Dakar leafs & settle

So about to place an order via Headstrong for 5100s + coils, TC UCA, and Dakar leafs in the package they offer with the extended brakelines.

Wanted to get some input from those with a 2.7 access cab as to which coils to go with that’ll be level front and back after the Dakars settle. Originally I figured 2888s would be ideal, but if the Dakars settle a bit more than anticipated like I’ve been reading, 2887s MAY be a better option. I want my truck as evenly balanced as possible front and rear. No rake or sag. Want to get my coil selection dialed in as I don’t want to adjust the Billies adding any preload (rougher ride).

285/75/16 STT Pros will be the tire of choice + Ray10 -12.

 

You getting the medium duty or heavy duty Dakars?

So far after almost a year, my heavy duty Dakars have settled zero. Gave me a little over 2 1/2" of lift

 

Medium mostly likely as I don’t have much in the back, but if HD makes it more predictable I may opt for it..

 

If you aren't carrying weight and you want it perfectly level I would go with the mediums. I carry about 120 pounds daily with the HDs but I like rake and I throw about 700 pounds of camping stuff in the back a couple times per month. The HDs feel awesome even without weight. Truck is stiff in a good way, not jarring. I drove around with almost 400 pounds of dumbells in my bed for the first couple weeks to help break the leaf packs in...didn't do shit. Lol. The packs are solid so far.

Here's what I'll say about OME coils up front. I've been on 888s for almost about 6 months and they are sagging bad. Apparently they can't handle our trucks stock weight very well and lots of other have been having issues as well. I've seen others use eibachs because they have a higher spring rate which helps to hold the weight better. If I were you I'd do some research on the coils before purchasing. Don't want you to end up like those of us who are having issues.

 

888s with the 95r (medium) dakars will be a slight rake, with the front a little lower. You could add a 1/4" spacer on top of the shock. Your CV angles might be pretty bad though.

There are no coils to level with the 96rs. Basically on an unloaded truck the 95r will lift it between 2.75 and 3". The 96r about 3.5-4". So you want the 95r with a coil that lifts about 2.75".

887s will net close to 2" after they settle. None of the dakars will settle that low.

 

I’ll keep that in mind for sure, I don’t want issues down the road especially with Dakars in the rear. Mediums in the rear sound right for me then. Maybe I’ll have to jump to Fox coilovers lol.

Medium 95r for sure then with that kind of settled height.

 

I was most worried about this, but went with the HDs anyway. I've got 6112s with a 1/4" spacer, netting about 2.5" in front and the HDs in the rear. It's not harsh at all, its really just perfect. Stiff enough to prevent body roll and improve on road handling, and soft enough to not get tired of driving it. Im happy I went with the HDs. Having said that though, in regard to the OPs desires, I have more rake than stock, which I like.

 

Yup definitely agree there .... however I run no sway bar so I have a decent amount of body roll at highway speeds. Lol

 

Coilovers and MD dakars will solve your concerns.

 

The coil overs just solve my issue because they’re adjustable correct?

I wouldn’t mind the 6112s with HD if it’ll keep things leveled.

 

Yes, since you can adjust them to your liking. With what you want though you may have issues with the CV boots later on.

Do you need Dakars? If you're not planning to haul or carry heavier loads then a 3 leaf AAL will allow you to level and lift the truck with less strain on the CVs. A 3 leaf w/o the overload and 887s will level it out and will be low enough to not need a diff drop or shorten the lifetime of the CV boots.

6112s max at 2" so if you use a AAL it'll level, other wise it'll keep a similar rake to stock with the MD dakars.

 

Essentially I just want 2-2.5” of lift upfront and whatever setup in the rear when settled will leave me level. I wanted to go Dakar because I know stock leafs are trash and when using AAL have a tendency to sag over time. I’d rather do it right the first time around - although I do have brand new leafs that were covered under warranty (which shows how crappy they are since they replaced them at 30k miles).

 

You might also want to look into the Icon RXT leafs, I didnt research them too much but they appear to have less lift than the dakars. I dont see any complaints from those that run them, only issue is theyre about $200 more.

edit* Also, having ran a AAL and now the Dakars, OEM springs arent nice with AALs. They actually felt stiffer than my HD dakars.

 

So your number of 2.5" of lift with the HDs, is that with 120 lbs or is that with the 700 lbs? I have MD leafs and I'm debating converting to HDs, but don't want to be too high in the rear when I'm totally unloaded and take my rack and RTT off (which is during the fall and winter). If the rear is lifted 2.5" above stock, so 24.5" hub to fender, then I'd have about 2" of rake while empty, and I'd think about 1" of rake while fully loaded which would be perfect and ideal to me.

Did you have any vibes / install any shims? What about a CB drop?

 

When fully loaded I'm still at about 2" of lift over stock.
If you don't like the rake I would just put some weights back there or something to keep it level-ish when you don't have your added gear. The mediums can't handle weight while providing lift.

Yup I've got vibes. I have a 3* shim that I put on when I put on the leaf packs because everyone said that was the cure so I wanted to just install it together. The vibes were at 9mph and pretty harsh so I installed washers on my cb to help. Vibes aren't completely gone but it's acceptable. Eventually going to swap with a double cardan single piece shaft to get rid of vibes all together. Another guy said that the Dakar packs actually come with a slightly angle center bolt hole, to allow the leaf pack to naturally angle the rear axle to the right angle but I've been too lazy to test this theory. I think everyone's truck is different so it's just a matter of finding the stock working angles before lift and then trying to replicate those angles as best you can after the lift with shims. Theoretically you shouldn't need to move the carrier bearing, in a perfect world, rather just adjust the pinion angle to match the out put angle from the carrier bearing.

 

@littlefish this is what I look like right now with only my racks and bed cover on and 888 coils up front (which are sagging). Considering slapping small spacers to gain more lift up front while I decide on coilover setup.

 

I'm fine with rake. I'm more afraid of vibes than anything else from being too high in the rear. When you're empty how high are you?

 

Thank you. At my lightest I have about 110 lbs of true weight over the bed (DB cover and Hi-Lift), plus some more weight from the sliders and roof rack which I think must have some distributed to the rear suspension.

 

A lot of good info here, but nobody seems to touch on the point that you have the 2.7L engine which may be quite different when it comes to selecting coils and what not due to the weight difference. I would call Headstrong and get their advice for your specific setup

 

Vibes are fixable but can take time and patience.

Yeah I would definitely go with the HDs.
What is your front setup?