New OME Dakar Leaf Pack Review

Tha is for all the quick replies, I went ahead and ordered the aluminum ones from wheelers. The wild thing is the little bit of tightness/vibration I feel in the driveline seems to be much better with weight in the bed,actually the more the better which just confirms my thoughts of it being out of line. I'll be putting a camper shell on the truck this Sunday so it will then have a good regular load on it and I can start making final adjustments to the suspension and dial it in.I may end up removing one leaf from the pack but I'm gonna wait a bit before going that route. I may very well be doing a rear bumper/swing out so I want the truck 100% before I make any major changes to adjustment because I don't want to just have to adjust them right back.

 

You guys think I’ll be ok adding a steel bumper in the back with the MD duty Dakar’s? Should’ve gone HD but didn’t think I’d be buying a bumper.

So it’ll be about 200lbs extra weight in the back.

 

HC bumper with all the fixings?

 

Swingout and such? I would definitely think you'd want HD. Especially with these new packs, which my friends and myself believe to be inferior compared to the old Dakars.

I have the HD's, and with just an empty bedrack I think they ride just fine.

 

Same for me. HDs ride great.

 

Just High clearance without the swing out or any other options.

 

I'm not sure where you're getting the 200 lbs then. My standard Pelfreybilt bumper actually weighed less than my stock bumper (with tow hitch). Regardless, my recommendation is to always get the HD pack.

 

Yeah HC are about 120lbs, added an extra 80lbs for 35” wheel/tire lol.

 

That’s what I was getting at is the stock hitch is heavy AF. If you’re just getting a basic HC then medium duty would be fine.

 

I had HDs with just a basic HC Bumper it was stiff in the rear. I swapped the HDs for regular dakars along with some other stuff rides like a dream now.

 

I'd agree that HD isn't extremely comfortable with just a couple hundred pounds on the back (cap in my situation). I'm about to throw a lot more weight on it so I'll be glad I have them then, I'd say just order HD and pop the extra leaf out before installing so it's laying around in case it's needed in the future.

 

Alternatively, that leaf is the same exact thing as the aal, so he could always order it in the future if needed.

 

This is true. I think they were sold out of HD packs when I got mine so I actually paid more and grabbed the AAL to beef the pack up before installing. Didn't realize at the time how strong those packs were lol

 

I didn’t realize the stock hitch would be so heavy. Since HC tend to have a hidden hitch I figured both hitches would just equal a relatively similar weight lol.

 

I’d say the stock hitch is 70 lbs or so. It’s beefy.

 

Stock bumper with hitch weighed 85 pounds on my garage scale.....

 

2nd gens are also a bit heavier since we have a metal bumper and 3rd has plastic

 

I'm curious what you'll think of this. I just installed Bilstein 6112 in the front on the 3rd clip and OME Dakar heavy duty springs with Bilstein 5100 in the rear. The ride quality seems good, however when I loaded the bed with 650 pounds it didn't hold the weight well and had a "W" in the springs. Even 350 pounds there's a slight "W". It maintained height, but my understanding is the springs need an arc to work properly, right? I'm working with Wheelers Offroad on a warranty claim. Is this a common problem? What do you guys think?

I'm getting a Vagabond Drifter 8ish months and after doing a bit of research it's seems those guys run Deaver Stage 3 or Alcan.

 

Extremely common with dakars. That’s just one of their “quirks”. If it maintains advertised height, then don’t worry about it.

 

Yikes! I have the same EL096R and haven’t experienced that.