Dobinsons 2nd Gen Tacoma Suspension Options

Thanks for the reply. I don't have any parts I just got a 17 TRD off-road shot box and I am looking for lift opps.

 

you paid extra money for the TRD pro's suspension and want to downgrade? No Offense to Dobinson... but the TRD Pro 2017 has superior suspension out of the box.... Fox 2.5in coilovers up front and fox remote resi out back....

 

Interesting, Very similar numbers to OME N182's @ 608 and 352, they look very similar, and you stated you worked for ARB for sometime yeah? Connection there?

Not saying they would be bad, I run N182's in the rear of my truck right now. They are the most travel stock replacement shocks one can find.

 

Seems he has an offroad, not a pro

 

Correct

 

It's because that's the longest amount of travel we can get out of the leaf springs at full droop meaning that if we put a longer shock on there the only way it could reach that is if the Springs flexed and you the weight of the axle or the wheels.

I checked all of that myself because when I worked at ARB people would tell me that the shocks were not long enough so I wanted to find out. The funny thing is that the Nitro charger sport is shorter than the n182 old style shock.

And all this stuff was designed before I work for this company.

 

Ah very cool!!!

Well still eagerly lookin forward to the parabolic spring install. I have some NASTY horrible axle wrap with my stock springs and a single 2in AAL and i think the parabolic ones you are selling would remedy that right up.

 

@Dobinsons Mike can the parabolic be ran with a shackle flip? Is the parabolic spring designed to go into negative arch? Last question I promise, can you post the dimensions of this spring that shows arch, eye to eye, and eye to eye following arch dimensions?

Thanks Glenn

 

That was a lot of questions!!

No, only for an original shackle configuration, and sorry I can't share those specs online.

They're not designed to go negative

 

Thanks for the quick responce.

 

@Glenn_R

Personally I dont see why any spring cant be run with a shackle flip. Shackle flips put the rear bushing eye of the leaf spring in the same spot as a stock rear shackle setup, but by nature of how the shackle rotates you will get some extra droop. You can run a shackle flip with stock leaf springs without issue, these springs replace stock springs.... see what im getting at.

Now As far as negative arching, sounds like you want to run a shackle flip with a lift shackle... thats a different story, and almost all springs for our trucks are NOT advised to be negative arched. That stated, extra uptravel provided by lift shackles can beneficial to properly position the travel of suspension within the stroke of the actual shock. We did this on my buddies truck with 12in stroke 2.0 remote resi kings in the rear with BAMF relocation brackets and all pro standards. As it sat he had all of ~ 4in of uptravel before hitting bump and it provided a less than adaquate suspension movement in the woops. a 1.5in lift shackle provided a MUCH better ride, it also flexed the entire length of the shock.

 

Back to the parabolics, im curious as to the need for the 2 1/2in spacer pieces. With them on top of the spring they would reduce uptravel by 1inch, what was the reasoning behind those two little pieces.

 

@nd4spdbh I asked about the negative arch to help figure bump stop location and possible total articulation available. Hard to do though when you can't get real dimensions of the springs. I think you would need the spacers on the parabolics to keep the bump stops the correct distance from the frame. On the web site they state you can move them under for spacers.

Interesting enough I looked at All Pro and they say shackle flip voids their spring warranty. I think in the end I will just get custom springs built locally. I did that on my 84 SR5 truck and loved it. Some of the old heads doing springs can measure once, arch once and heat treat once, done. Will have them take the Taco lean into account. The other thing I don't get is the shock length, I measured mine at bump stop and the shock is only at 15.9 inches. Wasting over an inch of up travel. Those parabolic will be in negative arch to get anyway near the 13.58" collapsed shock dimension.

Another thing you are right about is the N182 replacement (60091), it has a lot less travel and dimensional not much better than stock shock.

OME N182 Nitrocharger Internal Design: Twintube
Collapsed Length: 13.86 in
Extended Length: 23.94 in

OME Nitrocharger Sport 60091
Collapsed Length: 14.17
Extended Length: 23.58

REAR TRD FACTORY SHOCK
Monotube Shock Absorber
Series: 4600 Series;
Collapsed Length: 13.98 in / 355 mm
Extended Length: 22.94 in / 582.7 mm
Travel: 8.96in

 

Yeah it all depends on spring pack thickness. If you have a thick spring (like an all pro back) where the axle mounts far away from the top most spring, you can get away with running a longer compressed length shock.

That is why i always recommend getting the spring setup you wish, then go out and flex the truck to bump, and measure a maximum of collapsed length then subtract a bit for bump stop compression and margin of safety and you get the collapsed length you need.

Those parabolics without the spacers look right around as thick as a stock spring pack so a collapsed length of ~ 14in would sound about right.

 

Yeah, you guys are right (@Glenn_R ). We're not saying "you can't run with a shackle flip", but there would be no warranty with them if you did that.
I've had instances in the past of people buying leaf springs for stock configuration on Jeeps, then going spring over and bending those puppies all kinds of silly then asking for warranties and replacements. We just have to cover our backs.

We just definitely don't want to invite any negative arching, since that's the main killer with leaf springs and slowly reducing their lift height and stressing them out. Parabolic springs will act differently than a standard spring, since most of the leaves are full length and come in to support the main leaf through the whole length. To be honest, I'm not sure if these things could even go beyond flat due to the amount of spring and thickness involved. We will find out once we finally get them here and have some of you guys give us some real American testing.

The spacers are to make them more versatile, allowing for 2-3" of lift with one spring part number. You could take those spacers off, but you'd probably need to source a new shorter center pin, since it would be sticking up pretty far.

 

Hmm, may need new leafs.. Any thoughts on what happened here? That's a set of Toyota 3+1 (new frame springs) with the 3rd leaf swapped for a Chevy leaf and the wheelers 3 leaf aal. Don't mind the brake job.

 

I have not ruled the parabolics out, but will wait until someone can get me measurements. Need to make sure I can get the springs to work with my reversed shackles and can get 10" of travel out of them.
For now I will use an add a leaf until I can figure out the leaf pack I want.

Edit: Buying suspension parts without measurements just doesn't work for me. Would you buy a shock, shackle, bump stop, or U bolts without knowing the dimensions.

 

jezus... that AAL bent that chevy spring all to hell!

Also.... you got the bottom of your shock in backwards. spin it 180 so the dirt shield is on the front side of the shock!

 

AAL is NOT LONG ENOUGH for the amount of support that it provides.