Carli's 2.5 Piston

When something is good, you gotta go with it. Carli Suspension pulls out another proprietary tweak to the performance spectrum spread with their King 2.5 shock piston. There's been a couple of pistons that we've tested and found some results on a shock dyno, yet the net effect we were looking for wasn't found... so I introduce the ground up build of a new piston for the King 2.5 off road racing shock. We've been able to get a 2.5 to stand down compression figures that a 3.0 produces with an inordinate amount of dampening during testing, but if you constrict the flow too much, heat becomes an issue. The 3.0 actually cools itself down during dyno testing after being warmed up to over 100 degrees and when we pump up the previous 2.5 piston with a super low flow design, you need gloves to get it off the dyno.

More about Carli Suspension's 3.0 Dyno testing and shock tuning.

The piston designs born here at Carli Suspension are focused on Total Control. Being able to tune the shock with increased ranges of adjustment allows for an extension of what we've all come to expect from the company. Sweeter street ride and more off road performance all in one package. The pistons are the biggest advancement yet, which wouldn't have even arrived without years of testing and tuning a myriad of shocks in as many applications.

On the tuning bed, a ceiling was approaching working with just valve shims... so after a year of exploring options, the machinist received a PO and now we are the beneficiaries of this initiative. Total Control engineering that results in a technology that you feel in your seat.

Carli's Own 3.0 Piston

Well, now I have to take a step back and correct something about the 2009 Dodge Ram Radar thread when mentioned some of the goodies that we should be waiting for this year... and there wasn't anything about a Carli Suspension King Piston anywhere. Well there's a reason for that, we didn't know it was coming either.

Dodge Ram Suspension manufacturers all tout a proprietary approach to their systems, but the smartest part of any suspension system is the shock. Now there is true separation in the industry and Carli crossed the line with their advancements in suspension technology with their very own 3.0 King piston. You can rest assured that there aren't any other suspension manufacturers that are machining 7075 blocks of Aluminum into a custom designed 3.0 shock pistons just for the HD line of Dodge Ram's.

The entire initiative is spurred by the same thing that drove numerous advancements in shock tuning. Superior ride quality and street manners with the ability to hammer bumps in the dirt at speed - from a single tune. The quest to offer the best of both worlds lead to an incredible amount of intellectual property at the company and now it's just getting crazy, this isn't experimental shock valving that gets a diesel on top of whoops, this is real engineering.

The outcome is just ridiculous, Sage's truck is the first to be outfitted with any King advancements and one ride leaves you speechless... and if you don't believe that statement, come down for a demo and I'll post your comments for the rest of the readers. I've gone through at least 12 different tunes with my 3.0's and although improvements were found across the spectrum, it still wasn't anything close to what the piston delivered on the first installation.

Transitions are smooth, compression ramps up quickly minus any harsh qualities. Expansion joints are miniaturized and curbs don't jerk the wheel out of your hand when you run em over. The design supports Sage's latest shock tuning methods offering 5x the ability to tune bleed - the result? A seat-of-your-pants feel that will leave you wondering what's coming next.