King Coilover Upgrade / UCA / Towing Advice

Duramax3oh · July 25, 2020

I think I've pinpointed most all the moving parts (no pun intended) and could use your expert advice to either comfort me this will all be good, or redirect me to better accomplish my end goals. Thank you in advance

Goals:

1) Better proportioned, slightly more athletic/aggressive stance of the truck (leveled, not lifted - need to enter occasional parking garage).

2) Better suspension to soak up all the potholes and bumps and provide a superb driving experience (previously had a '17 Raptor and desire a similar suspension feel).

3) Vast majority of time will be a Daily Driver vehicle, with occasional long distance highway driving (think largely pavement princess, but will let her free to have fun every once in a while).

4) Will be used for occasional towing of a 23 foot travel trailer weighing approximately 4,800 lbs dry with 665 lb hitch weight (Edit - went with 23' trailer over 20').

Anticipated Solutions:

1) King 2.5 front coilovers and rear 2.5 shocks, with remote reservoirs (but not compression adjusters), hopefully front lift set to 1.5-2.0" (my natural rake is not near as severe as most, want 'just' enough lift for increased tire size). I have settled on these from Filthy over Fox/Icon

2) BDS Upper Control Arm (https://www.jackit.com/bds-121253.html), this is where I struggled the most, in choosing an UCA. I want a quality UCA and think ball joint > uniball for my purposes

3) Rear block to make sure stance is level, possibly with small rake (probably 1.0-1.5" most likely).

4) BFGoodrich All Terrain KO2 size 275/65R20 on stock wheels (would like the 34" height and to fill up the wheel well a bit more, same width as stock to limit excess "drag" from highway driving).

5) Trailering/Towing - weight distributing hitch for sure (Edit - purchased the Equal-i-zer 4 point)

Some main questions:

1) Is anyone familiar with the BDS UCA? Thoughts on it to serve my needs? Should this work with the 275/65R20's and stock wheels?

2) Towing - does anyone have strong recommendations for a weight distributing hitch? Is anyone familiar with Andersen model that uses chains instead of metal rod (https://andersenhitches.com/Catalog/weight-distribution-kits.aspx)?

3) Towing - with the above suspension/leveled/trailer and tongue weight... are airbags warranted to look at?

4) Towing - anyone familiar with Roadmaster Active Suspension (https://activesuspension.com/suspension-kits/)?

5) Rear end - my initial thought is to maintain factory leaf springs and add rear block. Should I consider new/adding rear leafs? I don't want it too stiff during daily driving

Thank you again

Edited July 26, 2020 by Duramax3oh

topgear1224 · July 25, 2020

if you don't have a Trail Boss factory the block is probably going to be the best bet. adding leafs tends to make it way too stiff.

Airbags with Daystar cradles are probably going to be your best bet. Although shocks don't determine ride height, they do have a massive impact on load control and without the compression adjusters airbags would probably be nice if you end up on a rough road. Anytime you level a truck squat with a trailer becomes a major problem.

weight distribution will definitely help balance the weight however with you being leveled you're going to have to be very careful that you're not accidentally unloading that front axle and getting the nose in the air. (Use a CAT scale, make sure you don't lose more than 50-75 ish lbs with weight distribution on that front axle)

I'm probably just going to go with super lifts package. They all use the same King OEM shocks, superlift includes upper control arms in a one-inch block if I find out that upper control arms not good enough I can always change it to a different one. and if I find that a block has too much axle wrap with the diesel I can always go and grab devers mini leaf pack.

Superlift also includes a 60000 mile drivetrain warranty that the others don't.

The fox DSC kit (similar to the king 2.5) is perpetually out of stock and the rear kit that they currently have cannot support any lift according to fox.

Tires should fit, though if you have a GMC be prepared to start chopping. (Assuming you want to use all the articulation you now have available)

I've been stalking superlift kit for literally 3 months now but I can't pull the trigger until GM finally solves by brakeing issue because it doesn't make a ton of sense to me to drop $6,000 overall into the truck if the brakes still don't work properly.

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Jared Hoefsmit · July 26, 2020

I have custom deaver leaf springs replacing my 6"block. Night and day difference. If it is even in the cards, absolutely do it, the ride is so much better.

Duramax3oh · July 26, 2020

On 7/24/2020 at 9:56 PM, topgear1224 said:

weight distribution will definitely help balance the weight however with you being leveled you're going to have to be very careful that you're not accidentally unloading that front axle and getting the nose in the air. (Use a CAT scale, make sure you don't lose more than 50-75 ish lbs with weight distribution on that front axle)

Thanks topgear. Luckily it's a Silverado LT so there will be less (hopefully no) chopping the front wheel well up over the Sierra for the tires. Unfortunately with LT there is no rear block already. This is one part I'm kind of struggling with and I think I'll probably work on the 'stance' of the truck in stages.... wanting to be level day to day but then dealing with a sag when towing. Just ordered the equalizer weight distributing hitch so that will help. I'll probably wait to get exact measurements and then do what I need to do for the rear end (maybe an inch rake under normal conditions).

Duramax3oh · July 26, 2020

2 hours ago, Jared Hoefsmit said:

I have custom deaver leaf springs replacing my 6"block. Night and day difference. If it is even in the cards, absolutely do it, the ride is so much better.

Thanks Jared. I've considered the deavers and probably should look into more details on those because I'm not too familiar on what you might gain vs give up. Example: original intent was for just a superior on-road daily driving feel - would that result in a certain spec'd deaver spring.... but now I want the better feel and for sure will be towing ~5000 lbs on occasion, would the original deaver weighting/spec be too soft and I should look at 'stronger'/'stiffer'? I'll probably start off with a block in the rear and stock leafs to get started and look into deaver more

Duramax3oh · July 26, 2020

Another question, how do the stock Bridgestone Dueler AT (275/60R20) handle towing a medium sized load of this size? I will have to use stock vehicle set up to start... the KO2s on their own should be a huge improvement right?

topgear1224 · July 26, 2020

Thanks Jared. I've considered the deavers and probably should look into more details on those because I'm not too familiar on what you might gain vs give up. Example: original intent was for just a superior on-road daily driving feel - would that result in a certain spec'd deaver spring.... but now I want the better feel and for sure will be towing ~5000 lbs on occasion, would the original deaver weighting/spec be too soft and I should look at 'stronger'/'stiffer'? I'll probably start off with a block in the rear and stock leafs to get started and look into deaver more

Full dealer progressive pack reduces load capacity, a block (one inch really isn't that large) keeps stock capacity, the mini add a pack is like a progressive bump stop.

TBH there is a massive difference between a 1 inch block and a 3 or 4 inch block.

all of the trail bosses from factory have a one-inch (or is it 2in?) block so it's not like those people are running into axle wrap issues or anything crazy.

You should be fine. Blocks can act like levers on the springs. But small ones usually aren't noticeable.

You're trying to get both sides of a coin. it's pretty easy to make it ride nice and smooth, but then if you say you want to control a towing load behind it as well that's when it becomes more complex. Finding the happy medium it's going to be difficult because everybody's definition of that is different.

personally I'm a massive fan of Bilstein shocks which means for these high-end shocks the only one I really should be considering is ICON.

the issue is as I am very upset with the small bump compliance that I have currently, and I think I'm willing to take away a little bit of sportiness in order to solve that problem by going with the Kings.

I do like the "drive me harder" attitude of icons, I just can't justify the extra $1,600 for a set with reservoirs and adjusters. They're getting dangerously close to a 3.0 IBP King.

although I'll take my truck nearly anywhere my particular style tends to be fast dirt and sand.

back-on-point the only real way to have your cake and eat it too is to go with a nice squishy suspension and then have airbags for when you're loaded up. Get the ones with the internal jounce bumpers. That way you can run them at 0 PSI. Add Daystar cradles so when you're actually not using them they're not stiffening up the rear.

Size is going to be a lot less clear though in theory you'd want shorter ones( non trail boss SKU) but that also means that when you're loaded you're only going to be able to pull so much squat out of the rear.
Ideally you don't want the airbags internal bump stop to engage until where the factory one would have. this will give you a full travel and a much less jarring ride.

you can inflate the small ones to 150psi and they're bound to stretch to level out the truck, the problem is the rear ends not going to move with only 500 lb of tongue weight on it. You're going to be hopping all over the road.

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topgear1224 · July 26, 2020

Another question, how do the stock Bridgestone Dueler AT (275/60R20) handle towing a medium sized load of this size? I will have to use stock vehicle set up to start... the KO2s on their own should be a huge improvement right?

Other than wear, these are the best OEM ( non HALO) tires that I have personally ever driven on. Very predictable, works well in all on road conditions, does okay off-road just avoid mud.

had a puncture the other day and my truck was riding like a dream and I was like "oh my God this is perfect"...... Then I realized they were at 24 PSI [emoji50] oops. but that tells me small bump compliance needs to be handled by a smaller wheel with more sidewall.

And when you're towing the more street orientated the tire the better it's going to tow. What makes a tire great off road, which is nice big spaces between the lugs, hurts its on-road stability and performance.

however on a properly set up rig with a driver that knows how to drive with a trailer (slow) you won't have any problems.

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Grumpy Bear · July 27, 2020

I want the ride of a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. I want the handling of a McLaren MCL34. I want the haul capacity of a Caterpillar 797F. I want the look of a Pros Street 67 Chevelle SS. The acceleration of an Allen Johnson tuned Hadman T/F.

Which shock/spring/tire should I use?

topgear1224 · July 27, 2020

I want the ride of a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost. I want the handling of a McLaren MCL34. I want the haul capacity of a Caterpillar 797F. I want the look of a Pros Street 67 Chevelle SS. The acceleration of an Allen Johnson tuned Hadman T/F.

Which shock/spring/tire should I use?
[emoji848]

Tractor beam

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