Our first test session was a simple shakedown. We logged approximately 45 off-road miles in southern California’s low desert. The initial valving specs out of the box from King were based on their in house recomendations. We have two 2025 Tacoma’s with completely different build styles doing our initial shock testing on this suspension system.

We were pleasantly surprised with the performance of the front suspension on a variety of terrain ranging from sand washes, high speed gravel roads, drop offs, rollers, rocks, G-outs, chatter bumps and a whoop section.

The King 3.0 coilovers up front are definitely suited for all these types of terrain. You may only need a small clicker adjustments to fine tune the ride to the drivers preferences and the vehicle handles great on-road. We quickly found that the new platform rear coil spring Tacoma with rear 5-link suspension is an upgrade from the 3rd Gen’ Tacoma’s spring over leaf spring design. It is going to take some valving and spring work to get it the rear suspension tuned to balance with the front long travel and perform up to TOTAL CHAOS’ standards.

We have paused testing to make a rear shock valving change and will play with a few other rear coil spring options on the market. We realized that rear end was simply drooping out too quickly causing the truck to buck or kick on roughly the 3rd whoop once you were in a whoop section. We gathered great hands on data and had a couple hours to drive home and discuss a game plan to test in session two – what valving and other tweaks could be made to make the truck perform better next trip out.

Rad days only! It was great to get to spend a day in the desert office and shake down both Tacoma’s in the empty desert. Lots of banter on the radio with the shop and friends, while we logged some miles and learned hands-on more about the 4th Gen Tacoma platform. Stay tuned for more updates as we continue to tune this new long travel system.