2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission KORE suspension

[darkhorse]

I talked with Greg at DRC today & placed my order for the KORE Chase System. Very friendly folks to deal with & they offer a 5% discount to TDR members.

 

[EBung]

I have got a deal from Greg right before the price change and got a Pace system sans rear spring packs and it rides alot better than stock with confidence. Plus I can clear 35s easy. My '01 had Dick Cepek 2" on it and the ride was worse than stock!I never put a freaking spacer lift on any truck I own again.

 

[Yo Hoot]

Kore springs are custom engineered specifically for our trucks. They are in my opinion the best money can buy. I had Revtek spacers on before switching top the Kore springs. Spacers = poor mans lift

 

[darkhorse]

I installed the front half of my Kore Chase system today. I can say after driving a few washboard roads, that I'm really going to like this set up. Thanks Greg!

 

[DWeiler]

i'll have to give Greg a call in the spring,the Kore pace system is on my "need list,must have list" to help complete my ride. Wifey like to go to Las Vegas once a year so maybe if she flys down i'll drive and meet her there and then continue onto Gregs place in Cali(Mini vacation) and have Greg do the install. Its our 10th wedding aniversary next year and the wife is looking at another ring($$$)---so in our house hold i can spend the same on myself. She gets the ring ,i get something for my truck---seems fair. DW

 

[darkhorse]

-so in our house hold i can spend the same on myself. She gets the ring ,i get something for my truck---seems fair. DW[/QUOTE]





Sound fair enough to me.



I haven't gotten to the rear yet but with the new coils & Bilstein's in front the ride is much improved & I'm not bouncing sideways on the washboard turns. This is going to be fun. Oo.

 

[Greg Boardman-RIP]

You guys are all more than welcome to come visit us at DRC. We are in 29 Palms,CA. Come out for a E ticket Ride...

Greg

 

[Cummins Thunder]

I love the Kore kit, but... How about this http://skyjacker.com/products-searc...500 PICKUP&vsubmod=QUAD CAB&partnumber=D2522K



Summit has it for $725 shipped, it even comes with dual shock brackets and control arms. As has been said before "I don't need to go 60mph off road"...

 

[darkhorse]

I don't know about Skyjacker, but I do know KORE is top drawer. One need not even go off road to feel the benefit of the Kore package. The truck rides smoother than stock at low speeds on washboard roads & it makes higher speeds possible . Let me make this clear, even on paved highways I can feel an improvement in ride. There is no sacrifice in comfort to get the high performance potential. In fact, comfort is improved at all speeds.

 

[PHellen]

People just need to realize the dodge 2500 and 3500 isn't a trophy truck. Ya kore ran the baja 1000 but so does a stock volkswagon. I'm sure the ride is nice and the kit does look good. But i still don't believe half the stuff about the kore system. You can put on a good set of springs (sky jacker d25) front and some national springs in the rear with some good valved shocks (valved to what you like) and you would be very happy for 1200 bucks tops.

 

[kparker]

Well then do it to yours, drive up to DRC and you can compare yours to Greg's. Then make another post to further educate us on the mistake we have made. Ha ha. Custom springs from National aren't cheap. Good shocks and everything else you need to make it work right add up too.



Yeah a stock Volkswagon can do the the 1000. So can a donkey. I would rather have a KORE suspended RAM2500 than either.

 

[NVR FNSH]

People just need to realize the dodge 2500 and 3500 isn't a trophy truck. Ya kore ran the baja 1000 but so does a stock volkswagon. I'm sure the ride is nice and the kit does look good. But i still don't believe half the stuff about the kore system. You can put on a good set of springs (sky jacker d25) front and some national springs in the rear with some good valved shocks (valved to what you like) and you would be very happy for 1200 bucks tops.

Please provide the cost breakdown - specifically for the shocks. And don't forget the time/money to test/remove/revalve/replace the shocks to find the valving you like.



I do not have a Kore system on my truck nor do I work for Kore but I have the knowledge about suspension system design and manufacturing costs.



Based on my experience with skycrapper on my CJ-7 I wouldn't order a paperweight from them.



Brian

 

[Greg Boardman-RIP]

People just need to realize the dodge 2500 and 3500 isn't a trophy truck. Ya kore ran the baja 1000 but so does a stock volkswagon. I'm sure the ride is nice and the kit does look good. But i still don't believe half the stuff about the kore system. You can put on a good set of springs (sky jacker d25) front and some national springs in the rear with some good valved shocks (valved to what you like) and you would be very happy for 1200 bucks tops.

Phellen,

You are right,

There are still people running class 11 in SCORE. I can't believe it!! You are also right that the DH Dodge is no trophy truck. I went for a ride in the Terrible Herbst Chevy prerunner last week and I was blown away. Then again, Kore never claimed to be a trophy truck either.



The thing I have found out about suspension in the last few years is that there are different levels of performance expected by different customers. Some guys are O. K. with a 2 inch spacer and a R5000 shock. That is fine. There are others that call me and order a Race system, wheels, tires, fiberglass, intake, exhaust, and on and on plus want me to install it. That is a tall order and not cheap. They do not even care how much they are spending because they want the very best. When only the very best will do, they want KORE. It is just like some people will be ok with a ST long bed single cab truck while others need a 4X4 Laramie Quad Cab Dually. That is why some can do with a spacer and others need Fox Race shox.



What I have been trying to get across to folks is that you no longer have to settle for the spacer and a cheap coil. . You don't have to believe us when we say how good the stuff is. It is just simply understood after a ride in a truck equipped with a Kore system.



If you went ahead and installed a set of D25 coils, and then put a Bilstein 5100 up there and then went and bought a set of custom National springs. You would have already spent more money than the Pace system, and your truck would ride poorly.



If the KORE stuff was so bad, don't you think that the public that have spent money on it would say it sux. I sure would have when I first bought mine. I didn't sell this stuff until March 2005 but I have had it on my truck since last summer. Go back and read the posts I put up then. Go back and read the thread that is titled "Race suspension is finally here" that was started by Diesel Dan. If you really doubt how good the stuff is, come down, I will put you in the driver seat of the red truck, take you out in the desert and let you drive it for yourself..... Then we will take your truck out on the same road and you WILL be a believer. I really believe that this stuff is the best. Otherwise I would have never risked the time, money or effort that it takes to sell it. If it is tough enough to live up to my standards I am sure that most will be totally blown away. Its just that good!



Enjoy,

Greg DRC

 

[GTani]

I have a home in Baja California Sur,Punta Abreojos to be exact. Terrible washboard roads!When I first ordered my Dodge I contacted Tim Sanchez,aka "Desert Bull" about what mods I should first do to my truck. He told me if he could only do one mod it would be KORE suspension(at the time T/Rex. )He even offered to take me for a ride. Needless to say I politley turned down his offer(I have enough gray hair). I took his advice and called Kent and ordered what is now called the Chase System. It's the best money I ever spent on a vehicle. The only thing I am a bit disapointed in is that Kent didn't use a bit of hard sell and tell me I needed the Race System. Do I need it?No, do I want it?Yes!

Oh yeah,I can run those washboard roads as fast as my Juevos allow me.

 

[darkhorse]

I think Kent did his homework. There's more to his products than a pretty face. One can get by cheaper but one most likely gets what's paid for.

 

[kentkroeker]

A donkey can run the Baja 1000, but I don't know if he'll finish under the time limit...



And much like our race truck, Class 11 VW's, although they follow strict guidelines, aren't exactly "stock. "



I think I need to make this clear because there may be some misconceptions floating around out there:



The suspension we used for the Baja 1000 isn't what we sell to the public. It was built with one purpose in mind and has a very narrow focus that is totally inappropriate for anything else but racing. We cut and welded and squeezed everything we could fit within the rules. If you're going to be competitive, you just have to do that.



We call our flagship system the "Race" system because it uses a lot of the same technology that we raced with - but the exact system that was on The Beast back then wouldn't be possible to mass market.



It was purpose-built for one thing - to make a stock truck go as fast as possible over the most heinous terrain imaginable. We sacrificed control, for quick rebound, comfort for maximum compression damping, and ease of installation to maximize our chances of finishing. We had these crazy bump stops and all kinds of weird reinforcements all over that truck - because it's hard not to make a couple of mistakes over the course of a 30 hour drive.



Imagine suspension with almost zero rebound damping and huge amounts of spring rate and compression damping. The suspension on that truck only felt good on the sections of the course where we knew we could make up the most time - and I designed it to be like that. Devising ways to make a very heavy Stock Full Class truck whose wheel travel is limited by its steering components perform well in four foot deep sand whoops is a meaningless exercise in futility. We don't have 800 horses and 30" of wheel travel, so what's the point? I knew we were going to have to go slow there anyway. But I could tune that suspension to rip over the continuous 6 - 8" washboard, G-outs, rocks, sand and silt beds that were found everywhere else - places where less travel can actually be better for a lot of reasons - as manifest by the Arciero overall win in what was basically a just Protruck with more horsepower. The "sweet spot" where the suspension performed best was in the very high speed ranges, where most people would never drive their nice Dodge trucks. True "race" suspension is sometimes physically hard on the body - you just grit your teeth and hold on tighter when it gets rough. It would take a long dissertation to explain why the system on our race truck is terrible for anything but racing but it is.



By racing we learned a lot about the strengths and weaknesses of the Dodge, but mostly we were there to prove what a good team of guys and gals could do. Believe me; the Baja 1000 is more than just a race - it's like a war. We also learned a lot about how to make our parts better. A couple of the parts we used on The Beast have found their way into production and will be released the first of the new year.



The "Race" system we sell to the public has to provide a balance of ease of installation, good road manners, durability, off-road performance and load carrying - among many other things. It's valved and sprung to provide the utility of a stock vehicle with enhanced off road performance - which doesn't include "jumping. " We fly the trucks because it's dramatic and fun, but it's not something the suspension was designed for - and I have never endorsed or recommended it - in fact there's a warning in our instructions that makes it pretty clear. The KORE "Race" suspension was designed to do a lot of things - and in addition to being pretty good at all those things it lets you go about as fast off-road as the vehicle chassis (and the average human chassis) can handle - but it will never make a Trophy Truck out of a Heavy Duty Dodge Ram.



Everyone have a great weekend!



Over and Out,



Kent Kroeker

 

[GBaines]

I can verify from personal experience with my 01 Dodge 4X4 that as it was called then T-Rex system was the best thing I have done to make my truck a pleasure to drive over some of the roughest and most washboarded roads in Baja and in Alaska. Roads that we could barely stand 20 mph were now comfortable at speeds in excess of 40 mph. My truck has a heavy expedition home built camper and I pull a trailer with dune buggy, boat, kayaks etc. By comfortable I mean both in the seat of your pants and also comfort of control! The only problem I have had was that my new speeds were too hard on the trailer, and I had to reshock it with shocks from Kent. This product is first class and will make a big difference in how you feel about long rough road drives. We are now headed for the Guatamala border.

 

[PHellen]

I love Forums

 

[testraub]

I'm very happy with my KORE PACE system since it's much more then I'll ever need. Thanks Kent for a well enginnerred product that fit not only my needs, but those who want even "more" from the "stock" suspension! Well Done!



Tom

 

[darkhorse]

A donkey can run the Baja 1000, but I don't know if he'll finish under the time limit...



My two donkeys can run some seriously rugged terrain but I assure you, they are not in a hurry. :-laf



Thanks for the input Kent. I've still only got the front half of my new Chase system on my truck but I'm reasonably amazed at the improvement in ride & control I'm experiencing. I have a whole new more benign attitude about the washboard roads I have to run every day.