Dobinsons Suspension Review

I installed twin tubes with 778 coils and medium duty leafs about two weeks ago. I've been taking measurements regularly and the front has settled at 24.75" hub to fender, which is 3.25" taller than my stock suspension with 300,000km that I removed. This is more than I was anticipating, and I was hoping to keep a bit more rake since the truck sees everything from empty to full GVWR, but not a huge deal since the rear leafs are quite firm. Before I had 2" of rake, now there is 0.75" (both with the camper on). The GFC weighs about 300lbs, and its not quite enough to make a smooth ride with the leafs. Today I drove with a 200lb workbench in the back, so about 500lbs total and that helped the ride quite a bit. Also hooked up a horse trailer last weekend (~450 lbs tongue weight) and this levelled out the rake. Overall I have mixed feelings about the kit; I chose it because of the advertised softer valving and relatively low lift height compared to other options, but ended up with a higher ride height in the front than I wanted and quite a firm ride. I am getting used to it, and I would also agree with what others have said that it is more composed over rough roads and can certainly handle a higher payload more with more confidence. I drove around with the front sway bar off for comparison and it definitely made the ride more comfortable, but making sharp/quick corrections on the highway really unsettled the truck. I think a lot of the harsh ride can be dialed out by adjusting tire pressure down slightly, which I did, but I am wondering now if I should switch to 610's and remove the sway bar to lower the front a bit, and use the higher spring rate to reduce body roll.

I probably missed it, but does anyone know the spring rate of the 778 vs 610?

 

I’m not paid, just happy. 610 coils and heavy spring pack here. You’re not seeing the diamond in the rough if you just think it’s all bad. My lift made my tundra unstoppable and then I added a camper and could do stoopid shit easily while it was on. Not sure where the bad is

 

Hey everyone, just thought I would chime in with my recent findings. I originally wanted the 6112/5160, but since being sold out everywhere, I picked up some twin tubes and 778 coils w/ the rear shocks. Since the truck is not my daily driver, I've only had a chance to put 200 miles on this setup, and they've settled quite nicely! Like many have stated before, the ride is stiffer when going slow, but big bumps are smooth when going faster. The truck doesn't feel like a whale in the turns and much more planted overall. I do have an appointment made to get the rear leafs worked on, so there is a slight bit of rake for now. I'm sure I'll see some more settling but just wanted to show some somewhat good news in a seemingly spiraling thread lol

Tire size is 275/70/18

~Stock~

• Driver- 22 1/8" / Passenger - 21 7/8"
• Droop: Driver - 26" / Passenger - 26"

~778 Unsettled~

• Driver - 25 1/2" / Passenger - 25 1/4"
• Droop: Driver - 27 3/4" / Passenger - 27 5/8"
• 3.375" Lift post install

~778 w/200 Miles~

• Driver - 24 1/2" / Passenger - 24 3/4"
• Roughly 2.75" Lift after 200 miles

Before:



After:

Adding a spacer up top has nothing to do with the preload, at all. Whenever you are moving the spring perch up, the spring will preload. People install CB shims to either correct for lean, or add height without changing how the spring behaves. Adjusting for lean with clip height is a terrible idea.

 

I’m gonna measure my truck with the bumpers when I get it back so I can be objective

 

I wish my 778s would settle that much. I would be a happy camper. Now at 1600 miles and still no change.

I also don't understand why people are so against offsetting the clip heights to adjust the ride height. It is no different than a threaded coilover. King, Fox, IVD etc will tell you to not use shims. You use the adjustable collar to set the preload and ride height. There are no shims used on any offroad race suspension I've ever worked on and they handle extremely well.

 

I didn’t need to adjust anything. Lucky blessed or dumb haha

 

People can adjust however they want, I just hope they understand that when you preload a spring, the ride gets stiffer, that’s all haha

Also, comparing name brand coilovers with infinite adjustments(i.e. springs rates, valving, etc.), with IMS and a couple spring rates to choose from isn’t quite apples to apples

 

This. You use spacers on fixed systems. You adjust preload (slightly) on adjustable coil overs. Been this way for years and it’s designed that way. We’re talking 1/2” max, which isn’t enough to ever be noticed by the feel of the ride.

 

Technically the IMS should be on par with an entry level King or Fox IFP shock. On any single rate coilover the spring rate and length is determined by the shock length and vehicle weight. Once you've determined that and set the preload/height it's all up to the shocks valving to control the vehicle. The Tundra should really only be using spring rates between 600-700lbs for all bolt in coilovers. So I would say it's an apples to apples comparison. Now the twin tubes are not in the same ball park. Just my opinion

 

I loved my coil spring bike once I got the right coil weight and quit caring about bottoming it. Best runs I every had. I was just sending it down 15 foot natural step downs into rocks and roots at 15-20 mph. I loved that shit. But I like riding my air shock on a daily now. I have some excellent strava times to prove this was fast. Only on my 10th flat pedal ride or So X then I started smashing tires and baby heads and then I had a baby. Sorry wrong thread.

 

Exactly. A 1/4" more preload on one side will not be noticed by 99% of people if the shock is tuned correctly.

 

And yes there were lots of issues with cane creek. But honestly I never had an issue and when they offered a free upgrade I took it. Sent my shock in for service and elected to get a new one for a slight up charge. I’ve played this game before.

 

I think you misunderstood what I said. I was talking about a spacer below the top coil seat, not above it like a CB spacer.

However I am glad to see you have had good luck with the twin tubes and 778 springs since that's what I have in my garage waiting to go on.

 

On a true adjustable coilover, adding height by adjusting collar and not adding shims is the best way by far, I think we all can agree on that. If dobinsons added more spring rates to the line up, the people in this thread would be happy. With that being said, I don't believe the IMS are on the same level as an entry level king or fox, I think that's where the 6112 shines the most. Didn't one guy even state that no one he contacted will even revalve his IMS's?

 

I've never heard of someone using shims on top of the coil before, then why not just move the clip up?? It's the same concept lol

I think you'll be happy with the setup, for a good budget system, it performs well!

 

If you're talking about spacers above the top plates, tons of people do this, even with adjustable clip shocks like the IMS, and 6112s. I have the old fashioned twin tubes that will be going on and are not adjustable.

However it isn't uncommon to find spacers below the top hat and on top of the spring, though it is a shitty way to lift, it isn't horribly uncommon. Welcome to the forum lol

 

CB shims make sense to me, shims on top of the coil do not lol

 

That was me. I haven't found anyone in my area willing to revalve these IMS yet. Dobinsons will do the revalve but I have to ship them back to Florida. Still trying to research other options locally.

Dobinsons technically offers 4 different springs rates/lengths for the IMS. You would only have 3 options with King. 600,650 or 700 lbs. Being that they both are similar sized shock bodies, IFP design and revalvable means that they "should" be equal. I'm not saying that they are equal at this point. I'm just say that they technically "should" be on the same playing field. I just think the Dobinsons need some fine tuning to get there. At this point since I've made the investment so I'm going to see what I can do to make these work correctly.

 

I don't disagree with you, don't worry lol.

 

Probably just because they're new and they haven't worked on them before. There was a shop out in Colorado a few years back that rebuilt the resi versions for a 4Runner guy out there, and he said it was no different than working on the other brands of coilovers, the ones without bypasses.

 

I'm sure that's the case. I'm hoping someone will take the leap for me. Unfortunately all the well known shops around here told me no.

 

Just a small update to keep this thread alive. I tired to build my own coilovers as previously seen and couldn't get the tool out. So I went to a local shop and they built them, but they also struggled with the tight coils and I don't believe built them correctly.

I don't have a picture on me, but the top plates are crooked, and the one top bushing is actually bulging out from underneath the cupped washer. I don't think they tighted the top nut down enough, and didn't compress the spring enough while building them. The springs also have some nice scratches/gouges on them now, so @crikeymike, any suggestions for red touch up paint?! lol

So now I'm going to drop them off this afternoon at Main Line in West Chester, PA to have them do it right. I should have just done this from the start, but I'm a cheap asshole who likes to do as much by myself as I can, and this time it bit me in the ass.

 

That's exactly what I experienced with my coils as well. I have scratches all over from the shop trying to get the springs out of the compressor. I watched them assemble them and I don't see how they could have got them off any other way due to how tight the spacing was. My top hats were also crooked but straightened out when I installed them on the truck and the top bushing looked normal when the weight of the truck was on the springs.

 

Good to know. Yeah I'm curious to see what Mainline thinks of them when I drop them off. I'm hoping I can actually speak to a tech while I'm there.

I don't really care too much about scratches because I mean, it's a truck and it'll be used hard anyway. I also get the truck undercoated at Krown once a year as well so I'm not worried about it rusting. And well, it's my own damn fault anyway lol.

 

I had @crikeymike assemble mine before shipping, and they arrived pristine. Worth every penny to have them preassembled.

Now the rear coils(Sequoia) and shocks I had installed at a local shop, they did not fair as well.... can't see them as well atleast.

 

Yeah, there are several types of strut coil compressors, and the one Dobinsons uses is the best I've seen for not scratching the coils and also fitting in between the gaps with no problem. It's shown in my Youtube video for strut assembly.

Touch up paint: https://www.dobinsonsdirect.com/products/dobinsons-coil-touch-up-paint?variant=32944535961709

Crooked top plates will straighten out in the vehicle but crooked and blown out bushes is not good at all. MLO will get that straight for sure, as they've done a lot of these.

 

Thanks for the link Mike.

Yeah this whole ordeal is just because I'm a suborn SOP and tried to save a few bucks. Oh well! I'm still looking forward to getting this all installed in a few weeks. I'll post up tons of pictures once it happens. Should still be happening April 17th which can't come soon enough.

 

If the non-IMS struts can be ordered with the springs installed, I may consider going that route on my truck. Adjustable height is nice but sounds like there have been too many problems with that particular setup. And honestly, I'm a sucker for the yellow and teal color combination.

 

Yeah that's what I would do if I were to start over on this process, just order them built and ready to go. I used this as an excuse to buy a new tool which didn't work anyway lol

 

You should buy this one next time!!

http://www.strutspringcompressor.com/

This is the key though!! If only the SPC style could have jaws like these