Dobinsons shock adjustments - help (1 Viewer)

[concretejungle]

I just installed a set of the dobinsons adjustable remote reservoir shocks. I kept my slee 4inch springs. I installed them and set the adjustments to what they recommend for a "accessorized and weighted" truck.

Excuse the ignorant questions but maybe they will help others.

There are three adjustments, rebound, slow compression and fast compression. After my first test drive I noticed the back almost bouncing a few times after hitting speed bumps. So I dialed up the slow compression two clicks and fast compression one click. That helped; but it still feels a little rolly if that makes sense.

Can you all help me understand what I'm adjusting? I am assuming that slow compression is more for slow speed bumps, rock crawling with body roll while high speed compression is more for highway and road driving? is that correct?

what about rebound? I have not messed with that setting yet.

on another note I'm really glad I went ahead and addressed this. I had no idea just how worn out my suspension was. My OME shocks were toast! One had oil leaking out of it, another was completely gone, both of my front swaybar bolts were sheered off and gone!

 

[Shipwreck]

High speed and low speed compression have little to do with the speed of your truck. High speed and low speed adjusts the speed at which the shock travels through it's available range.
You can be racing down the freeway, but you are still in low speed compression zone because there is very little movement of the shock. If you are driving down the street and hit a speed bump, that wound be considered a high speed compression event. Rebound controls how fast the shock returns to it's neutral position.
In your speed bump situation, I would reduce your high speed compression so that the shock does not resist that fast compression, allowing the suspension to absorb the hit instead of bouncing. You then may want to increase rebound so that the shock returns the suspension back to normal before the entire truck bottoms out coming down the backside of the bump.
Low speed settings will help control wallowing in corners or diving during braking as well as squatting during acceleration and climbs.
Search mountain bike websites. Shock settings are really important for downhill and cross country riding and the concepts are well described.

 

[Brav]

I have the high speed set pretty low. Low speed set pretty high.. a few clicks away from max. I set rebound to max. This made the biggest difference after one year of f-ing around with settings. I have full armor, winch, sliders, and 100 lbs of crap. They come way too soft for normal use. Now I am happy with it, on and off road.

 

[concretejungle]

Thanks I'll give that a try. Right now the rear feels a little springy

 

[Shoredreamer]

All good info above. I’ll add that the adjustments do work and make a difference. On the rear of mine I have rebound about 6 clicks away from full slow (clockwise) and a lot of high speed compression damping (7 clicks out from full clockwise). Playing around with the adjustments helps find what works for you. I love these shocks because of their ability to control on road sway and lean thanks to the low speed compression adjustment.

 

[concretejungle]

I have been messing around with them. I can already tell a big difference from the worn out OME shocks. I just wanted to better understand what the adjustments were targeting.