TRDPro upgraded with Dobinsons MRR

Well, I swapped the popular preload collar kit with a full Dobinsons MRR, 3” front and 2” in the back.

The preload kit didn’t feel stock, even after multiple alignments and getting it within spec. It is a really good value for $1,400 with parts and installation and I could see why many are happy with the kit. For my preference, it felt like a downgrade in ride quality when driving around town and that could be because I have a constant load on the truck bed. Little imperfections in the road could be felt, it rocked side to side too much (could be the top spacer) which is common with spacer lifts, and swayed in corners. It was however great on the highway and on big compressions, it actually felt pretty good. But, it was missing the suppleness for daily driving.

Now, the Dobinsons installed was over 4x the preload kit, but I can say it’s 4x better. The truck feels more composed, it remains balanced and level over imperfections, cornering is really controlled, and it doesn’t transfer a lot of the compressions into the truck, rather it absorbs them which makes it feel like the truck floats. I took it on a washboard road going 50mph and the truck stayed really level and ate up all the dips.

The Dobinsons is 3/8” higher in the front and 1 5/8” higher in the back. It might have to settle still.

Hope this helps anyone considering lifting their truck.

FYI, I did replace the Dobinsons stickers to the shocks with custom ones.

Build:
2023 Toyota Tundra TRDPro
Dobinsons MRR suspension 3” front, 2” back with variable coil springs and panhard rod, installed AVS Outfitters
TRD Upper control arms
DuroBumps bump stops
AirLift LoadLifter 5000 air bags
Toyo Tires Open Country AT3 35x12.5r18
Bora 1” wheel spacers
Billie Bars bed rack
1Up USA bike racks
Xpel full PPF and tint, installed by Lusso Automotive

 

Beautiful build man!

 

Them photos

 

Thank you!

 

Nice write up. Great photos. Looks like a brochure!

 

Thanks!

 

What was the total cost for this jsut parts no labor, looking to do something similar soon and swap out my level kit.

 

It was around $4,200 for the Dobinsons MRR kit and TRD upper control arms.

 

Very nice looking rig. Great work

 

Love your build, I have a similar setup, Dobinsons 3/2 MRR, JBA UCA’s, Dobinsons panhard bar..ride quality is great! Did you air down when you drove washboard roads with this setup? Also love your stickers over the shocks, looks much better them the white and yellow default colors, where did you get the stickers? Thanks for sharing and enjoy your rig!

 

Looks fantastic!

I just received my MRR kit and I'll pull pulling a spacer lift during the swap. I'm really excited to feel the difference!

And I LOVE the decal swap! I just may steal that idea. Where did you get them?

 

Looks great! I didn’t air down, tires were at 38PSI. The suspension was doing all the work, loved how well it handled.

I made the stickers, the purple and yellow was too much with the red TRDPro details.

 

Thank you, I made the stickers using SVG graphics I found online and printed them with makestickers.com

 

I'm going to try my hand at that.

I'm guessing you had 8 stickers printed?

 

What settings do you have yours at? I just installed mine and feel like the back is a bit too bouncy and the front a little too stiff. I've been playing with the settings and can't seem to get it right. I also tried dobinsons tech guys and I managed to get someone who didn't know what they were talking about. So I'm trying other places. Any help would be great. BTW AWESOME RIDE!!!!!

 

I had the same experience with a stiff front end on my MRR after installation, to the point where I was considering swapping from 110-220 lbs springs to factory weight even though I have about 125 lbs of added weight with my covert bumper and winch.

@crikeymike helped me dial it in by having me turn low and high speed compression down all the way and dialing the rebound way up. I experimented and found the higher I went the better it felt. I ultimately landed at 20 clicks (!).

Mike also encouraged me to put at least 1000 miles on it before making any changes. I’m at about 1500 now. The front has settled about 1/2 inch to my goal of 2” lift and it’s riding amazingly well.

By no means am I an expert and defer to Mike and others with more experience but for the rears it sounds like you either have too little rebound dampening, or too little high speed compression combined with too little rebound. See if you can find a road with several speed humps in close succession (the ones you can take at 15-20 mph) and play around with these two settings until you find the sweet spot. Let us know how it turns out.

 

I just dialed up the rebound to almost all the way. And I'm sure I'm close on the rest. But do you by chance know what your high and low compression settings are?

 

By “close on the rest” do you mean your high and low speed compression are nearly maxed out (turned fully clockwise)? Unless you have a lot of weight up front that would cause a harsh ride.

When driving on the street my front high and low compression are at 1 (with 0 being as low as it will go) and 3, respectively.

When on trails I dial up the high speed compression quite a bit to prevent bottoming out and air down the tires to improve ride comfort.

 

I will now have to completely change my settings to see how yours ride then play with it from there. I'm not sure what mine are on but it does feel pretty good right now. So I'll mark them down and try yours out. Then compare the two. Thanks for the info. BTW are the settings the same on the front and rear?

 

The beauty of the MRR suspension is how tunable it is. But what feels good to one driver and what works well for one truck, does not necessarily translate to another truck + driver combination.

Differences in spring rates, weight over each axle (including weight differences stemming from hybrid vs non-hybrid drivetrains), and tire compliance will all factor in to choosing compression and rebound dampening settings.

My rear settings are quite different from front because the rear accommodates about 325 lbs of static weight and uses a variable rate spring.

Check out the little Dobinson’s booklet that came with your MRR kit. It helped me understand how the adjustments complement one another. There’s also plenty of educational content on YouTube. Good luck and have fun experimenting!

(Apologies to the OP for hijacking the thread.)

 

Trd pro is a hybrid so how much of actual lift did you get up front since dobinsons claims up to 1 to 1 1/2 less lift in the front for hybrids

 

I’m not sure what you’re referencing. But, the TRDPro is a hybrid and also comes with 1.1” front lift. There are many trims without the lift that are also hybrid.

For the TRDPro, since it already has a front lift, I gained about 2” over the 1.1” stock height for a total of 3”. If you were to install it in another trim, you’d gain 3” but also for a total of 3” since they don’t have a lift.

 

Well said.

Yeah, many people weren't understanding the difference between adding a 3" lift to a base model vs a TRD PRO, so that had to be pointed out.

Many people don't realize also that access cab Tacoma's came 1" lifted when compared to a dual cab, so people were expecting lift over their base height, and getting 1" less than expected.

Also, the 2023+ Sequoia comes with 1" less than a Tundra, even though they share a similar suspension design, so a Sequoia can get a 3-4" lift, where Tundras are 2-3".

 

So what weight springs did u go with 0 - 110, is what I chose. Also I went with 3 front 1 rear

 

Thanks for all this info. Do you have any rake? I think I’m going to go with this same setup. Is there enough room for 37” tires? Appreciate the help.

 

Also would like this info if possible. Looking to add to a Pro as well. Did you account for the extra weight up front? Thanks.

 

I went with 3” 0-100lbs in the front and 2” 220-440lbs in the back.

 

No, I went with the stock weight 0-110lbs sleings in the front.

 

It has a rake, it’s about .75” lower in the front. The rear is 42.25” to the bottom of the fender and the front is 41.5”. It looks better than the 3”/1” lift I had before, it made it look like the front was too high.

I’m not sure if this will clear 37” tires. I think it will along with chopping off some metal in the wheel well. Check out @westcott_designs and @88rotorsoffroad on Instagram, they have a lot of posts with their solution to fitting 37” tires.

 

Thanks for the replies. Appreciate the help.