3 Helpful Tips For Adjusting 4x4 Coilovers At Home

• August 22, 2015
• / Story By
  Ali Mansour

One of the biggest advantages to having coilovers under your 4x4 is the seemingly endless adjustability of the high-end shock absorber. While changing the valving and fluids levels requires a bit more time, tools, and knowhow, simply adjusting the coils position and timing is extremely easy. After adding a roof rack and few camping-related essentials to my ’07 Jeep Wrangler Unlimited, I noticed that the rear suspension had felt the effects of the added weight. Since I tend to like my vehicles sitting level (or even a touch high in the back), I needed to adjust my King coilovers. Doing this at home is a bit more challenging than if I had a two-post vehicle lift like you would find at your typical professional garage. Nevertheless, it isn’t an overly difficult task. Here are a few quick tips you can use to adjust your 4x4 coilovers the next time you give it a go. 1. The first thing you’ll want to do is make sure your jack stands are tall enough to allow your suspension to safely unload. You’ll need to get the weight off of the coilover in order to adjust the actual coil positioning. Since my King coilovers offer around 12 inches of vertical wheel travel, I needed to remove my rear tires to allow the axle to drop far enough down. If this is the case for your 4x4, be sure to add an additional jack stand at the rear of the Jeep. This might require purchasing a taller set of jack stands, which will run you around $60. 2. Specialty tools are sold for specific coilover types, but they are not entirely necessary. We found a 4.5mm socket attached to a ¼-inch extension works perfect to rotate the coil ring. A simple Allen wrench is all that is needed to break the set screw loose. I like to use a little WD-40 just prior to the job as it makes spinning over the aluminum threads much easier. 3. I only needed to go a small amount to get the Jeep sitting level again. The red mark you see is the initial paint mark I made to use as a point of reference, and I found it best to adjust the shocks in ½-inch increments. Since I only needed a small amount, most of the pre-load fell on the lighter primary spring rate. At this time, I’m still happy with the coil timing, so there was no need to adjust the secondary stopper. If I add any more weight to the back of the Jeep, I will likely change primary spring rate to a stiffer one, but that’s a project for another day!

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