I know this is an old topic but still? Coilovers

tacollie

Glamper
I am debating over which coilover. King or Donahoe. I hear that Kings are by far the best, but Doahoe is pretty freakin sweet. I almost bought a set of Kings for $850, but I was told I would be hard pressed to get more than 2in. of lift. I want 2.75. This with the fact they don't add a whole lot of travel I decided to go with Hoes. At this point I learned that extended travel Donahoes are the same price as the regular, plus $500 for Camburg UCA's. I got pretty excited about that, but then I started to think that is a lot of money and since the Kings are going to be the best quality I should go with them and save $650. After repeating this circle of chaos over and over I decided on the Hoes with the UCAs. I came to this conclussion first of all because that is what I wanted before I went with the OME. Second of all they are supposedly the best at holding the ARB bumper and warn winch. Third of all the Donahoes are supposedly the best all around coilover, and as I live in Colorado I dont to many high speed sections. The only reason I am posting this is to see if you all think I should go with the regular Hoes or the Kings. $650 would be a good start to getting a flippac.
 

7wt

Expedition Leader
That's the first time I ever heard anyone say that the Kings were better than the Donahoes. Everyone I know says it's the other way around.
 

tacollie

Glamper
Demello offroad told me the kings were better quality, but that the Donahoes are better all around coilovers. Every 4wd dealer I have talk to who carry both say the kings are better. I have only talked to a couple, but still it is interesting to here.
 

viter

Adventurer
in my opinion, just go with normal donahoes, because all you get with extended ones and upper uca's is like an extra 1 inch of travel. is that 1 inch really worth $600 to you?
 

viter

Adventurer
and if you are interested in reading pages and pages of usefull and useless info all about wehich coilver is better you can always visit forum on www.TTORA.com ...
 

7wt

Expedition Leader
I have Donahoes and stock arms, I couln't imagine anything that would ride better.
 

Jacket

2008 Expedition Trophy Champion
I'd go out on a limb and say you ought to go with the best deal you can find on either of the two. They are both high quality suspension systems, and you may or may not notice any actual differences in real life use. Who do you want to give your money to, and where do you get best bang for your buck?

A couple of things - you can crank the Hoes to 2.75, but they are designed to be set at around 2", and from what I've heard, you lose quite a bit of performance and ride quality as you approach 3" of lift on those things. And IIRC the spring rate is around 650 lbs on the Hoes, which should be plenty to support the ARB + winch. But I've also read about people wishing they'd gone with 700-750 lbs. Check the spring rate of the Kings - if it's 650 lbs then I'd say its a wash. IF it's less, then the Hoes are the clear winner.
 

Willman

Active member
7wt said:
I have Donahoes and stock arms, I couln't imagine anything that would ride better.

Ditto!!!!

Another vote for Donahoes!

Donahoes are a great way to go!!!! I love mine!

:)
 

tacollie

Glamper
After talking with king today I have decided to go with them. They have a 650lb spring and valving to hold the weight of my bumper and winch, plus I am going to go to a synthetic cable, which will be an improvment. Even if they don't ride as well as Donahoe, they will ride much better than my OME. Plus there is $650 towards other stuff.
 

7wt

Expedition Leader
tacollie said:
After talking with king today I have decided to go with them. They have a 650lb spring and valving to hold the weight of my bumper and winch, plus I am going to go to a synthetic cable, which will be an improvment. Even if they don't ride as well as Donahoe, they will ride much better than my OME. Plus there is $650 towards other stuff.
Sounds like a plan. Take pics and let us know what you think about them. I looked at all of them and it boiled down to the Kings or the Donahoes. I know they are both great sets so it was a wash. I just have read more good things about the Donahoes than all the others. Plus if I tell you the other reason you will laugh, I didn't want the light blue coil overs on a dark red truck! Black just seemed to fit better.

Actually for me it was about corrosion. That was my big fear and for some reason I have seen less of a problem with the Donahoes. I saw only a few set of Kings rusted up but a few that were in great shape all in Corpus were even people rust up. Every set of Sway aways I saw were sized up tighter than Fort Knox. So they were out big time. The Donahoes I have seen and pics posted from places like Michigan and such all seem to have help up well. Sure the coils rusted as well as most of the hardware but the shock bodies looked pretty good.
 

tacollie

Glamper
I am in Colorado, so rust isn't a huge concern. Still, if I am spending the money I want to know its going to last. I just bought another bicycles, so it will be 2 or 3 months now before i can afford the coilovers. Either way I think I will be happy.
 

Jacket

2008 Expedition Trophy Champion
With 2 - 3 months, you have time to change your mind (or have your mind changed) at least 10 more times;)
 

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