recharge but they ride awesome on the compression stroke, so I didn't think it was the charge. I've been considering the limit straps, but I just thought they were mainly to prevent over extension and grenading CVs. I've never heard of this problem before, so I'm just reaching out for ideas.

How much preload do ypu have on the coil springs?

 

[JRLoos]

The coils are sitting at about halfway threaded down. They aren't over cranked... I'm thinking I'm gonna send them in to king for some work. I'll call tomorrow and post an update. Anyone know who I should talk to over at king??

 

[megonzo]

Talk to Aribe (sp), or Alberto. Good luck. Motor on..

 

[Big Guy]

Are you hitting the bottom of the car or just bottoming out the suspension?? If you are repeatedly bottoming out your suspension it's your spring rate and compression dampening. Adding preload will not help this issue preload is for ride height only and has nothing to do with bottoming out. When you call be sure to give them as much info as you can. What spring rate are you running?? If you are slamming the bottom of your car then you need to relocate your shock mounts. King shocks have bleeder holes on the top of the piston that they can plug that will effect both compression and rebound or they can add more shims or thicker shims to your compression stack to slow to shock down on the up stroke. But no amount of dampening will help if your spring rate is off.

 

[JRLoos]

No when I am trail riding and I go over a bump and my suspension completely droops, the shocks are slamming at full extension. And I mean slamming hard. It just doesn't feel right at all! I feel like there should be some cushion at full extension of the shaft.

 

[Big Guy]

No when I am trail riding and I go over a bump and my suspension completely droops, the shocks are slamming at full extension. And I mean slamming hard. It just doesn't feel right at all! I feel like there should be some cushion at full extension of the shaft.

Gotcha you need more rebound damping. If I'm not mistaken internal bumps are for full bump not full droop. It still could be too soft of spring rate. Limit straps will help also.

 

[tatum]

My Fox's have an internal bump for rebound.I cant remember what the Kings on my buggy have.

 

[jazzjazZ]

You should have kept a track on it, so it would have helped in this case. Anyway hope the internal bump is not a permanent one.

 

[JRLoos]

Update. I talked to king and they says that some rubber internal bumps can be purchased for $15 each and it will be $150 per shock for rebuild. Plus shipping and ill be over $400 just for front rebuilds...

Anybody know of a shop with good shock service around Houston area?

 

[badassmav]

kudos!