Crikeymike
Senior Member
We have been selling them by special order.
Dobinsons Suspension - 4th Gen Options
- Thread starter Crikeymike
- Start date
adkfinn
Member
Quick input on Dobinsons and Mike:
I just installed a full Dobinson's suspension on my 2007 V6 4th Gen and am very happy. Mike was great, patiently answered my questions, sent me multiple quotes, discussed the MRR's, etc. I ended up ordering the basic shocks and the ride is great.
Setup:
C59-300's up front with the GS59-220 extended shocks (~3" lift total)
C59-675V's in the rear with a trim packer on the driver's side and GS59-575 LT rear shocks (~3" lift)
JBA UCA's, Wheeler super bumps all the way around, 2nd gen rear sway bar links, front sway bar relocation kit, extended rear brake lines
Overall - very nice improvement in ride quality both on and off road. Price point seems to be excellent for the quality and performance of the parts. Mike was great to work with and shipping was quick. I am a happy camper. Overall, in general, I'd like a bit more height, but am thinking that a 1" BL might be the way to get it as opposed to more lift. I have some 275/70/r18's going on this week (from 275/65/r18), I am hopeful that small bump has the impact I am hoping for. I'll try to snap some pics and update soon.
I just installed a full Dobinson's suspension on my 2007 V6 4th Gen and am very happy. Mike was great, patiently answered my questions, sent me multiple quotes, discussed the MRR's, etc. I ended up ordering the basic shocks and the ride is great.
Setup:
C59-300's up front with the GS59-220 extended shocks (~3" lift total)
C59-675V's in the rear with a trim packer on the driver's side and GS59-575 LT rear shocks (~3" lift)
JBA UCA's, Wheeler super bumps all the way around, 2nd gen rear sway bar links, front sway bar relocation kit, extended rear brake lines
Overall - very nice improvement in ride quality both on and off road. Price point seems to be excellent for the quality and performance of the parts. Mike was great to work with and shipping was quick. I am a happy camper. Overall, in general, I'd like a bit more height, but am thinking that a 1" BL might be the way to get it as opposed to more lift. I have some 275/70/r18's going on this week (from 275/65/r18), I am hopeful that small bump has the impact I am hoping for. I'll try to snap some pics and update soon.
DreamRun08
New member
pics please!
MattAK
New member
[MENTION=148378]Dobinsons Mike[/MENTION] I have a question on Dobinsons' warranty since I'm considering getting your kit for my truck. I've been following this thread about a Bilstein failure and their refusal to replace them under warranty and I decided to read up on Dobinson's warranty. I noticed that in the warranty terms on the site it says this:
"Dobinsons Spring & Suspension™ products are designed for normal use and are in no way, covered under warranty should the vehicle be used in any form of extreme sports, competition racing or produce lift of 50mm or more." (emphasis added)
50mm equals about 2" but you offer options on the site that lift 2.5" and 3" and I've been looking at getting a 2.5" kit. How does the warranty work for those? I tried searching around but couldn't find any info.
Edit: I also saw this: "Shock Absorbers listed in this catalogue have a 2 year warranty providing the vehicle does not have a modified exhaust system." Curious why modifying your exhaust would void a shock absorber warranty.
Thanks!
"Dobinsons Spring & Suspension™ products are designed for normal use and are in no way, covered under warranty should the vehicle be used in any form of extreme sports, competition racing or produce lift of 50mm or more." (emphasis added)
50mm equals about 2" but you offer options on the site that lift 2.5" and 3" and I've been looking at getting a 2.5" kit. How does the warranty work for those? I tried searching around but couldn't find any info.
Edit: I also saw this: "Shock Absorbers listed in this catalogue have a 2 year warranty providing the vehicle does not have a modified exhaust system." Curious why modifying your exhaust would void a shock absorber warranty.
Thanks!
Last edited:
adkfinn
Member
I am sure Mike will chime in about warranty details but I would guess that the stated '50mm' is primarily related to Australia's lift laws ( Is your 4WD legal? or https://infrastructure.gov.au/vehicles/vehicle_regulation/bulletin/vsb_ncop.aspx ).
Crikeymike
Senior Member
Yes, that's right. 50mm is mostly because of the lift laws, but also for a lot of components that could be affected by a taller lift than that. Like if you put a 3.5" front lift on a 15 year old 4th Gen with 250,000 miles on it, and your CV's start giving you troubles real quick, you'll have to sort through that issue yourself.
But here, we're extremely realistic. If our strut failed like that post you shared, where it snapped at the base, we would sort it out real quick. And even if someone is outside of our warranty period, we would still offer replacements at a heavy discount instead of leaving him high and dry.
*If someone was running thick strut spacers and the lower mount broke - declined.
*If someone was running overly heavy or too tall of a coil and the lower mount broke - declined most likely
Running parts of ours on a vehicle they aren't listed anywhere for - most likely declined unless there was a conversation had before hand
*If someone was running anything I had suggested that works in conjunction with the parts we offer and it failed - parts are covered under warranty
*Our coil mixed with another brand of strut or shock - the coil probably would never fail anyway, so it falls on the other brand that had the failure.
Oh, and don't forget that most legal documents (and warranty statements) are there in black and white in case they need to be referenced, but it doesn't always mean that the product wouldn't be covered under warranty. We wouldn't offer the various lift heights and coil options if we couldn't stand behind it, and here in the USA, we do stand behind it. Not that we've had to really, as I think I've only warrantied a couple of shocks or struts in the past few years due to shipping damage in transit (shock broke out of box from the delivery driver throwing it around too much, that sort of thing).
But this does raise a good point, I guess people shouldn't be mixing our heavier rate coils with 5100's if their product, as they're declaring from their emails, can't handle a heavier rate coil. Ours definitely can, especially with the 360 degree welded lower coil seat, never ever seen one deflected, and our heavier sized lower mounts. I'll have to do some more comparisons to show everyone the differences.
Crikeymike
Senior Member
:juggle:
(Had to reopen 20 tabs on my browser to find my reply, as it was a lengthy one. I went and checked on this thread again and realized that it didn't post earlier when I wrote it, so luckily I was able to recover it and post it again without having to re-write it)
(Had to reopen 20 tabs on my browser to find my reply, as it was a lengthy one. I went and checked on this thread again and realized that it didn't post earlier when I wrote it, so luckily I was able to recover it and post it again without having to re-write it)
4RunnerIdiot
New member
Stop bumping this thread! I keep wanting to put an order in but am busy spending obscene amounts of money on fixing my house's foundation. Every time this thread shows up, it gets a little harder to be responsible.
MattAK
New member
:bat:
Sporin
New member
Given the bad Bilstien story, and all the excellent Dobinsons feedback and customer service, I think I'll be ordering Dobby stuff when it comes time to pull my XREAS (hopefully soon).
Have to think you guys have a good option for a "low lift" right? Maybe +2" over stock in front, +1 ish in the back? Just leveled and up a bit?
Have to think you guys have a good option for a "low lift" right? Maybe +2" over stock in front, +1 ish in the back? Just leveled and up a bit?
chompster4runner
New member
I'm 2.5 front and 1ish rear. Leveled.
Sporin
New member
Damn that's perfect, I'm sold! Did you go up a tire size? I've still got a lot of miles left on my current, stock sized, tires.
Crikeymike
Senior Member
Sorry bro, I'll try to leave you alone so you can get back to blowing dough on your house!!! LOL
chompster4runner
New member
265.70.17. Looks good with the fj wheels stance wise. If wheels were more flush with fender, I'd be really happy.
Crikeymike
Senior Member
Yes, they go hand in hand.
For 255/80 or 275/70, you're approaching BMC territory, and a taller lift won't necessarily change that, because as soon as your suspension flexes significantly, the tire will be right back inside the wheel well. There's a lot of variables that do effect it though. Wheel backspacing, and your alignment are big ones for whether or not you rub on your body mount. Also depends on whether or not you are worried about rubbing at full stuff. If you just want to drive around on pavement and not rub, you may be fine, but if you wheel a lot, and care about rubbing when stuffing and flexing, it will be a different story. You'll see a lot of people running those tires say that no BMC is necessary, and for daily driving it probably isn't. But its not that simple.
FWIW, I'm running the 305 front springs with the 1" lift shock, for a total of 3" up front. V6. 255/80/17 cooper ST Maxx's on stock rims with 1.25 spacers. I don't technically rub the body mount, but its darn close. And I haven't tested it at full compression. I will end up doing a BMC because its too close for comfort in my opinion, and I'm pretty dang sure I'll rub if I flex enough.
