Dobinsons vs 5100s

I was googling around and came up on some older forums where people said 5100s are better OMEs offroad. I always thought OME was better, but oh well. I currently have 5100s, they ride well, I dont complain at all, even though they rode better before the sliders. I currently have a front bumper and will be getting a winch. I want to maintain the 3in lift. Here is what Im considering.
1. Bump my 5100s up to the second notch when I add the winch and if they break they break. Then get something else, something better (dobinsons, OMEs, used kings/icons etc).
2. Get the Dobinsons now if thy truly are much better than 5100s.
My question is, are the Dobbies really that much better than 5100s? I wdo want to keep as close of a 3" lift as possible. Would it be pushing it to get a .5" or so spacer to even out the front once the Dobbies are on?

 

paging @Dobinsons Mike

 

You can do suspension properly without spacers. If you want to keep what you've already invested in, there's nothing wrong with that. It's just best to get the proper lift from coils instead of adding preload or spacers.

You can do like you said, bump those up when you add weight and see how it goes. Or you can buy the correct coils to provide the lift and extra load support, and add those to your existing struts.

 

The only problem here is that I have 888s but with the bumper they lowered a little, then when I add the winch they will drop a little more.

You had already told me about the 354 springs that would be able to carry the weight of the bumper/winch combo, but they dont have the height I want. The coil that you carry that has the proper height is not rated for as much weight, which would pretty much bring me back to where I am now.

 

2888 coils are 405mm tall and 590LB rate
C59-354 are 390mm tall and 730LB rate

That big spring rate difference alone will make up for lost height.

Measure the load height of your front coils. Measure from the very top of the coil to the bottom of the pigtail, With the vehicle on the ground (all weight on the coils). With that, and some math, we can figure out what height you would be at with our coil options.

 

Will do.

You also mentioned something about having thicker top hats or something like that, which will slightly increase the lift. Whats the deal with that? Would it be that horrible to throw a .25-.5in top plate spacer on there?

 

Load height needs to be on the ground with all the weight on the truck. Forgot to mention that, just edited the above post.

A 1/4" top mount spacer will add 1/2" of lift. We have those as well.

 

Are you looking to just swap out the coils?

 

OME has the 886 springs available also. not sure on the exact specs though, they should provide some lift over the 888 since they are stiffer

 

Yeah since those 354's provide about 2.75" of lift or something like that I cant quite remember, just a little on the top to even things out and were going places

 

If there were coils like the 886s or 354s that would provide the height I would just swap coils. I am considering bumping up the 5100s and then if they break fuck it im getting dobbys

 

Why not 886 and go up a notch?

 

Well if Im already going up a notch then I might as well keep the 888s, no?

 

true, but the 886 were specifically designed to hold more weight like that of bumpers, etc.. so they might sit higher right off the bat since they won't sag and even if they sag a bit you could still go up a notch.

 

Ok ok I see

 

My buddy has Dobby in his 4Runner they’re pretty good, Id definitely lean towards that.

Main line overland can help you out and swap out the coils. I spoke with Eric, the 314 should provide the height you want while providing a good ride

 

The 314s?

 

Excess heat blows out shocks. Keep in mind that 5100’s are a single tube shock, which are better for heat dissipation than getting a twin tube like Dobinsons. And single tube reservoir models are even better at dissipating heat.

 

Yup I prefer the ride over the stock OR suspension

 

I mean, I live in a really hot part of Texas...are you saying some single tubes with a res would be better than Dobbies?