Koni shock adjustment

Technical and Repair Discussions

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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 6:42 pm
Newbie question. How are Koni's adjusted?
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 6:50 pm
You have to take the shock off the car. Jack the spring down (be careful!) or run the spring perch down. Remove the "seat" at the top of the spring, slide the spring off.
Remove the bump stop. Then press the cylinder all the way down into the shock.
Rotate it slightly until you feel it "snick" into place. Then you have roughly 5 X one-half turns of adjustment (if memory serves). Clockwise is stiff, counterclockwise is soft.
Set accordingly, and put the shock back together.
Only rebound is adjustable.
(are you seeing yet why the externally adjustable Penskes are preferable? :) other than the fact that they are stiffer overall in bump than the Konis)
I have a "spring jack" somewhere I think that I bought from the Funks. Very, very, very (ad nauseum) helpful if you are adjusting Konis, especially if, like me, you don't have scales and don't want to run the spring perches down, potentially messing up your corner weights.

Steve Fenske, does that cover it? That's all from memory...
Hope it helps!
Denny
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:02 pm
Steve Fenske, does that cover it? That's all from memory...
Hope it helps!
Denny


you nailed it
Steve Fenske
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 7:09 pm
Thanks
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PostPosted: Fri Jan 11, 2013 11:54 pm
Technically, you can take the upper shock mount off the rocker, slide off the top-hat, remove the spring, bumpstop, and large nylon washer, then compress fully and turn fully clockwise as you look down at the shock until you can't turn any further (that's full stiff). General settings for Koni's is pretty stiff compared to Penske's. As I last recall, rears were around 1/2 turn off full stiff, fronts about 1 T off full stiff (your mileage and shock condition may vary.) Always adjust from full stiff as described above. If you can extend the shocks easily with those settings, consider getting Penske's or some Koni "throwaways" as a replacement.
Bob Breton - SRF 51 - San Francisco Region
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PostPosted: Sat Jan 12, 2013 12:38 am
breton wrote:Technically, you can take the upper shock mount off the rocker, slide off the top-hat, remove the spring, bumpstop, and large nylon washer, then compress fully and turn fully clockwise as you look down at the shock until you can't turn any further (that's full stiff). General settings for Koni's is pretty stiff compared to Penske's. As I last recall, rears were around 1/2 turn off full stiff, fronts about 1 T off full stiff (your mileage and shock condition may vary.) Always adjust from full stiff as described above. If you can extend the shocks easily with those settings, consider getting Penske's or some Koni "throwaways" as a replacement.


I sent Todd a private message describing the Breton Bowling Ball shock dyno.

You have exposed my secret Koni shock settings. (which I think I got from you :) ). Except we are 3/4 turn front.

We run them really stiff, I think your "if you can extend them easily" (at all) is a good guideline.

I have been meaning to check, but I had mine rebuilt not that long ago. Chris had trouble finding some of the parts, IIRC. But I think they can still rebuild them.

Dave

P.S. I have had some very weird / funny / embarrassing / humiliating (if disclosed) experiences with shocks, including a couple involving Bob Breton...
Dave Harriman
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PostPosted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 9:23 am
I always ran 1/8 from full stiff in the front and 3/4 from full stiff in the rear.

You could end up with many different combinations if you asked enough people.
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 26, 2015 9:28 am
This may be an old thread but it was very helpful. I had a Penske go bad and have to run a backup set of Konis I've not driven on before. Couldn't find anything else on the web for these shocks. Thanks Forum!
Les Kurz
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