Hey,
Im looking for some front coil springs for my 1200 ute. Its all stock and ive put 2 sets of springs in it and both have been pretty sloppy. So im thinking king springs, as far as i can tell theres a lot of people going for em! Ive looked at kingsprings website with no mention of the mighty datto, can anyone tell me what the go is?
Cheers Ed

U might have to go into pedders or a suspension place.

Thanks, i did think i would end up at a shop at some point in time lol. cheers

I have just had king springs stuck in the front of the ute. Think the sticker is still on them but I'm sitting in the airport! Will be back in a few days and will check for you then.

Unless they have changed recently, you are going to find that the king springs for datto 1200s are NOT captive at full suspension droop. So you'd need to address that. What's just as bad, imo, is that they are barely noticeable as far as being stiffer than stock ones.

AFter having issues with the std kings low spec, I ended up talking with them, and used the springs normally for the rear of a hyundai excel. They have a higher rate, but then the car sat higher than stock. to get it back to stock ride height I cut *(carefully of course, and a bit at a time, cooling in water between cuts) approx 1 full coil off them. That means they are just barely captive (but safe) with a stock ride height, nd have a slightly better spring rate.
they are part number khrl-115 from memory. I only used them as I got them as a swap when I handed the other ones back in and discussed the issue. But they are still way too soft - even for a stock a-b car they are still too soft imo.

SO I'm going with cut down gemini springs (of the people who have used them, I think most go for the variable rate ones, but I went with linear rate ones off the earlier geminis (TX?? I can look it up if you need me to). They have about the stiffest rate you'd want (they start off thicker material, but then you also need to cut them a bit to get the ride height down to std or lower if that's what you want) for a streeter and probably ok for some fun level competitions/runs. The only issue with them is they are way too short to be captive at full suspension droop. The trick there is to swap in different strut inserts/shocks. It's in the wiki pages, but basically there are a couple of options from other cars which fit into the strut, but are shorter so the spring will once again be captive.

I think I might have a pair of the king springs to suit the 1200s - they were in the rolled rally car that Andy originally bought a while back). I am so dead set serious about them being a bad choice, I'm willing to give them to anyone for the purpse of trying them just to confirm their suitability (or lack thereof) so nobody else drops money on them.

I'll double check if I can read the part numbers on the springs in question. They might be std ride height ones seeing that it was on a rally car, but even then they'll still be 95% as bad as the low ones (goodness only knows if there are superlows, and how bad they might be for them)

Kings KDFL-57 are the 1200/120Y lowered coil (approx 30mm). They're in the catalogue (even the copy I have from 2005!). Progressive rate and DO remain captive at full droop on 120Y struts. From the very limited test drive down the street and back - they are quite soft. KIngs say they are at least 35% stiffer than stock. If its a road car they're nice and comfortable. I got mine off ebay

ok bottom line "how much $$$ are you prepared to spend to do this right" or do you just want 2nd hand cut down poo?

I have a set of front coils from a 92 datto sitting in the shed. they were removed @ around 75000ks so they are still sweet as.. can post for around $35 and cost is $70

From alot of reading gemini ones are most used, they are also a large range, kings, pedders, lovels, ect and can get a few different heights from low to super low but it depends how you want them and if you want it to be safe or look cool! :) I'd take it to a specialist and they can also measure and have some made to suit your application!

i think rear 200b work well as well, i had a set of cut down ones before the coilovers and they were way stiffer than kings..... but then agin they were 1/2 their original height too hahhaa