Dobinsons vs Ultimate Suspension ???

[salt36]

Also the Ultimate guys go out of their way to provide pointers here and there on the forum when people get themselves into a bit of grief. If they'll do that for non customers I imagine their service for paying customers must be top notch. Plenty of converts like Daryn about the place too.

You said it Dave I can vouch for top notch service an email sent and phone call first thing in the morning...
" Craig what do we need to do"

Can't beat service like that

The Ultimate Suspension is really the ultimate

[QueenslandeR]

Brendan from ultimate has been very helpfull with answering my 1000 questions about my suspension. More than happy with the ride of my ute since putting it in... guess thats why its the ULTIMATE

[bboughton]

QueenslandeR, I noticed you are in Toowoomba. Where did you get your Ultimate Suspension fitted? Locally? Do you mind if I ask how much it was?

[QueenslandeR]

Got it fitted by my local mechanic, did me mates rates and cost $130 to fit . Im pretty sure that local suspension places would be a fair bit more, and they aren't even certified mechanics.

[snowman]

Well after driving with Ultimate front struts VS the Dobinson i will say the Ultimate are definately a better ride.

The best way to describe it is after one of those big speedhumps the front comes back up and stays. The dobbies had a very slight second drop. Not much but enought to feel. There isn't much in it though, but it is noticable.

The front feels better and i guess it is due to higher damping rates (?). I have the heavier Dobinson front coils and from memory when i bought mine, Martin at Dobinson had just started supplying the heavier front coils due to some sagging and maybe the front struts needed a slight increase in damping rates to manage the stronger coil.

In any case the suspension upgrade is magic and i would not hesitate to recommend it to anyone. It makes the car MUCH nicer to drive.

[Steane]

What I am noticing with the Ultimate suspension is that it gets even better as you clock up some miles.

I've done about 1000kms since having mine fitted, and the ride quality is noticeably better than what the stock springs offered, and improving with each drive. I didn't want a harsher ride, and Brendan has delivered the goods.

So a nice ride, and the diving, pitching and wallowing have all been banished.

Awesome suspension

[CairnsGSE]

Am I missing something here . have you fellas checked your upper bump stops . I did get dobbys fitted on the MN and sure you get the lift but the overall suspension travel is still the same just the ride height is of course higher . Me , I recon about 25mm is about it for a triton ,good range for compression and rebound and so far 30k with dobbys and rancho's I can keep up with the patrols

[fridgie]

will get to check out the ultimate kit tomorrow on the drive home, cant wait to see the difference from all the reports i've read

[daryn]

Am I missing something here . have you fellas checked your upper bump stops . I did get dobbys fitted on the MN and sure you get the lift but the overall suspension travel is still the same just the ride height is of course higher . Me , I recon about 25mm is about it for a triton ,good range for compression and rebound and so far 30k with dobbys and rancho's I can keep up with the patrols

Front travel yes, but as longer leafs have been put in the rear it gets more articulation/travel.

[scubapro]

Guys don't forget the access you have to servicing.

Ultimate are very accessible & their shocks are rebuildable. Most other shocks are throw away items & Ultimate can tailor your suspension to suit your needs, not just off the shelf items.

I was probably the first Triton that Ultimate did at their old premises in Minto & since then my needs changed, eg added bullbar winch etc. Took it back to Ultimate & they changed things around to suit at a very reasonable cost.

They are very good at what they do.

[fitz]

As per my update on the Suspension Heights, the Dobinson coils are doing very well. One thing to note is that I am using Bilstein shocks. The road handling with Bilsteins is second to none.

Without going down a long and winding path and not having used Ultimate, Dobbie coils and Bilstein shocks are a very good combination.

Get a good mechanic who knows Tritons and it helps!

[4wd26]

The above is the setup I run as well, Had the Billies since new- over 50k now, and swaped in the Dobinson coils (replaced ridepro didn't quite provide the lift I was after) that have now done over 30k, without problems or more than 5mm of sag.

Having never driven my triton with standard suspension I have no baseline- so will be interesting to drive someones truck with the ultimate kit sometime.

[Cowboy Dave]

Guys don't forget the access you have to servicing.

Ultimate are very accessible & their shocks are rebuildable. Most other shocks are throw away items & Ultimate can tailor your suspension to suit your needs, not just off the shelf items.

I was probably the first Triton that Ultimate did at their old premises in Minto & since then my needs changed, eg added bullbar winch etc. Took it back to Ultimate & they changed things around to suit at a very reasonable cost.

They are very good at what they do.

Saw your truck down there today mate, looked like a deadset weapon!

[Cowboy Dave]

I can't take either side in this thread as I am in the unusual position of having Dobinson springs fitted by Ultimate. Brendan assures me they're a quality spring used here only because Ultimate's springs would have put me over my target height.

[scubapro]

Cowboy when were you there? You should have contacted me I would have told them to let you have a spin in it to check out the Steinbauer.

The same offer goes for anyone else considering fitting a Chip in the Sydney area.

Had my ute back to Ultimate this week to have the front end checked out. I had overloaded the original suspension by adding too much weight on the front end compoared to my original needs.

Ultimate rebuilt one shock & completely redid the front end. All I was charged was for labor as they said the goods were still under warranty.

They also installed the Castor Bushes that were specially ordered for the Tritons. The ute now performs flawlessly. Rock solid & smooth steering on the Freeway/Highway & more responsive on the little dirt stuff I tried it out on.

I was informed by Ken that the Castor Bushes now had my suspension all in the correct specifications, with more room to spare for future adjustment if required.

So it looks like we Triton owners can now finally get our utes running properly at last. I do not know how long Ultimate will take to release this product but maybe if you guys are interested, give them a call.

All I can say is when comparing suspension for your needs compare apples with apples, consider our Aussie products, they have the knowledge & experience with our conditions.

Ultimate have certainly proved that they know their stuff. Now lets see what else can I get, 2" smart lift

[Cowboy Dave]

Was there on Monday. Didn't see yours til mine was nearly ready. Had a bit of a sticky beak - looks very much ready for work, much more hardcore than my thing with all its shiny bling. I thought yours looked really tall until I started looking at mine and realised it was pretty bloody tall now too

The last thing I want is to be tempted by the Steinbauer. Must focus on other things, must not spend more $ on truck, walk away, walk away....

[scubapro]

It's shiny because I keep it clean

[salt36]

What I am noticing with the Ultimate suspension is that it gets even better as you clock up some miles.

I've done about 1000kms since having mine fitted, and the ride quality is noticeably better than what the stock springs offered, and improving with each drive. I didn't want a harsher ride, and Brendan has delivered the goods.

So a nice ride, and the diving, pitching and wallowing have all been banished.

Awesome suspension

Totally agree, I have done about 3000 ks since ultimate suspension fitted and it has settled in nicely.
Havent fitted my bullbar yet so the front is a touch firm but havent felt a bump through the seat yet......
I did put a little grease on the pads between the rear spring leaves which helps. Also I run around with an empty ute to and from work.
Handling and driveability over rough, corrigated, potholed, wet , mud, bitumen has all improved dramatically ( I encounter all these types of roads daily )

Absolutely Awesome

[mirkoculic]

Hi All,

Sorry if this question has already been asked, but could anybody tell me the difference between the above two setups. Pros and Cons and any additional equipment. If anyone is using any of these set ups your feedback and any recommendations would be very much appreciated. I have a 2014 MN Triton AUTO GLXR.

Regards.

Mick

[mickkk]

For after sales service, and before sales service for that matter you couldn't go past ultimate. My truck is very heavy, especially with the boat on the back. I do not do a huge amount of full flex type tracks, but do thousands of kms of crap corrugated with washouts, pot holes etc. Not to mention getting slightly airborn trying to flog my truck up big red whilst weighing 3.2 ton . Hasn't fallen apart yet (triton or suspension)
In almost 18 months.


Don't have any direct experience with billies or dobinsons so can't really comment. But I know in my case I was better to go with ultimate as they countimise the set up a bit more then most, so I was able to get gear to suit my truck, rather than trying to match my truck to what they sell.

[mirkoculic]

Thanks for the reply and for your feedback. By all accounts the lads at Ultimate do a great job and there are alot of happy customer (campers) which is good to see. I look forward to talking to the team at Ultimate to see what sort of set up they can do for my car and what the cost is going to be.

From all the previous comments ultimate is the way to go. I just wanted some feedback on the two products as these are the two that most of my collegues have been recommending.

Thanks

Mick.

[NowForThe5th]

Firstly, welcome to the forum, Mick.

We encourage new members to search the forum for information, especially on common topics like suspension and a quick search has turned up this thread, where I've merged yours. For feedback on Bilsteins, have a look here.

[mirkoculic]

Thanks for the welcome,

My apologies if i an doubling up previous threads. I am trying to figure out how this still works. Thanks for the information and merging my post to this area.

The forum is a great place and i look forward in making future contributions.

Regards.

Mick

[fridgie]

Welcome mate, bookmark the forum directory in your Web browser

Great place to start when you have questions... Links to most topics sorted alphabetically, makes things very easy to find.

You will get a LOT of praise for ultimate here, with good reason. They have a very good product, but it's the before/during/after sales service that sets them apart.

Quite a few are very happy with the dobby's, not many complaints, but I do know a few guys who swapped it out for ultimate and prefer it.

[Longranger1]

Like a lot of suspension suppliers the shock absorbers are often of Chinese origin and are what I call 'ok' quality. That is, it does the job but certainly isn't a high end product. It depends on what you want to spend I guess. I found the Ultimate shocks gave a reasonable ride but were a bit mushy and underdamped on rebound, everything is a compromise.
One of the seals let go on the front struts after 30000km. Others may have had better luck. The rest are still hanging in there so it may have been a one off. Hopefully they have improved the lower strut bushings as mine were very ordinary.... showing a lot of sag in less than a year. Their springs are good, probably the best around for the Triton.

Good luck with your selection.