"Wheeler's Anonymous"

Dakars: I don’t know if 1st gen is the same, but the second gen cs047r pack has two big problems that make a ridiculous amount of noise (when/if you actually use your truck and get it dirty)
1: The stock bushing in the front eye needs to be replaced with poly.
2: Not all of the leaves have isolators on the tips.

I broke down the leaf pack, drilled holes in the end of the leafs where it was needed and installed Trailgear leaf spring isolators.
The leaf pack is now silent and seems like it flexes and moves better.

Notice the 2nd and 3rd leafs have no isolators. (Round yellow things)

After:

 

3rd gens have them. They are black though.

 

2nd and 3rd gen use the same leaf pack... I know there is a new Dakar part number but didn’t know if it shared the same problem, or if the 1st gen pack shares the same issue.
Just sharing my experience and fix for the super obnoxious sounds my leafs would make.

 

No problem, I have pulled two leaf packs from 3rd gens and both have those little discs.

 

I'll have to take a look at mine again to see if every leaf has it but I did see the isolator in there. It's those damn bushings that are so loud haha

 

I have the wheelers off-road poly bushing replacements and they work well.

 

Cool. Good to know. Our buddy put in the daystar greasable bushings and seems to like them so far...

Right @Prayn4surf ?? Lol

 

I hear a lot of people complain about leaf packs not holding the weight they claim across the board. Every manufacturer seems to have this issue.

You are also one of the very few people who actually put their claim to the test and look at the numbers while expecting optimal performance. Most people are just happy not being on stock leafs and content that they support the weight of their hard shell and spare tire. No finger pointing @sdsurfer . I’m not saying I’m any different.

 

im pretty sure these are the same thing

. I got them through wheelers, and i like em. I still get an occasional squeak but i bought some black moly grease and liberally applied it to the outer parts of the bushings and it has definitely helped quiet them. Only really hearing noise when on a rough trail but its not that squeal of the dakar bushings. Those thing made noise on every bump. I would throw a shit ton of grease between the mount and the bushing Madison and see if it helps before we tear your leaf pack off.

 

Ive heard the same about Deavers and the same about their customer service. Ive also heard a lot of people complain that the leafs they ordered arent the correct lengths n they get told to f off its a custom leaf. Pretty scary when youre gonna spend money on something you think is gonna live up to your suspension dreams. So far I have heard nothing but good things about Alcans.

 

Sorry ive been drinking so no multiquote except the first one and this thread moves fast so im going backwards...your leaf pack does not have isolators on all of them, but our source of noise is the front bushing, specifically where the bushing rubs on the mount. When I threw the poly ones on it was silent, but the grease i used sucked. The black moly is slowly working its way back in there to be silent again, just gonna be a constant maintenance with these leafs. Thats why I mentioned grease up the originals w good grease and see if it fixes it. If not at a torch and hammer it is

 

When they get nice and dusty and rusty both the bushings and the lack of isolators will contribute to the noise.

 

My dakars came in last week, as much as I would like to have gone with deaver, price is much more livable. Gonna run these with Archives Hangers for all that flex.

Question for you guys though, are the Dakar leafs side specific? I recalled they were, but the ones I ordered from headstrong have the same part numbers and marks. I thought one had a plus, the other a minus?

 

They are not side specific. The minus and plus represent where that specific leaf pack falls in the tolerance when making the springs. A + would be stiffer than a 0 or a -

In theory If one had a minus and on had a plus, you would put the plus on the drivers side to combat taco lean. But since they are the same, it doesn’t matter.

 

LOL saw this article on the AZ thread. The guys pointed out the author. He's exactly what he was just calling out, lol. I'll link his gram page in a minute.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BgmvaPoHwNc/

 

@tubbsisland is laying into him pretty hard on the TW FB page ...Matt aka desertchief on IG is @The Traveler here on TW is trying to defend himself in the comments. Its a pretty good read

 

He worded it perfect. I never even thought to look at the author that wrote it.

 

Man I want to reply to that thread saying I was overlanding in a civic ripping out thw exhaust on rocks surfing my way down to cabo and back 20 years ago before there was a name for overlandishing, what a chump. Who cares man really, buy a truck have fun, get outside, dont trash the place so others can enjoy it too. Pretty entertaining comments

 

Its pretty much dead at this point, and my response on his article was better. Matt's a good guy and a friend but that level of hypocrisy deserves to be called out.