New Dobinsons VT series dual rate coils

[LC4LIFE]

omg, i might buy a pair just to rid myself of the noise. i am fairly light so my coils dont touch and when i hit even the slightest bumps i sound like a 94 ford explorer with the slaps and squeaks. its not the end of the world and you dont notice it unless below 5mph but holy crap does my truck sound like junk.

These coils do not appear to be tapered but maybe a different version of the flexi coil.

Speaking on the front coil, looks to be about 12 winds at a steady 16.6mm coil based on @on the rocks specs, so less winds with a thicker overall coil at the same free height to the old tapered coils.

Oddly enough comparing them to the 4” flexi in specs they are similar in diameter and turns but with ~1.5” taller free height. That taller height should increase the spring rate a bit for us heavier trucks.

If they give the same or <.5” lift as the old 144s I’d be interesting in swapping. I have ran 3” flexis and now on 3.5” vts and felt like the flexis give a more noticeable rate change when driving which add comfort on small bumps but can ramp up as you go deeper into the travel. The tapered coils essentially felt like a single rate stiffer coil with an expanding coil spacer to contain the coil on extension. I have always wished for a front “HD” flexi coil. I would def keep it teal too!

The noise was one of the complaints towards the old tapered springs and this new spring is intended to solve that while having the same weight carrying ability. Dobinson's had a couple of goals with the new spring. Price, production time, and performance were the primary objectives. The old tapered was both more expensive and took longer to produce but performance was easy to keep. The new spring has the same free height and same rate as the tapereds, but as you can see they are not the same type of coil. I have questions that still remain too, so as we get more answers and have the springs in front of us we will share it all. We have three rigs the will be swapping. One from 4" flexi's, one from 2.5" constant rate, and one on original tapereds, and all are moving to this new coil so our baseline reference/measurements should be pretty good. In a simple sense, I am thinking of it like the following. Heavier rigs = the new VT spring, lighter rigs = existing flexi's.

More to come for sure.

 

[baldilocks]

My tapered coils haven’t made a sound since the day I installed them 4 years ago at the OHV park in CA and drove around like a mad man. I remember reporting some noise in my comments but honestly haven’t heard them since. Perhaps Dobinson should recall the old model and replace them with the new.

I’m on he verge of going back to my Slee heavy progressive coils in the rear anyway because the green 3” tapered’s are noticeably less capable of carrying weight and resisting sway.

 

[baldilocks]

All the pictures above are Flexi coils but the box has the Tapered coils part number. Am confused.

I just replaced my Flexi coils with Tapered coils and the difference is exactly what I was looking for. Unlike @Shoredreamer I thought the Flexi coils had a more linear spring feel and that the Tapered coils have a soft initial bump followed by rapid ramp up. The main reasons I changed from Flexi to Tapered was for the weight handling and bottom out resistance.

4" Flexi left with 3" Tapered right
View attachment 2677453

Yes. The tapered coil is a triple rate spring. We ride around on the middle rate; that turn of the coil where it transitions from 13 to 18mm for the fronts.

 

[cvenom96]

The 144s and 145s are what I ordered for my truck. Naturally they arrived the day I flew out of town for 3 weeks but I'll post pics once I get back and install them.

 

[Feldrian]

My 144s and 145s arrived a couple of days ago. I originally thought I had a mislabeled set of springs, since they were clearly not tapered. I'm not on board with this being an upgrade since I ordered tapered springs which @baldilocks righly points out are tri-rate. What I've received are dual rate progressive.

I'm pretty pissed off that I've received a product that doesn't match what I ordered.

 

[ExpoMax]

My 144s and 145s arrived a couple of days ago. I originally thought I had a mislabeled set of springs, since they were clearly not tapered. I'm not on board with this being an upgrade since I ordered tapered springs which @baldilocks righly points out are tri-rate. What I've received are dual rate progressive.

I'm pretty pissed off that I've received a product that doesn't match what I ordered.

I would reaching out to the vendor you ordered from and maybe they can work something out with you. Huddexpo is relaying the information as we get it. We will do everything we can to help out, just unfortunately there's not a whole lot we can do. Rightfully so, it is frustrating ordering one thing and receiving another.

- Sent PM to try and help any way we can

 

[Feldrian]

I would recommend reaching out to the vendor you ordered from and maybe they can work something out with you. Huddexpo is relaying the information as we get it. Rightfully so, it is frustrating ordering one thing and receiving another

- Sent PM to try and help any way we can

I'm in contact with my vendor, though I'm doubtful what ever resolution we reach will result in a set of tapered Dobinsons springs arriving on my door step. To be clear, my frustration is with the manufacturer changing specification and not telling their customers, not with my vendor.

When I checked the Dobinsons site right after my products arrived over the weekend, the pictures still showed a clearly tapered spring. Looking again today it appears the Dobinsons site has been updated to show the revised model. As a customer that's a pretty crappy experience and doesn't fill me with confidence ordering from Dobinsons in the future.

 

[baldilocks]

My 144s and 145s arrived a couple of days ago. I originally thought I had a mislabeled set of springs, since they were clearly not tapered. I'm not on board with this being an upgrade since I ordered tapered springs which @baldilocks righly points out are tri-rate. What I've received are dual rate progressive.

I'm pretty pissed off that I've received a product that doesn't match what I ordered.

What they did to suit themselves is being pitched as a fix for a problem that only exists in a small segment of users who have obviously been loud. I like my springs. The rears are not as HD as my Slee"s which are currently collecting dust, but that's not on Dobinson. These springs do as advertised. Call David Otero and work it out, he is a good guy.

 

[Feldrian]

What they did to suit themselves is being pitched as a fix for a problem that only exists in small segment of users who have obviously been loud. I like my springs. the rears are not as HD as my Slee"s<which are currently collecting dust, but that's not on Dobinson. These springs do as advertised. Call David Otero and work it out, he is a good guy.

What was the supposed problem? Noise? I didn't even factor that in to my decision since it can be solved for $10.

 

[baldilocks]

What was the supposed problem? Noise? I didn't even factor that in to my decision since it can be solved for $10.

That's what was explained in this thread; noise. Mine did make noise during the shakedown performance which was fast and furious but have been silent ever since. I think shocks may have something to do with it.

 

[on the rocks]

Got the front's in. Thinking it needs to settle yet as I'm seeing a bit over 5" of lift on the ground. In a bit of a holding pattern until I get my steering box back and the front together, Full extension with the MRR 6" and no issue of these ever coming out, especially with the radius arm setup. Need to get my replacement Delta bumper on and winch and hope to see it settle more. Target was 4"-4.5" and seeing well over that. Tried to compress and couldn't even get it close to tire stuff or shock compression. Crappy old OME rear shocks and no rear SB is keeping it from compression up front. Even with a heavy duty ratchet strap up front helping lol. Couldn't get to the high lift on the back. Rear still sitting at about 3.5"lift.

 

[Feldrian]

Got the front's in. Thinking it needs to settle yet as I'm seeing a bit over 5" of lift on the ground. In a bit of a holding pattern until I get my steering box back and the front together, Full extension with the MRR 6" and no issue of these ever coming out, especially with the radius arm setup. Need to get my replacement Delta bumper on and winch and hope to see it settle more. Target was 4"-4.5" and seeing well over that. Tried to compress and couldn't even get it close to tire stuff or shock compression. Crappy old OME rear shocks and no rear SB is keeping it from compression up front. Even with a heavy duty ratchet strap up front helping lol. Couldn't get to the high lift on the back. Rear still sitting at about 3.5"lift.

Man, I hope you're right on the settling. The reason I avoided Flexi Coils in the first place was numerous reports of more lift than anticipated (4" springs netting 6" of lift, etc).

I have 3" Icon RRs front and rear. Hoping I don't end up with too much spring and not have enough shock.

Super clean truck, BTW

 

[GW Nugget]

Very interesting indeed.
Wonder if they are engineered not stack like the Icon coils do.
That would stop the slapping sound that was never a issue for me anyways.

 

[on the rocks]

Man, I hope you're right on the settling. The reason I avoided Flexi Coils in the first place was numerous reports of more lift than anticipated (4" springs netting 6" of lift, etc).

I have 3" Icon RRs front and rear. Hoping I don't end up with too much spring and not have enough shock.

Super clean truck, BTW

thanks, long ways to go! Mud has come a long ways in 10 years. you guys are all killing it so inspiring me to get off the ass and get this thing moving along.
I got steered here from the Slinky due to supply issues and thinking maybe the 2"/2.5" combo may be the way? Still have the Delta full guard and winch so fingers crossed. Body lift is totally out as of now to fit the 37's.

Very interesting indeed.
Wonder if they are engineered not stack like the Icon coils do.
That would stop the slapping sound that was never a issue for me anyways.

Wondering the same. Those gaps are full weight on the front. Front is moving up and down fairly easy so no binding. Though I saw coil rubbing issues on the gen 1 VT's and I have tons of clearance on these so far.

 

[baldilocks]

Very interesting indeed.
Wonder if they are engineered not stack like the Icon coils do.
That would stop the slapping sound that was never a issue for me anyways.

Man up and introduce dirt to springs. My answer..,

 

[lumbee1]

The more I look at this, the more I think the redesign of the VT (variable rate / tapered coils) was to create a heavy dual rate Flexicoil with space in between the coils to eliminate the noise. If I remember correctly, my Flexicoils were sitting coil on top of coil for the first few windings and I did have some mysterious ratting coming from underneath the truck. The rattling sounded more like a loose exhaust shield and not coils and the racket coming from my loose windshield muffled most of the sounds from the underside of the truck.

 

[baldilocks]

The more I look at this, the more I think the redesign of the VT (variable rate / tapered coils) was to create a heavy dual rate Flexicoil with space in between the coils to eliminate the noise. If I remember correctly, my Flexicoils were sitting coil on top of coil for the first few windings and I did have some mysterious ratting coming from underneath the truck. The rattling sounded more like a loose exhaust shield and not coils and the racket coming from my loose windshield muffled most of the sounds from the underside of the truck.

The more I think about it I know the new coil is here to make money. End of story.

 

[Feldrian]

The more I think about it I know the new coil is here to make money. End of story.

Bingo.

 

[baldilocks]

And to make me feel inferior..... how much more money can I spend on my rig?

 

[Feldrian]

And to make me feel inferior..... how much more money can I spend on my rig?

My wife asks me the same thing all the time.