Extra leaf with 1st gen OME Dakar springs. Yes or No?

This thread may have been done already but i have been unable to find it if it has. i am looking into doing my suspension soon and i have settled on the OME Dakar rear springs. from what i can see, it looks like there are not HD or MD options but instead a single spring. however, it looks like there is an option to buy an extra leaf to add to the pack. I am still unsure as to whether i want to get the extra lead offered or not. does anyone on here have experience with these springs with or without the extra leaf? if so what do you think of them, with or without?
and of course, pics are always welcome

For the record. the info on the springs comes from Toytec. Here are the links to the parts:
Springs: Extra leaf: as far as what i carry here's what i have in the bed as well as future plans. mind you, these weights are just estimates tho.

sliders are in the works right now (building them myself, look to be around 30-40 lbs each?), hi lift (30lbs), plan on doing a rear bumper soon so that'll add 70 lbs plus a spare (100?). during the winter months i have 2 60lb sand bags in the bed, plus my canopy (100lbs ish). plan on getting a roof rack too so all together... prolly 300-450 depending on the season? might be an over estimate but i'd rather have too much capacity and a bit of a harsher ride than too little capacity and a sagging rear end.

 

I have OME Dakar leaf springs and do not have a helper, or AAL, at all.

This is with carrying - bed rack (50lbs?), sliders (60lbs?), RTT (95lbs), rear bumper (70lbs?), tire gate with E range 32" tire (100lbs?), co2 tank with bracket (11lbs)

The rear sits almost level with the front as the front has a 2" lift with Fox 2.5 coilovers (tiny bit of rake still fortunately).

How much weight are you carrying?

 

What do you run in the bed? Shell, swingout bumper, rtt, full size spare? I ran mine without the aal and a 150lb snugtop and it still kept me around 2ish" of rear lift. If you're planning keeping any serious weight (200+lbs) back there full time I would get the aal. If not, you'll be fine with the regular dakars

 

sliders are in the works right now (building them myself, look to be around 30-40 lbs each?), hi lift (30lbs), plan on doing a rear bumper soon so that'll add 70 lbs plus a spare (100?). during the winter months i have 2 60lb sand bags in the bed, plus my canopy (100lbs ish). plan on getting a roof rack too so all together... prolly 300-450 depending on the season? might be an over estimate but i'd rather have too much capacity and a bit of a harsher ride than too little capacity and a sagging rear end. what do ya think?

 

Well if you add my weights up, I'm already there and carrying it daily.

I don't sag, in fact, I have a tiny bit of rake still.

A helper leaf won't hurt though, so don't take it as I'm discouraging it. I just don't run one.

 

makes sense, we'll see but right now i'm leaning towards getting the helper leaf. as you said, cant hurt anything but the ride

 

I voted yes because my truck fully loaded with two adults weighs about 5700 lbs. I can do a good pace in the desert without excessive bottoming of the rear.
The rear shocks have been revalved for more rebound dampening. Without the extra rebound the rear end over extends after a bump. Freeway expansion joints and washboard dirt roads were a real kidney beater.

 

Back when I had Dakars I had to install the extra spring after a few camping trips because the rear sagged onto the bump stops with all that weight plus the RTT. Even with the AAL it sagged a bit. Ended up switching to All Pro Expos which are slightly better for me, but much stiffer.

Dakars are very smooth riding springs but aren't designed to hold 'heavy duty' loads, the extra leaf is a good idea if you want to carry more weight around.

I do miss the soft ride they provided but not the sagging (or squeaking...my god the squeaking)

 

good to know. i don't carry that much weight around all the time, mainly just the sand bags in the winter and the hi-lift. realistically the better ride will be better for me in the long run i think. the factory leafs seem to hold what i have now pretty well with some room for extra stuff so i think that i'll be fine with the Dakars. plus i dont plan on running a RTT any time soon. i'm perfectly content with sleeping on a mat in the bed. pretty much the only reason i'm looking at getting new springs is so i don't get a bro lean when i do the front suspension to clear bigger tires. looking at pictures they look stouter than the stock springs even without the AAL so i think i'll be ok.

i can imagine that the squeaking would be awful though, any ideas on how to avoid it? grease? OME grease-able shackles?

 

Replace the pressed-in bushings with some bushings offered by Wheeler's and grease the hell out of them with Supergrease.

I've yet to do it myself but have the parts and grease for the job; got the tip from another member on here and it solved his squeak issue.

 

well, this thread is kind of dead but having run both options (first without the AAL, then i added it), i figured that i'd update it with my take. I started off with the springs without the extra leaf, and it rode great... but it sagged too much and just frankly, didn't keep the rear of the truck as high as i wanted it to be. keep in mind, this was after i took the canopy off for a while (it'll go back on sometime this summer). with this in mind, i would say that the extra leaf is almost an essential. kind of like @eon_blue said, if you're not carrying any weight whatsoever, then the pack without the added leaf should be fine, but if you carry anything in your bed consistently, then the AAL is 100% worth it. it does ride pretty stiff, but it's not too bad overall and it seems to be a small price to pay for a more capable load capacity. after all, what's the point of a truck over an SUV if you can't haul anything (IMHO of course). run them both, my vote goes for the extra leaf!

 

Good info, my stock springs w anonymous add a leaf are nearing the end. I've considered dakars and always have my cap (100-150?) Tools (60+?) Platform drawer + shit and climbing gear so an easy 300.

Odds are Ill go for a junkyard rebuild but good to know your experience.

 

yeah, if you're going to go with a set of OME springs then it sounds like the AAL is the way to go for you. it may also be worth noting that there are other spring options out there for heavy loads, i just went with the Dakars because I felt like it.

out of curiosity, what profession are you in? the reason i ask is that setup is exactly what my buddy used to carry in his tacoma. he was working as a climber for an arborist company at that point. Haven't talked to him in a while but last i heard he was going to enlist in the army and try n' make it to special forces. anyways (back from that tangent), your mention of climbing gear reminded me of him, and as it so happens, that's pretty much what his load was in his truck every day while he was on that job (saw(s), climbing gear, a set of drawers he built, various other shit, and he had a topper for security).

 

Ahh yeah an arborist, nice. I've thought of going into it, a cousin of mine down in VA has a company. Naw I do carpentry and rock climb for fun. It's a good time.

 

Nice, yeah the climbing gear piqued my interest, so i figured that i had to ask.

 

Heck yeah. It's my other expensive hobby. Need a new rope and *hopefully* will be able to get a full grad rack from a guy I used to work for in the nearish future.

 

Reviving this old thread. I've been looking at the same AAL for the same spring pack but ARB said they never made an AAL for the CS046R springs and that the DL43XL are for the updated EL122R springs. But you installed it on the CS046R leaf pack without any issues?

 

Nice to read this too as I am debating the same thing. I use my pickup for carrying all manner of things. This helped me decide on the extra leaf so thanks for all the info in this thread. I am also going to run the Firestone Ride Rites because on occasion I carry a dR650 on a hitch carrier. I want it to flex and ride nice but when I carry the bush pig I need some extra help. And I do ride the DR on long trips but sometimes I like to camp out of the pickup and taking the DR to leave the pickup while I go tool around is awesome

 

I installed the D43XL AAL set on my Dakar springs (CS046R). Not sure how/if it's different from the DL43XL but I ordered mine from Wheeler's offroad. you can also frankenstein packs if you're brave/confident enough. @Blackdawg is running a "custom" pack on his 96 and it sounds like it's worked out pretty well. I definitely wouldn't run the Dakars without the AAL. After putting some more miles on the truck and letting the springs break in/settle, the ride has smoothed out nicely and they've ended up making the truck about level with a topper.

 

D43XL is correct, the DL was a typo. I was happy with the CS046R springs with just a camper shell, but I just added a swing out bumper/tire carrier, hi lift, and jerry can and now it sags a bit. What's weird is that ARB rep was absolutely certain that the D43XL AAL was not compatible with the CS046R