Help - Deaver vs Dakars

Need help. Are Deaver 402 that much better that they are more then double the dakars. I have them and am happy but I have an opportunity to get deavers for cheap so I am contemplating. Advice needed.

 

I’ve had my Deaver stage three’s for a few months now and absolutely love them. I can’t speak specifically to the Dakar’s but I did see quite a few forums were people stated that they began to sag and develop a W shape overtime

 

I also have zero experience with Dakars but I can say that my Deaver 402 leaf packs have thoroughly impressed me. The ride is incredibly smooth with no harshness at all.

 

Darkars are known to squeak and sag

 

I've had my ICON RXT leaf pack at stage 3 and it's great. Just added a high-clearance steel bumper with dual swingout and this leaf pack is holding up strong. Highly recommend.

 

Thank you for the info guys. I’ll just buy the deavers and sell my Dakars very cheap

 

you should be able to get a decent sale for the Dakars. It's a decent pack but yes the Deavers is a notch up. I am getting ready to do the same and sell my Dakar setup for a set of Devers. if you have a heavier truck (I recommend getting your truck weighed) you can order a custom leaf pack as well. But even without a custom pack, it will help you chose stage I, II, or III.

 

I have the Dakars and am pondering buying Deavers. The squeaking is driving me insane and any fix seems to last a handful of days at best.

 

Same...well mine aren't squeaking yet but I would love to get something a little higher quality than the Dakars I have now.

 

Same boat here... I'll be going from Dakars to Deavers in the spring. I just have no motiviation to freeze my arse off working on my truck now.

 

I have had two sets of dakars now and once I switched to Icon RXT, I realized how garbage dakars are. Go deaver and don't look back.

 

Obviously you already made your decision (the right one in my mind), but I'll add my 2 cents. I have the U402 Stage III deavers and they've been awesome. I hear of others with jarring suspension depending on load, but I've never felt it with mine. I've run with massively varying bed loads (500 all the way up to 1000 with 450lbs tongue weight), and it's never jarring or surprising. I've had compliments from friends on the ride when hitting speed bumps and such at speed. All in all, they've been great. Disclaimer: they are matched with Bilstein 5160s, so that is helping).

 

Thank you guys.

 

Dakar springs here. The leafs strike the spring hanger. I take the springs off once a year to grease the bushings and next time I take them off I'm going to grind one of the leafs a bit. I might just see if I can find rubber bushings that will fit so I don't have to constantly grease the poly bushings.

 

Go with Alcans, made to your needs.

 

I found this a little while back. It's not going to help much with ride quality or comfort, but still some good info about the common leaf packs available for Tacomas.

 

I loved my Dakar mediums. Sure beats the floppy stock leaf springs. Trucks squeak, roll up the windows!

 

My other question, carrier drop? And shims and what degree?

 

I added a carrier drop but no shims. All depends on your setup. carrier is cheap enough to add. Shims I think to if you have them but good chance you won’t need them

 

Yes