King Shocks off-road suspension in the UAE

King tells its own history plainly. It says King Shocks was born out of necessity, well before it opened its doors in 1996. The original designs came from Lance King in the early 1980s, drawn for the top-level racers of the day, because nothing then on the market could survive the punishment racers such as Bill Stroppe, Parnelli Jones and Walker Evans dished out. Faster cars and trucks of that period ran several shocks on each wheel, which were swapped at pit stops along with the tyres.

The company describes itself as a family business with humble beginnings. Lance did the design work and the machining, his son Ross was the welder and fabricator, and his son Brett did the sales, and the two sons worked a year without drawing a pay cheque to get it going. The original product was a 3 inch shock.

King also makes a claim about influence. It says many high-performance features on the market today, such as bypass tubes, seal technology, shaft diameters and tube construction, were pioneered by King. That is the company's own account, and it is the kind of claim every shock maker can make and nobody can easily check, so we report it as King's and do not rest anything on it.

What the history does show is a company that began with one-off racing parts and says it still builds them, alongside the catalogue of bolt-on kits for road vehicles.

King's About page calls the company a manufacturer and servicer of custom made, adjustable and rebuildable shock absorbers for utility vehicles, OEM replacement and professional racing use. It says every product results from testing with top racers in competition, and that its OEM and UTV upgrade kits are simple bolt-on sets for stock vehicles or for ones fitted with aftermarket lift kits or long travel suspension.

On manufacture it is specific. All parts used in its products are machined in house at its Garden Grove, California facility from billet alloy, on precision equipment, and assembled by hand by its technicians. The pages for its 2.0 inch kits go further and describe the product as one hundred percent made in the USA.

That names a place and a method, which makes it more specific than a bare made in the USA line. It is still a claim by the maker. We have not seen the plant, and nothing we read supports extending it to anything King sells that it does not say it makes.

King also says its shocks are serviced with simple hand tools. An owner can order a seal kit and return a shock to factory-fresh condition, or send it to the factory. For a UAE owner the second route means shipping a shock out of the country, which is worth pricing before you choose a kit.

King's catalogue splits into road vehicle kits and race parts, and the part number tells you which you are looking at. Vehicle kits sit under OEM Performance. The number before the hyphen is the size and family: 20001 for 2.0 inch kits, 25001 for 2.5 inch, 25700 for 2.5 inch internal bypass, 33001 for 3.0 inch, 33700 for 3.0 inch internal bypass. The product titles on King's pages match that pattern.

The 2.0 kits use an internal floating piston with an internal reservoir. The 2.5 kits move to a larger body, which King says increases fluid capacity for smoother, cooler running, add an external reservoir and offer an optional compression adjuster with 20 clicks. On the front, the 2.5 coil-over has adjustable ride height.

The internal bypass version is the one to understand. King's own explanation is that a second set of valving sits in a billet chamber on the shaft, and a tapered metering rod enters the hollow shaft as the shock compresses, gradually closing the bypass ports. The result is damping that is soft near ride height and firmer as the shock runs out of travel, which King describes as velocity and position sensitive, and it also acts as a hydraulic bump stop. King positions it for dual-purpose rigs and daily drivers as well as competition vehicles.

The race series sit beside the kits. Performance Racing shocks come in 2.0, 2.5 and 3.0 inch sizes as smooth body shocks or coil-overs, with piggyback or remote reservoirs, and Pure Race is described on King's own pages as its top of the line series. These are the parts you specify with the maker, not parts you pull off a shelf for a standard Land Cruiser.

King's website catalogue is the published guide to which kits exist. It lists kits for the Land Cruiser 76, 78 and 79, and for the 80, 90, 100, 120, 150, 200 and 300 Series. It lists the Patrol Y60 and Y61 and the Y62. It lists the Hilux in three year bands from 2005, the Fortuner from 2011, the Pajero and Montero, the D-Max from 2012, the Ineos Grenadier from 2023, the Lexus GX470 and GX550 and Jeep JK, JL and JT items.

The Land Cruiser 300 listing carries several options. It has a 2.5 inch kit, a 2.5 inch internal bypass kit with a finned reservoir, and 3.0 inch internal bypass front and rear items, plus extended-travel rear shocks.

Treat each listing as a catalogue entry rather than a fitment check. The years and model names are written for the vehicles King's main market sells, and trim and specification differences, such as a vehicle with a heavier armoured or accessory build, are exactly what the part number has to settle. King's option list on the Patrol page includes an armoured-car specification with heavier springs and valving, which is a reminder that the same vehicle can need a different kit depending on what is bolted to it.

If a listing for your vehicle is missing, do not assume King cannot help. King's own pages say it builds custom shocks. Ask a dealer to put the question to King with your vehicle, its weight and what it carries.

King states its warranty in one sentence of its own text: its products are warranted to be free from manufacturing defects for 90 days from the date of purchase. Plating, anodising and other coatings are warranted free from defects at the time of sale only.

The text lists what the warranty does not cover. It excludes crash damage, abuse, modification or use of non-King parts, lack of maintenance and incorrect dimensions or specifications supplied on a custom order. A return needs King's authorisation and a return authorisation number, a returned item carries a 15 percent restocking fee, and custom orders and damaged parts cannot be returned to stock.

None of this is a criticism. It is how the maker describes its own terms, and a buyer should read it at face value. Some other makers in this category state one-year and longer terms in their own warranty text, so the useful question to a UAE seller is what they add on top of King's 90 days, in writing, and who handles a claim if a shock fails after that.

King's dealer locator lists three businesses in the United Arab Emirates. Dune Performance is listed at an address in Umm Ramool, Dubai. Green Autoworks is listed at an address in Ras Al Khor Industrial Area 2, Dubai. King Fabrication Vehicles Smithery L.L.C. is listed at an address in Al Ain.

That is a better source than a business directory, because it is the manufacturer saying who it lists. It is still thin. The locator gives a name, an address and a phone number. It does not say which King products a dealer may sell, what it carries today, or whether it can service a shock.

So the practical steps are the ones that protect you whoever you buy from. Ask for the King part number and the model years it is listed against, ask for an invoice that names the kit, and ask what happens under King's 90 day terms if a part is faulty.