I figured a few might be interested to what is shipped & initial quality.
I also figured you guys want to know how I was able to aquire these are they are not, I repeat NOT a stocked oem component, but a custom shock due to the addition of the adjuster. The valving is custom for it, so that's what forces you to wait the 2 to 3 week period instead of a few days to get out the stock, non-adjuster oem kit.

Let me preface this with two things.
1. I've owned King Off-Road Racing shocks in the past, specifically the 3.0s, so this is "technically" a downgrade to a 2.5.
2. I was very happy w/ the shocks themselves, fit & finish on those shocks.

Dealing with King Directly
This is one of the more difficult parts concerning King Off-Road Racing. Any & every call I make usually ends in me calling back 2 to 3 more times. This goes for anything, questions, purchases, what have you. Answers always seem to change, depending on who is on the phone & how that person is feeling that day.

I've spoken to people to call King & get technical info on shocks so I know what I need. King won't tell you anything. Everything markets for them. Even if the person on the other end will personally build the shock for you, including valving, you're left in the lurch. If you want a custom shock & provide the weight, size, travel, etc of the vehicle & shock, then they can get a bit more technical. As for OEM, not so much. It's just "they are set up perfectly."

The reason for my annoyance with this is when you add something like an adjuster, you want to know which setting is "stock" and how much firmer / softer can you make the shock. That question won't get an answer, be vague or even specific.

TL;DR, calling King will not get you very far unless you're doing a custom job. Info on stock shocks & valving is not provided other than travel distances & a few other minor things.

I also want to mention I am still trying to get them to build me a rear shock that is adjustable. Apparently there isn't enough clearance to add the adjuster to the res, even though filthymotorsports offers it as an oem option (I did not buy from this guy after a 30 minute convo with the main guy there). I've been waiting a month & every time, they tell me they can work on it, but now they need pics. I was the that the reservoir can be mounted upside down with two 90°bends (see their jeep JK 2.5" 07+ Click me!). Others stated to mount the shocks upside down & that shouldn't be a problem. For anyone interested, here's the shocks they sell for OEM replacement: Click me!. As you can see, I doubt the adjuster will fit if mounted to the top of the res on the rear shocks since they are piggy-backed.
I'll be calling them tomorrow & just demand a quote for adding in a line & flipping the res vs piggy backing & flipping upside down.

First attempt to order:
I've called everyone under the sun about ordering these. Prices do vary a little & adding the adjuster makes things much more difficult as most sites do not offer the adjuster option. If you don't care about the adjuster, just move on now & don't bother reading any further.

For those interesting in this, two sites offer the adjuster, Summit & FilthyMotorSports. More on why those two in a minute.

Filthy was the first place I contacted as they were, at the time, the only place listing the correct part number (25001-270A) for the front adjuster kit & (25001-271A) for the rear. There is a kit for both front & back, 25001-273. The reason I didn't order this with adjusters is the clearance issues in the rear & that I've only see that part number on Summit.

Filthy had no issues adding adjusters. Concerning what King directly told me & from looking at the clearance, I'd have been totally screwed. They wouldn't fit & trying to install them would make them non-returnable. Also you can do custom shock valving through Filthy. While this sounds good, the up charge is something I didn't even want to consider right due to inflated cost (more on that below). I spent 30 minutes on the phone with the guy who runs the place & builds the shocks from scratch. I was told they ride horribly for street use, with stock valving, adjusters or not. I've run 3.0s on a slightly heavier Ram, so I figured apples to oranges, if the truck rode like it was on air, then the 2.5s should yield about the same ride quality, especially with the option of adjustments. I didn't order from filthy since my experience does not match his theoretical ride quality concepts. As well, he told me it was not possible for my truck to ride so smoothly on the interstate w/ the 3.0s, even with a very good highway all season. Boy was he wrong... Oh... he wouldn't sell me the shocks because he believes the ride will be horrible. I was kind of blown away, frankly, especially after I told him about my experience with even larger shocks. I don't get it...

Back to valving from King direclty, if you don't go with standard valving, you'll have no clue just how stiff or soft you need the range to be. Since you can't get info directly from King, there's absolutely no basis of comparison & you must take faith in their ability to adjust the ride quality to your liking. This is why, unless you know the product very well, you should just have them re-valve for free after playing around w/ the shocks for a while. Obviously having adjusters increases your chances of a good ride, on & off the road, including towing.

King will do 1 re-valve for free.... and there is technically no limitation on how soon that can be done. Drop in a diesel? Install a heavy bumper & winch? Great, King will do a re-valve if you tell them what changes were made (basically helping them understand the new weight distribution). I have no clue if this process is painless or not. This alone is why I didn't bother with a custom valving job.

Finally getting the shocks ordered:
After calling King after talking to Filthy (wanted some info on the shocks directly), I was pushed over to Summit. I had called 1 or 2 other places, but Summit seems to be very easy to deal with & they are.

Summit kept me on the phone a solid 45 minutes trying to get a part number to order (this one: 25001-270A). That part number is not in their system. It's not in anyone's system to my knowledge. Summit had to contact King directly to get a part number. This because a phone tag competition between King & Summit, where I'm "it." Summit was much easier to get a hold of. After two or three days of making calls, everything went through & the order was made.

If you're interested in at least the front adjustable shocks, call Summit. It'll be a simple order. Keep in mind, it's not listed on the site, so you have to have the order number handy & they'll either check their data base or call someone in the tech department. It's no biggie & they are easy to work with.


If you've gotten this far, thanks for going through that wall of text!
I want people to know what's up before calling & ordering.

 

So here's what you get.


It comes in this very nice box, held together with stables. The inside has foam packaging that is molded to the shocks on all sides. They don't move. Each shock is wrapped in plastic & other types of foam. The packaging is excellent.

Here is the shock as it comes:


And here is the shock broken down to have it installed:


The shocks come standard with King's signature blue anodized accents. These look great. If you don't like blue, it will cost you $300ish per kit to change the color. That's highway robbery, but sometime to consider if you want a show truck.

I have been told the stock pressure is 200 PSI. I will confirm this later.
If you have access to nitrogen (I do & most everyone does), you can simply bleed the shock, compress the arm of the shock & install while on the ground.
What I cannot confirm is if the ride height is the same if you fill these shocks while the tires are off the ground as if you filled them with the truck sitting normally. Before I get flamed for that comment, I played around with the 3.0s & depending on the pressure, there is a height difference. I confirmed this almost too many times in the past while working with another suspension.


As for the quality, I'm a little disappointed.
Out of the box, there are scratches & dings on the anodized pieces. For a few hundred bucks, I'd be ok with that, but for an $1100 shock kit, that's not really acceptable. Treat your product better than this when in the building stage!

I realize these will get dings riding offroad & even on from rocks & debris. A product that is new should look new. Unfortunately, it seems quality across the board on many products is dropping, so maybe King is just cutting corners trying to move these shocks out asap.

Here's two examples of imperfections & rough housing done to the shock, pre-shipment.





I'll be figuring out where to install the brace for the reservoir in the front. I'll probably bug you guys about it, so if anyone has ideas, let me know. I will post some pics of the rest of the packaging & content later.

 

Reserved for later.

 

That is a serious set of shocks. They look great and I would hope they preform as good as they look.

 

Synthetickiller
Cant wait to see it installed. Keep the pictures coming !!

 

Here's the shock, after installation. This is the passenger side.



I figured these would smooth out the ride, but it seem as if everything in the suspension is shot, so I'll be forced to replace about everything to tighten the ride up.

So far, I'm happy with them, although I have yet to test all of the settings.
I'd like to give an update once all of that other work is done, but that could be a long time from now.

As it stands, I will be ordering the rears w/ an adjuster. I'm not looking forward to the process, but getting a quality shock is worth it.

 

Here's an update.

I decided to figure out the number of settings & test drive the firmest.
King claims there's 16 positive clicks of adjustment. In total, there's 21 clicks.

I've been driving around on the 7th click. At that setting, I was extremely diappointed w/ the ride quality. You get bounced around, experience a lot of body roll & many impacts aren't eaten up by the shocks. I figured today was the day to see if these are really worth the $1100.

Cranking the setting to 21 creates a night & day comparison. Most bumps are eaten up. My horrible rear shocks (stock w/ 110k miles on them) used to feel like they bottomed out, then caused more bounce in the front (basically a strong jounce throughout the system). Now, it eats up most of that. I only notice things in the suspension that need to be fix (upper control arms, rear shocks, etc).

The ride is now more stable & smoother. I feel even more planted than I did before. Now, while it's on the firmest setting, it is in no way harsh. I have a set of Rancho adjustable shocks on an H3 & the firmer you get (beyond setting 6 of 9), the vehicle rides hard. You feel like the shock is bottoming out & jars everyone in the vehicle. This is not the case w/ the King. The firmer, the smoother it gets.

I was told by 3 or 4 different companies who sold these shocks that they would ride horrible if they were firmer, especially on the max setting. This is lie. Yep, I'm going there. I have no idea why they are telling people this & steering them away from these shocks, considering they are both a money maker for them (I'd assume) and an excellent product.

My reason for being so **** about ride quality is that I drive my mother around a lot. She has herniated cervical discs & a harsh ride can put her in bed for a day or two easily. With these, this just isn't the case. I wish I could make the ride even firmer. It just never becomes harsh. The opposite is actually true; the softer the ride gets, the harsher it becomes, on or off road.


Would I recommend these? In a heart beat. These are my 2nd set of Kings (I had a much larger 3.0 kit which also rode excellently). I just wish they made them for H3s. I'll have to contact them about this.

The only thing I cannot comment on is how the adjuster settings compare to the stock valved shock. Is setting 21 the same firmness as the stock? Is stock lower (say 18 clicks) or higher (say 27 clicks if there was possible)? This is what I need King to confirm.

I have not ordered rears yet. I'll be asking them about the stock vs adjuster settings & see what they say. If the rear is 21 clicks or greater of firmness, sign me up. If not, I'll talk to them about it.