Forester more specific numbers re: king springs and heavy load

[cr445671]

How well do you feel they handled it? What was your estimated weight/ approximate sag like? There's lots of anecdotes of people saying there're pleased with 'em but not too many that give more specific numbers and I figure what heavy/sag means varies from person to person.

I have a set of rallitek raised springs on rite now and to be honest I'm not happy with them, the rear has an extra .5" of spacer atm, and even with that when decently loaded (maybe 500-550lbs) with the majority of the weight concentrated in the rear floor between the seats (almost exactly half-way between strut towers), my rear was over an inch lower than the front. As it's sitting today there's maybe 300lbs-ish between the roof basket and various stuff in the back but it's still siting 1/2" lower.

As I understand it the kings are stiffer so that's got me thinking about changing to a set of them when I do an extra lift I've got planned.


-----
on a related but slightly off topic note, how likely do you feel it is that there's something up with the rallitek's? I haven't tried getting ahold of them yet but it just seems like there's way more give in these than there should be.

 

[Kevin]

@cr445671 I'd start by getting the spring ratings of both brands for a comparison. I've been very heavily loaded with Kings but I've never weighed my load.

 

[cr445671]

@cr445671 I'd start by getting the spring ratings of both brands for a comparison. I've been very heavily loaded with Kings but I've never weighed my load.

what do you figure you're sag measured in at?

the spring rates are 220lb/in for the rallitek's and I believe like 250lb/in on the kings, though with them I'm not 100% sure. That's sort of why I wonder if there's something off with the temper on the rear's I received. Both sides combined, the droop with that heavy load I mentioned was about 3.5", which at a 220lb rate means I would've had almost 800lbs in the car and I was no where near that heavy. Plus that would be assuming a linear rate compression, and these are progressive so I'm fairly sure that would mean it should take a bit more to get there as the farther down you go the harder they are to compress.

 

[ateday]

I find Kings good. At times I carry, for a few kms only, loads of green wood which I estimate to be about > 250 + kgs and the car sits flat and steering is good. The ride on tarmac is smooth under these conditions.
The first two Simpson Desert crossings the car was very heavily laden with 40 litres of fuel and 35 litres of water plus camping, cooking recovery gear and two people. No spring troubles over several thousand kms of sand dunes and corrugations (washboards).

 

[Kevin]

what do you figure you're sag measured in at?

I didn't measure it but if it was more than an inch I probably would've noticed it and not been happy

These are before my custom struts so it's running KYB Excel G and Kings 250 lbs/inch. This was the heaviest it has been loaded - was for a Simpson Desert crossing. As well as the load already described earlier there is 2 x 20L water containers in the front (the rear carrier has 20L fuel instead of water); there are 3 x 10L jerrys under the folded down rear seat squab; 1 x 10L jerry in the rear quarter area; roof top tent approx 70kgs; 100AH deep cycle aux battery on the rear passenger floor; additional food; clothes etc. The rear drawers were full of food and recovery gear. I think it's sitting OK given the load; even though the KYBs bent during the crossing after hitting large ruts at speed on some dunes that had to be climbed; no doubt left behind by large 4WDs towing trailers and fouling up the dune tracks

 

[cr445671]

I estimate to be about > 250 + kgs and the car sits flat and steering is good

if it was more than an inch I probably would've noticed it and not been happy

yah, these make me think there's something up with the heat treat on my rear springs. I did some calculating and even with the slightly lesser spring rate on the rallitek's the 1.125" drop in the rear should mean I have 495lbs in the car (if you've ever been in a weight room, to put that in perspective that's the bar plus 5 of the big plates on each side), and realistically I'm prob just a bit over half that, never mind the fact that it's spread out and not all on the rear struts.