Why do Fabtech coil-overs suck? I searched the archives for previous posts about coilovers, and noticed the abbreviations AAL. What does that stand for?

I am planning on a coil-over up-grade with an overall lift of 3 1/2".

What length shackle extensions should I go with?

Thanks for the help!!

 

AAL stands for add a leaf (for the rear)

 

They suck because there are considerably better products for similar amounts of money. Besides, Fabtech has crappy customer service, their product was defective when it first came to market, and it's a common POSER truck suspension Don't look like a tard when you go to the desert. If you act like one, that's on you. (not trying to be an asshole)

With that being said, yes, it will be better than stock, which isn't saying much. But not as good as these:

Try King coilovers, Donahoe coilovers, or Camburg coilovers. All are better products from real RACING companies.

Add-a-leaf is an extra leaf which is added to your existing spring pack and will increase your rear lift by 1.5-2.5, depending on which one you get. If you haul stuff, I'd go with the AAL instead of the shackles. When you raise the rear end, you will need longer shocks.

In a perfect world, you would get some new rear leaf springs made by Deaver. They make a pre-runner pack, just for your application.

If you have any $$$ questions, try www.demello-offroad.com or camburg.com. Jason Demello is in Santa Ana and can do installs for a great price.

 

Right on CalamariDog,

Thanks for the plethora of info.

You must be involved in the industry to pass on such a wealth of advice.

I was not aware that other brands existed until I did a search here.

Down here in San Diego, all I see are FabTech's.

There are also lifted trucks that you can tell will never see dirt, and they are usually the guys running Fabtech stuff. My truck is used, so I definitely want something that is going to work.

Thanks again.

Ritchie

 

I run Fabtechs on my Tacoma, and you can can ask anyone that wheels with me, my truck is not afraid of the rough stuff. I have never had a problem with the products or the customer service. What the other guy said is partly true, there are other companies out there like King and Donahoe that have better products, but they are also WAY more expensive. My complete lift from Fabtech was about $750, whereas King coilovers alone will run around $900 and Donahoes are slightly more. Fabtech also just introduced there new Dirt Logic coilovers which resolved many of the issues people were having with the previous coilover style. I say it's worth checking them out.

 

What lift increment do you have?

Originally, I wanted to go with FabTech because of the 3 1/2" lift.

I am happy to hear of the changes made to any issues they might have had with their previous product.

How much did you pay for your coil-overs?

Thanks for the input.

 

As with any coilover suspension lift on a vehicle that has auto-lock hubs, the most lift they recommend you do is 2 1/2", but if you go over that it's up to you. I have mine at about 3", just short of the CV boot fins touching. I've been running my truck with that lift for about 2 1/2 years now with no problems.
As I said before, my whole lift kit was about $750, and I installed it myself (it's very easy and not worth paying someone else to do it). I'm not sure how much the new Dirt Logic coilovers are, but they look nice and might be worth checking out.

 

king coil overs are not 900 they are anywhere from 600 dollars and doesnt matter what travel u want, only the tripple bypasses are 800 and thats more than waht most ppl need

 

where are you finding kings for 600? thats a good price. I thought they were around 9 too.

SAW (sway away) runs about $650

 

Fabtech's product does not compare performance-wise to the King's ($850), Camburg's ($950), or especially the Donahoe's ($950). I didn't even mention SAWS ($700?) before, since they are only a 2.0 diameter shock and all the others are 2.5 now...

Donahoe even makes an extended travel coilover which, when combined with new uni-ball upper a-arms (Camburg, Inland truck, and Total Chaos all make them) actually gives you more wheel travel than stock. None of the other brands provide more wheel travel...

Donahoes are the latest, best riding, and most advanced of the systems available.

I have Kings and I love them, but I wish I'd gotten the Donahoes, now that I've driven in a Donahoe equipped truck.

Fabtech dirtlogic coilovers are manufactured by Sway-a-way (SAW) using the same technology as the Camburg system, so maybe they are now as good as the Camburg coilovers, but the dirtlogic stuff isn't even available for a taco... The fabtech "performance" system, for the tacoma, hasn't changed, and still uses a fox shock.

I've been seeing "slightly used" Kings for $700. They are $850 new.

 

Actually Fabtech does make the dirt logic for the taco as seen here:
http://www.off-road.com/toyota/proje..._over_compare/

The problems with the Fabtech Performance/Basic is they use cheaper materials so you don't get the quality as say SAWs,Kings,Dons, Camburgs, and Downey. The coils sag faster and the bushing wear out fast.

To the orginal poster: You can't crank the any coilovers up to 3.5" of lift with out the ride suffering{a stock taco/4runner has on 8" of travel(4" up and 4" down)}. This will cause you to only have about .5" of down travel which will resolute in a bumpy ride . Also with being that high you will put lots of stress on things such as the Balljoints and CVs(assuming you have 4wd).

 

dirt logic = saw. it's rebadged with fabtech the same way that camburg rebadges swayaway coilovers, and donahoe used to (their coilovers were originally an in-house rebuild of a swayaway aka "SAW", now they are entirely in-house @ donahoe). i don't know much technically about kings. bilsteins are also a very high quality rebuildable coilover.

all of the above, when purchased custom, are equal...period. theyre just a different "flavor" if you will.

you dont need a 2.5" damper, esp. with bypass valves and remote reservoir, unless youre running high speed over the bumps and need the extra cooling and valving to keep the tires stuck to the ground. otherwise, it's overkill for pretty much all of your trucks...the only reason any slo-mo toy would use a 2.5" body is to run a 3" hypercoil because theyre a tundra with an arb bumper and a 10K# winch, in which case the 2.5"x14" 650# eibach coil (or the 15" 675#) will banana over time. otherwise, youre really throwing away money you dont need to, for bling youll never really use. stick with the 2" variety...another good reason, particularly for ifs, is the 2.5" bodies bring the coil extremely close to the spindle at full droop on a mid-travel kit, even with a 2.0" body the spindle hit the coil on my truck with stock upper arms.

that was kinda a digression, but anyway...fox makes good quality shocks. theyre used in the desert, on motorcycles, trucks, truggys, mountain bikes, dh bikes, and their air shox are the new cool thing for rock buggies as a coilless coilover. fabtech on the other hand...seems to rush blingity bling to market before completely working the bugs out of their products. imho they are bolt-on dressup parts for street trucks, fortunately because they use such a quality manufacturer for their coilovers, the coilovers actually survive a good pounding. that is all my opinion and may just be me talking out my bunghole.

fox = quality, saw = quality, but a rebadge does not necessarily mean quality--in the same way that if i request a coilover built by swayaway and sell it, the coilover may be quality but my valving, spring rate, diameter, etc may be inappropriate for the application im advertising. garbage in, garbage out. i dont know anything about the dirt logic line, but as usual buyer beware until the product is proven, right? i'd check the desert forums and see who's been pounding the crap out of the dirt logic coilovers, and see if they like them or not.

all these coilover kits are so similar because of the "family tree" of the desert scene in cali...it more or less starts with kuster, branches out to king and saw, a little new blood from bilstein, fox fits in there somewhere probably, now there's bilstein's new offering that has a socal design background (was almost trd-badged actually), donahoe has afaik their own manufacturing on-site so theyre effectively a new branch...regardless which manufacturer you buy, youll be getting quality...but i would recommend buying from the source if possible rather than a rebadge of someone else's coilover.

-sean

 

For the record,

Fabtech's older coil-overs were known to perform "less than ideally" for some people especially in the desert, but for low speed off-road they work fairly well. However Fabtech has very recently brought to market a new 2.5" coil-over that is outsourced by Sway-A-Way and is very high quality. In fact Sway-A-Way makes Camburg's 2.5" coil-over as well. There are many great options out there hopefully this article we wrote will help you make an informed decision

4Runner / Tacoma Coil-Over Comparison Article

 

kartek.com has sway a way shocks for 364, now sway a way kings are known best and have proven themselves bullet proof, kings will run more about 600 each. Camburg doesnt make thier own shocks, they make lt kits. Donahoe doesnt make thier own our rebadge em, they also make lt kits. They either use sway away, fox or king for thier kits, its up to you cuz they are fab. shops and u are paying em

 

I have Sway Away 8" travel 2.5" resevoir shocks on my front end. They come threaded, so you can make a coil over out of them. All you need is the kit which is basically a nut or two and then your coil. Sway aways are pretty cheap, but they perform awesome. I romped the shiznit out of my front end this past weekend and I have no complaints from these shocks, and I haven't even revalved them yet.

I'd have to say that Sway away is probably the best bang for the buck

Just my 0.02 -Seth

 

Kartek is sending me a package deal $2000. plus shipping

Donahoe coilovers
Total Chaos upper control arms
Deaver rear springs w/ Bilsteins
diff lowering spacers

 

i have the Sway-A-Way (SAWs) coilovers on my front end, and they work great! I got them new for about $650 from http://www.xtremeoff-road.com (looks like the URL might be down right now). anyway, you can get the SAWs, shackles, and new shocks in a kit from them at about $850 shipped.

-Russell

 

http://www.kartek.com/products/truck...ta/toysusp.htm

according to that page they are 750, and Dr's are 950.

where are you getting 364??! that price is crazy!

 

That's the way to do it!

That's what we've been running on our '99 for a while now and it's absolutely phenomenal!