This interests me greatly. I'm assuming they were originally way too stiff. What's the shock and spring combo from Dobinson? How long did the revalve take? Did you have to pay for it to be revalved?
I originally bought these items:
C59-276 Front Coils
IMS59-50222 Monotube IFP Front Struts
C59-131 Rear Coils
IMS59-50225 Monotube IFP Rear Shocks
I found the ride to be very jarring. It was almost painful to drive, and certainly took all the fun out of it.
I waited a few months hoping things would settle in, but they didn't, or at least not much. So I pinged Mike at Exit Offroad, where I bought the parts. He told me there was not much he could do, and directed me to Dobinson USA.
It was not easy getting past the inane "customer service", but once I got through to David (who apparently runs the operation), he took charge. He asked me to send everything back, and covered the shipping. He said that he suspected that there was a wrong shim stack in my shocks (no idea why he thought that).
I still don't know exactly what transpired (I will ask him later), but the "right" shim stack had to be custom made and shipped from Australia, along with special bleed shims. He shipped the front units back to me as soon as they were completed; the rears are still waiting for the custom bleed shims.
During this time, I've been riding on OEM components, which were silk smooth (by truck standards). I already made up my mind that unless the re-valved Dobinsons were close to this ride, I'll find a way to get happy with OEM - I was not willing to give up this kind of comfort.
I put in the re-valved fronts today, and after a few miles, I feel that they are on par with the OEM ride, at least not noticeably harsher, which is a huge improvement from before. I'll wait for the rears to arrive before making final conclusions, but so far this is promising.
I did replace the rear Dobinson springs with OME 2906's, because I found the lift of the Dobinsons to be too high. And I had Dobinson replace the front 276 springs with 134's. They are the same spring rate, but the 134's have a little longer free length than 276's - not that it matters much since the front shock perches are adjustable.
Overall, the process didn't cost me anything, but the turnaround time has been about a month. I was willing to wait to get this fixed properly, so that was fine by me.
Here is the OEM height (left) and where I am now (right). I think this might be a bit too high, so I might bring it down an inch or so.
