Dobinson suspension corrosion after 3 years. Is this normal?

[2001LX470KEN]

Hey all. I don’t post much but I thought I’d add my experience with Dobinson suspension in my LX470. I installed the kit around 3 years ago. After the first year I noticed a lot of corrosion. I live in California so I thought it was weird since it doesn’t snow here and I live a. I called Dobinson and was told that it’s normal for that to happen and there’s nothing that they can do. A quick google showed me that I wasn’t the only one experiencing premature corrosion with Dobinson suspension components. Anyway, I’ll let the pics do the talking. I’m in the process of replacing rusted parts with other brands.

 

[delz05]

WOW!!! That is a poor quality finish... I hope my Eibachs hold out longer....

 

[NE Snowman]

Same happened with the dobinson stuff on my 4R.

 

[Kabanstva]

Are you parking your truck in the ocean by any chance? WTF? It’s not just the coils I see you got rust EVERYWHERE. Come on man it’s ih8mud. You should know better than this. Why is that 100 series dry as a bone and not dripping with Fluid Film. shame on you.

 

[2001LX470KEN]

Are you parking your truck in the ocean by any chance? WTF? It’s not just the coils I see you got rust EVERYWHERE. Come on man it’s ih8mud. You should know better than this. Why is that 100 series dry as a bone and not dripping with Fluid Film. shame on you.

Rust everywhere? Show me where?

 

[jaewastooshort]

are you planning on replacing UCAs as well, or just the coils? (asking because I'm looking for UCA's myself before I do the AHC lift, but not ready to spend the money on new ones just yet)

with the coils it's frustrating, but looks like it might be an issue with their powder coat just not being flexible enough to fully resist cracking under normal spring cycling (with the way it's cracked all the way around the ID on the coil). get a little moisture in through one crack and the surface corrosion just spreads under the powder.

 

[Kabanstva]

Rust everywhere? Show me where?

Post more pics and I’ll show you. I’ll circle every bit of rust I’ll see. I’m sure there’s a ton. What happened to your Dobinsons is NOT isolated rust. I guarantee it. Look at your soft brake line coming off the front driver side, metal bit is straight rust. That’s seen salt spray without a doubt.

 

[OwnerCS]

These Dobinsons springs are now 5 years old. They stay covered in mud. Arkansas climate. I'm cleaning them up as part of a rear differential swap. There is some wear on the tails where they make contact with the perches.

 

[Live to Ski]

to this untrained (but degreed) engineer mind...doubt if the pealing (rust) coils affect performance.

 

[OwnerCS]

If I had them I could make them look like new by soaking in a 50/50 Muriatic acid bath. Then using some VHT spring paint and following the curing cycle process.

This was a rusty exhaust manifold going through the restoration process. That was over 6 years ago.

 

[2001LX470KEN]

are you planning on replacing UCAs as well, or just the coils? (asking because I'm looking for UCA's myself before I do the AHC lift, but not ready to spend the money on new ones just yet)

with the coils it's frustrating, but looks like it might be an issue with their powder coat just not being flexible enough to fully resist cracking under normal spring cycling (with the way it's cracked all the way around the ID on the coil). get a little moisture in through one crack and the surface corrosion just spreads under the powder.

Thanks for the input. I'm going to stick with these UCA's until I can get around to replacing them. If it happens soon I'll reach out to you.

Post more pics and I’ll show you. I’ll circle every bit of rust I’ll see. I’m sure there’s a ton. What happened to your Dobinsons is NOT isolated rust. I guarantee it. Look at your soft brake line coming off the front driver side, metal bit is straight rust. That’s seen salt spray without a doubt.

Wow you sound angry. Here's a pic. Go to town circling bud.

I think you're missing the point. The rust on my rig was accumulated over 24 years of being on the road. The rust on the suspension parts happened over the last 3 years.

These Dobinsons springs are now 5 years old. They stay covered in mud. Arkansas climate. I'm cleaning them up as part of a rear differential swap. There is some wear on the tails where they make contact with the perches.



View attachment 3890646

Thanks for the input. Yours look clean. I'm wondering if mine were affected by supply chain issues during the pandemic. I remember having to wait longer because of that when I was purchasing them. I had a Toytec lift on a Tacoma and the front coil springs were clean up until I sold that truck. They were on there for around 7 years. Parked in the same location as my 470.

If I had them I could make them look like new by soaking in a 50/50 Muriatic acid bath. Then using some VHT spring paint and following the curing cycle process.

This was a rusty exhaust manifold going through the restoration process. That was over 6 years ago.

View attachment 3890699

View attachment 3890701

That looks great. Thanks for the pics. I already installed a set of OME 2863J's. I was planning on selling the Dobinson's locally for cheap. I'll send you a DM for pricing and location incase that person is interested.

to this untrained (but degreed) engineer mind...doubt if the pealing (rust) coils affect performance.

That's good to hear. I replaced them with an OME spring rated for a slightly heavier load (I have a BIO swing out bumper that I installed recently). I was planning on selling the Dobinson's for really cheap.

 

[ScotyDosentKnow]

Thats wild, I would be pretty unhappy with that. I have Ironman FCP suspension on my 100 and it still looks new. I live in Seattle area so its wet all of the time. We also head over the pass a lot for skiing and hunting/fishing and its been to Bonneville Salt Flats twice lol

 

[mdcoa]

Well, heck—I read this at the kids’ soccer practice and had to go crawl under our 04 to see how ours are holding up. Looking good after 6 years and 60k miles, including two Pittsburgh winters so far…

 

[Mike NXP]

I wouldn't blame Dobinsons in any way here, BUT it does seem like their products have some varying degrees of quality when it comes to the finishing paint / powder coat / whatever it is....Curious to see how the OME your replaced them with hold up. ARB seems to have a much higher quality of finishing, my front ARB has held up a lot better than my rear BIO

Mine are also flaking a bit and will probably look like yours soon.. They also put my rig a lot higher than I expected and it takes a lot of weight to get them back down

 

[2001LX470KEN]

Well, heck—I read this at the kids’ soccer practice and had to go crawl under our 04 to see how ours are holding up. Looking good after 6 years and 60k miles, including two Pittsburgh winters so far…

View attachment 3891094

I wouldn't blame Dobinsons in any way here, BUT it does seem like their products have some varying degrees of quality when it comes to the finishing paint / powder coat / whatever it is....Curious to see how the OME your replaced them with hold up. ARB seems to have a much higher quality of finishing, my front ARB has held up a lot better than my rear BIO

Mine are also flaking a bit and will probably look like yours soon.. They also put my rig a lot higher than I expected and it takes a lot of weight to get them back down

Yeah maybe I was unlucky. It seems like older Dobinson components have faired better from this thread with only one other person saying that they had a similar experience to mine.

I remember Dobinson saying they were having production issues (like a lot of other companies during the pandemic) that were delaying their orders. Maybe that affected the quality? Anyway, I had a set of Toytec coil overs on a 2003 Tacoma that were still in great shape after 7 years. Parked and wheeled in the same conditions so who knows?

 

[Kabanstva]

that undercarriage is actually very clean. My theory was you went through a few winters and this happened but to me that’s just unacceptable. I do expect all undercarriage parts to get lightly chipped and pitted from off-road use, especially if you’re driving fast on gravel roads etc but that doesn’t look to be the case here. That looks similar to a part that was submerged in a chemical and salt solution and experienced complete paint/powdercoat failure.

Does Dobinsons warranty stuff like this? Try messaging or calling Mike at @exitoffroad and get his thoughts on this. I could live with the rust on the UCAs even though that looks pretty bad too but the coils are not acceptable.

 

[Kabanstva]

The funny part is, with all the rust buckets driving around chicago, the coils/springs are almost always the last thing to rust. I’ve seen dozens of 100s and other Toyota SUVs completely rusted out but the original Toyota coils still in good shape with little to no rust.

 

[Kabanstva]

Here’s a good example. 30 Chicago winters does this to a 95 Land Cruiser. Frame rotted, pretty much everything rusted. BUT notice the stock coils are still in great shape showing little to no rust. I wish Toyota uses this same paint on everything, not just the springs.

Don’t call Dobinsons, Call Mike at Exit Offroad, that guy is great to deal with. He sells all these suspension kits to guys on Mud.

 

[jaewastooshort]

ugh, reminding me that I still need to purchase one of those needle de-scaler tools and get to work on cleaning up my frame and undercarriage before the rust gets any worse. I'm not sure where mine was prior to purchasing (I recall seeing something in service records that indicated Utah at some point), but it's definitely in the mid-range of what I see around here in terms of rust. Not as bad as that pic above, but could definitely get there in 5 years if nothing is done to correct or slow it.

 

[2000UZJ]

My Dobsinson rear control arms aren't fairing to well. I live in GA, no salt, and have put about 5K on them since installing (about 18 months).

Not thrilled about it, but w/e