Dobinsons suspension kit- good for my use case??

Hi all,

I have purchased a Kimbo Camper and will be picking it up later this spring.
My truck is a 2013 TRD Sport DCLB 4x4.
I had already decided to get Firestone Ride Rite Airbags along with Daystar cradles.
With the weight of the Kimbo in mind, and with the Kimbo being on the truck like 90% of the time, I also thought it would be a good idea to upgrade the entire suspension system to handle the load.
I mostly drive Forest Roads and rough dirt roads to get to camping spots. No hard wheeling or anything like that.

The outfitter that I am working with recommended this Dobinson suspension kit (they said its good for long beds as well)...

https://dobinsonusa.com/products/do...a-4x4-double-cab-short-bed-dsskit20-dsskit20/

They recommended that we build it out with a 2" lift in mind using the L59-112R leaf springs, C59-314B coils, nitrogen gas shocks/struts etc.

Wanted to get some thoughts on this specific Dobinsons suspension kit setup.
Think this is Dobinsons kit is a good fit for the Kimbo along with airbags and cradles??

Thanks so much!!

 

That would work pretty well, especially with the bags and cradles. How heavy is the camper?

 

Thanks so much for your reply!! Really appreciate it.

The Kimbo with how I optioned it will be somewhere around 1000-1100 pounds.

The outfitter that I am working with is a 4 wheel camper dealer and this suspension setup is what they use for those campers which are a little bit heavier than the Kimbo is.

 

I also asked them if I needed different upper control arms or extended brake lines. They said no to both since I am running 265/70/17 tires and don't plan on going with bigger tires. Think that sounds right??

 

Da

Damn! An I thought my 340lb super pacific was heavy. I will say I just did a full/empty weigh at a weigh station and I am hauling 400+lbs of gear not including the camper. It adds up fast, 2 ecoflow batteries 9 gallons of water bag of dog food diesel heater gallons of fuel plus tons of little stuff. So if you are planning now think about everything you plan on carrying

 

You are absolutely right that the weight adds up quickly.
That weight number that I gave above includes two batteries, Dickinson furnace, 30lbs propane, solar, fridge, everything built into the camper etc.
Thankfully once I remove the camper jacks that will shave about 150 pounds off the weight estimate.
That will help a lot.
So I will probably have a trip weight of more like 900 pounds (not including water, food, me etc)

 

OK, yes that's correct.

We also sell that suspension and have a lot of options to consider, including the airbags as well.
https://exitoffroad.com/product/dob...-kit-for-2005-to-2023-tacoma-4x4-double-cabs/

https://exitoffroad.com/product/toyota-tacoma-firestone-airbag-and-cradle-bundle/

 

You're going to need extra fuel too, I seen one kimbo while driving around and that thing is big on a taco. My super pacific puts me at 16-17mpg. I don't want to imagine what you are going to be at

 

We have that covered too!

https://exitoffroad.com/product/toyota-tacoma-long-range-replacement-fuel-tank-32gal/

Hard to build and travel with a remote rig if you have to keep stopping to add gas

 

I have the same truck. Love my Dobinsons. I want to build a slide-in camper so bad.

 

Love that the trailer matches the truck

 

It was a fun project that I wish I had finished. It ended up at a new home as I decided to go a different route. I even had Dobinsons leafs on it

 

I'm going to suggest Deavers U402 Stage 3 if the camper is going to be on the truck 90% of the time I'm running OEM control arms, Bilstein 5160s in the rear, and in the below image Icon standard travel coilover with 650 pound springs. I'm currently running Bilstein 6112s up front with 650 pound springs. I was not looking for much lift, so it worked out great. With the Deavers, you shouldn't need air bags at all.

 

If i'm not towing, and driving 55-60 I get around 13.5mpg. If I'm towing my car trailer with SxS and Utility ATV and driving 85mph I get around 6mpg, but that increases to 8-9 if doing 60-65. Only once was I ever worried about fuel, and that was crossing the Great Basin in Nevada. Something like 134 miles to next service station. It was no issue when driving 60. My truck does have 4.56 gears with 265/75r16 E loads. This allows me to use 5th gear when cruising on flat ground.

 

Might check out this thread for build ideas. Also note that he had a failure on the front mounts for the bed that had to be repaired, so may want to consider beefing that up a little.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/driving-a-tacoma-around-the-world.585792/

 

Thanks so much everyone for all of your replies, thoughts, and ideas.
This is all super helpful and very informative.
I am learning a lot.
Will reply to posts in turn

 

I have checked out your site in the past and liked what I saw.
We are just very far away from each other.
Unfortunately, due to a lack of workspace, tools, and general knowledge of how to install all of this, I needed to work with a local outfitter who could do the installation as well

 

From everything I have read and learned from the big Kimbo thread, I expect to get roughly 13mpg on the highway going no faster than 60.
It will certainly be a thirsty truck.
I will have 4 gallons of fuel (in two 2 gallon RotoPax) mounted to the back of the Kimbo for emergency fuel.

 

Nice!! Love seeing a real world example of how the truck will look.
Looks like you had a pretty heavy load in that second picture, and the truck wasn't squatting very much.
Very good to see

 

I have been following your build for a long time.
The Scout was in strong consideration when I was deciding what to buy.
The suspension setup that you mentioned is top notch... but my depleted wallet doesn't like it very much haha