I have a set of King 2.5" remote reservoir shocks(not on a buggy) and I'm playing around with the Nitrogen pressure. How low can I go with out adversely affecting performance? I'm new to setting up this type of shock and could use some input. I was running 135 psi and dropped it to 105 and it seems to help...just curious if I can go lower..


Thanks,

Chris

See the pinned message on shocks and springs at the top of the forum. Despite what that post says,
the guy who built my shocks said as low as 50-60 is fine. Just experiment and see what works best. My understanding is that higher pressures forces fluid through the piston in the shock rather than allowing the piston in the reservoir to move, so lower pressure makes for a softer ride. Probably other considerations, though.

I dont know for shure on the off road shocks but on circle track shocks you can run as low as about 50 pnds. One of the main reasons for nitrogen is to keep the oil from foaming or cavatating.

You just opened a can of worms. Adjusting the pressure does make a difference. But it sounds like you have other problems that should be fixed, since you are running lower than suggested pressure. Perhaps your valving inside the shock is too stiff. Or the springs are too stiff. Or both. But we would need a lot more info about the car to make those determinations.

Chris are you going to put 2.5's on your rhino?

Mike

OK after doing a lot of searching I think you guys are right...this is a can of worms...but here's what I got....I fourlinked the back of my 2500HD and set it up on air bags:











Now I need to dial in the ride. This is my first experience with a full air ride set-up and I'm not sure how to set it up shock wise. The shocks are King 2.5 pre-runner shocks with remote res. The truck originally had Deaver springs with helper air bags. In an effort to get a better ride and just play around a little I fabbed up this four link modeled after the Kelderman air ride. The bags are rated for the weight and this application.

Currently I'm only running 35 psi in each shock to get it up to ride height when the truck is empty....this seems low to me so I thought the shock may be carrying some of the weight. I dropped the nitrogen to 105 in each shock last night and it seems better now but the truck is "bouncing" on the freeway expansion joints (exactly what I was hoping to get rid of ) This truck is mainly a daily driver and a tow rig, but most of the time it's empty and I'm looking for a nice smooth ride on the bumpy freeways.

I also got a fair amount of oil that came out of one of the reservoirs when I let out some of the nitrogen....I assume this means the piston is leaking and the shock needs to be re-built??? When I made the switch I figured I'd need to re-valve the thing so I don't mind doing it. I would just like some idea of which way to go.

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Chris

PS I know some of the welds look bad, I need to get in there and clean it up, and I need to add one more gusset to the bag support. Also the panhard bar is as long as we could get it with out major surgery and I still need to add limit straps.

FYI ... I see your in Rancho, S/U might be able to help you out they can rebuild your shocks as well as giving you some advise on valving for your truck. I had them go through the rears on my sandcar and did a good job ...

Thanks. I was thinking on stopping by there and talking with them.

Chris