This article was found on Four Wheeler's site
In the world of go-fast desert racing, bypass shocks are required equipment. Not because they look and sound cool, but because they offer precision control over compression and rebound damping. Simply put, bypass shocks allow you to go fast in the dirt. They do this by giving you the ability to fine-tune the velocity at which the suspension system reacts to the terrain in specific "zones" of wheel travel. King Off-Road Racing Shocks has been building racing shocks for over 14 years now. As such, King has perfected many of the variables that other manufacturers struggle with in terms of material selection and manufacturing ability. With this story, we will showcase how race-grade bypass shocks are built, and also show how they're tested-in this case, on an Ultra 4 desert racecar in Johnson Valley, California.
We recently toured King's Southern California shock-manufacturing facility. Read on to see what we learned about the way race-caliber bypass shocks are made.
On-Site Tuning Services
When a racer makes the decision to run King shocks, the product comes out of the box ready to run. Off Road Design opted to exercise King's on-site tuning services to test a set of King triple-bypass race shocks in preparation for The Best in the Desert (BITD) racing series. With this service, King sends out one of their in-house tuning specialists to help dial in the shock tuning to the specific racecar and/orterrain. The technician might make a few simple adjustments to the bypass tubes, or he may swap out coil springs to dial in a better spring rate. In some cases, the technician might even take the shock apart on location and re-valve it for better performance. We tagged along during Off Road Design's tuning session at Johnson Valley and documented the process. Here you can see Iribe making adjustments to the bypass tubes. Within a few minutes, he had ORD's Ultra 4 car running smooth and fast over some of the roughest whoops sections we could find.
When a racer makes the decision to run King shocks, the product comes out of the box ready to run. Off Road Design opted to exercise King's on-site tuning services to test a set of King triple-bypass race shocks in preparation for The Best in the Desert (BITD) racing series. With this service, King sends out one of their in-house tuning specialists to help dial in the shock tuning to the specific racecar and/orterrain. The technician might make a few simple adjustments to the bypass tubes, or he may swap out coil springs to dial in a better spring rate. In some cases, the technician might even take the shock apart on location and re-valve it for better performance. We tagged along during Off Road Design's tuning session at Johnson Valley and documented the process. Here you can see Iribe making adjustments to the bypass tubes. Within a few minutes, he had ORD's Ultra 4 car running smooth and fast over some of the roughest whoops sections we could find.
- Here, King's lead shock tuning specialist Gerardo Iribe explains how the shaft assembly is
- This is where all King shocks begin life. The raw material that King uses is precision-dra
- Next, the DOM tubing is loaded into a CNC cutting machine that divides the tubing into specific-length pieces. These pieces will eventually become shock bodies.Next, the DOM tubing is loaded into a CNC cutting machine that divides the tubing into spe
- Once the DOM tubing is cut to length, each tube is wrapped with a protective layer of pape
- This shot shows King's shock assembly department. Every shock King produces undergoes a st
- Similar to the blueprints of a home, every bypass shock requires a predetermined map prior
- This is the bulkhead adapter that ties the entry side of the bypass tube to the shock body
- After a series of holes was drilled into the shock body, a technician de-burred each unit
- Next, a highly-skilled TIG welder installs each of the bypass tubes as per the instruction
- Here, you can see what the bypass tubes look like after being TIG-welded to the shock body
- Once each bypass tube is attached to the shock body, the assembly is sent out for cadmium
- With the shock body completed, the cylinder assembly process can begin. Here, you can see
- First, each bypass tube is fitted with an arrangement of parts that make up the internals
- The assembly process begins with the shaft assembly. The Performance Race shafts are made
- This part is called the seal head. This is what keeps the shock oil contained inside the s
- With the seal head installed on the shock shaft, Iribe stacked each of the corresponding p
- This is a two-sided shock valve piston. One side is for compression, the other for rebound
- This particular piston features a groove for an O-ring to be installed under the wear band
- Here, you can see how the wear band fits snugly over the O-ring of the piston.
- This is how the different components of the shock valve look on the rebound side of the sh
- King takes pride in the way their end cap seals against the body of the shock. Notice how the O-ring is located well below the threaded area of the billet aluminum end cap. This arrangement ensures that the seal can withstand the high internal pressures common to racing shocks. This configuration helps prevent leaks when the shock temperatures spike. The threads of each end cap are specifically timed to its matching shock body so the bypass tubes have the necessary clearance when installed on the vehicle. Numbers on each part ensure that the correct parts are used together.King takes pride in the way their end cap seals against the body of the shock. Notice how
- This is the custom tool King uses to assemble the end cap to the shock cylinder. The small
- With the top cap secured in a vise, the body was attached using a special tool that grabs
- With the end cap secured to the cylinder, the next step involves filling the cylinder with shock oil. King uses a special oil that is formulated to withstand high temperatures.With the end cap secured to the cylinder, the next step involves filling the cylinder with
- Here, Iribe installs the shaft assembly into the shock cylinder. Notice how he squeezes th
- This shot shows the level of the shock oil when the unit is full.
- A spanner wrench was used to tighten the seal cap to the shock cylinder.
- The remote reservoir features the same honed finish on the inner bore.
- A divider piston was added to the remote reservoir cylinder. This unit separates the shock
- With the divider piston installed, Iribe adds a small amount of oil to lubricate the pisto
- After the divider piston is in place inside the remote reservoir, Iribe adds an end cap th
- At the 2009 Best in The Desert Vegas to Reno race, Off Road Design ran hard and fast, thanks to King's awesome 2.5-inch triple bypass shocks.
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