2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Kore Vs. Carli

[RWestfall]

I want to upgrade suspension on my 2002 Quad cab long bed, anyone have pro's or con's about Kore or Carli ?

 

[16919]

Price... ... at least for the base system. It is hard for me to say anything else as I don't have either. I am sure someone will chime in.

 

[Bob4x4]

I have had both on my 05. I now have the Carli on it. PM me if you want more details. I don't know where you live but The SCCR's are having an outing the end of the month and both systems will be in attendence to see first hand.



Bob

 

[Hemiless]

Aren't they both basically the same (Carli, Kore,& T-rex) that is? Looking at pictures they look like they are the same to me. So I guess I would look at price and service support and make a decision from there unless Bob can expand more on their differences and benefits.

 

[kparker]

No they are not the same. Certain systems may appear to be similar, but the components and theory are different. Call the respective companies and hear what they have to say.



Bob4x4, if you teach people via PM's, how are the rest of us going to be equally educated? We should all be privy to your abundance of knowledge...



KP

 

[mediccummin]

Because people are getting scared of posting there true opinions on here anymore, because they get jumped all over by certain people or groups of people. Sometimes you even get pm's stating you dont know what the hell your saying, there afraid to criticize in public also. If you notice you dont see enough negative feedback on here anymore. Just my opinion. I got a pm stating my 53 Block cracked because us diesel owners dont heat up or cool down our trucks right, not because the block has a 53 on the side of it. Just an example. No one take this to heart. Bob is a good guy by the way.

 

[cArNiVaLwOrKeR]

KORE all the way, Right BOBBY4X4?

 

[kparker]

mediccummin, I love your "true opinions". That about sums it up. I too have been PM'ed about the truth, uh I mean opinions. There is still a way we all can get along and discuss the pro's and con's of different products. Simply focus more on the true as opposed to the opinions. At least admit when you are stating opinion. No big deal.



I do not doubt Bob is a good guy. I am also pretty sure that someone as opinionated as himself, with over 3000 posts here, is not worried about getting engaged in a debate. My opinion though, is it is easier to convince someone your opinion is fact, if it is done in a PM where it can not be seen by people with varying viewpoints. It's more of a sales tactic, than a way of communicating in what is called a discussion forum. Besides, I like seeing what people have to say, that's why were here...



KP

 

[Bob4x4]

mediccummin, I love your "true opinions". That about sums it up. I too have been PM'ed about the truth, uh I mean opinions. There is still a way we all can get along and discuss the pro's and con's of different products. Simply focus more on the true as opposed to the opinions. At least admit when you are stating opinion. No big deal.



I do not doubt Bob is a good guy. I am also pretty sure that someone as opinionated as himself, with over 3000 posts here, is not worried about getting engaged in a debate. My opinion though, is it is easier to convince someone your opinion is fact, if it is done in a PM where it can not be seen by people with varying viewpoints. It's more of a sales tactic, than a way of communicating in what is called a discussion forum. Besides, I like seeing what people have to say, that's why were here...



KP

First off I don't sell suspension... ... . Although Greg (DRC)tried to talk me into it.

I ALWAYS use a product before I make any recomendations. It is an expensive way of doing things but one that I feel is fair. I ran the Kore race for about a year. I defended a lot of bashing on the product. I organized a trip to Glamis to do a shoot out between the 3 major players. All players did a great job. There were measurements taken,truths about travel exposed and on and on. When I bought my system (top of the line at that time I was assured)Greg had told me it would take anything I could throw at it and that it had a full 10" of travel not the 8 of the trex. Well putting the tape to it I found that not to be accurate. I had 9 on one side and slightly more on the other. I also found that the front shocks were bottoming out on them selves. I was bottoming the front way too easy on a system that was called race. When my front housing bent I tried to get a price from Greg whom I had known for a few years before he ever signed up with Kent. I was told it is a secret Kore shop,a proprietery process and the price varies(?)I was also told that Greg would need to take the truck for about a week somewhere down by the border. Sorry but that was just too much to swallow. Enough was enough. I had already heard about all the business and ethics going on and no way was I going to send my truck to an undisclosed location for an undisclosed price to somewhere near the border. I was forced to fab my own truss since all the secrecy or an attempt to corner the market or what ever the Kore logic was. Since I have found that it was Jason who seems to be a good guy. I have exchanged e-mails and even sent him another truss job. I am way to busy to want to do them I ran into Sage Carli when I was trying to find a way to make my truck work better. He installed his advanced dominator 3. 0 system and I couldn't be happier. It is valved properly for off roading with gusto and still has amazing street manners. I have Never been able to get a Kore truck to Glamis (except friends)from day one even when promised. Sean Lorenz has been a regular on our adventures and we recently had the Carli crew around our camp fire as well even with a wedding the next day.

This is my saga and why I recommend Carli suspensionI am not employed by Carli nor have I gotten to ride in the Baja before making my choice:-laf

Sorry if this was long but... ... ... ... ... .



Bob

 

[ASchwartz]

My opinion so take it for what it is worth.



After reading the last few issues of the TDR, I have found the magazine articles to mention that they tell the whole story a bit to often. They also comment too often that the TDR is not run by advertizers and if your product sucks then the TDR will say so. If a company has to explain what they do then they must not be doing it. I have problems with the following names; Powerstroke (is it really powerfull), Duramax (is it durable), and Big and Tasty (is it big and tasty). There are many more instances of names that you can use this thought process on. If the TDR's claim to fame is that they are unbaised when it comes to advertisers then be unbiased and stop deleting posts.



Avi

 

[kparker]

Thank you Bob4x4. Excellent post. Exactly my point, good discussion forum material makes for good reading. I would like to respond to some of it to further richen the mixture, and maybe explain some of your observations.



First off, Greg Boardman, as much as I liked him, was never the official voice of KORE. He would have argued that with anyone of course, but he was not a KORE employee. He sold KORE products(sold them well), and drove the hell out of KORE suspensions.



If he informed you of a secret KORE axle truss process and shop near the border, that was a DRC marketing ploy, not a KORE one. No "market cornering KORE logic" there. KORE never has sold axle trusses. Jason Hughes is a great guy, does a great job trussing axles, and probably does not have too much of a varying rate on his work. He sells KORE products also, but his axle trusses are a Hughes Racing Components product, not KORE.



If Greg further misinformed you of true wheel travel, did KORE do you wrong? What Greg did was give you available shock travel lengths. He said 10 inches because you were supplied with a 10" travel shock(compared to the T-Rex 8"). Actually it was a 9" travel shock with the internal top out spacer removed so it would yield 10". This would have required limit straps to limit the droop travel to 9. 5". With this being said, your bump stops were designed to absorb the majority of a big hit and stop the axle near . 25 to . 5 inches from bottoming on themselves. Many of us Dodge suspension geeks have been running around with zip ties on our shock shafts for a long time seeing just how much bump travel we were actually getting. I personally have never bottomed the shock on itself. Each of our trucks is slightly different. I have seen Kent Kroeker thrash his truck with no bumpstops in place, and still not bottom on the shocks. Yours was obviously different. You also did not have the VR coils which ramp up stiffer towards the end of the stroke. Fortunately, the shocks bottoming on themselves will not hurt them. A premium shock bottoming on itself, while not desirable, is not going to do any damage unless you have weak shock towers. KORE has recently worked on a bumpstop that works by bottoming the shock upon itself. Currently the only thing that seems possibly suspect in our application, are the lower shock mounts(Dodge).



I have seen the video of your truck through some sort of sand drags out in the desert. I can assure everyone, as you well know, that kind of pounding will bend any untrussed axle housing regardless of shock brand, size, or valving. Maybe you were told your suspension could take anything you could throw at it, but your truck can not. I have been in a caged, trussed, race dodge and have hit something so hard that it broke a forged wheel, taco'd a control arm, blew out a front driveshaft and sent it up to crack the bellhousing. Much like your situation, the suspension survived, but the truck didn't. The driver over did it. Simple as that.



You have now moved on to the point where you have a truck with an axle housing that you unfortunately had to truss yourself. You now have the ability to drive the truck that much harder than you ever did prior to the axle truss. You know can actually benefit from a much heavier damped 3" shock that Carli supplied you with. You are also presumably running hydrobumps, further enhancing your suspensions capabilites. Sounds like you have a very nice set-up. You can not compare what you can now do with what you could then. I will agree with you on that.



I am glad you are enjoying you Carli system. In the future maybe a few more of us KORE owning guys will show up and romp around the dunes with you. Maybe a few of you guys can come south and rage around mex with us. Even better maybe we will be meeting on the race course.



As for business ethics and conspiracy theories? KORE is a suspension company dedicated to producing top quality suspension components. That's about it. Not much more to it.



I am now employed by KORE, and although I am not authorized to speak on behalf of the corporation, I will on occasion visit these forums and help keep the playing field level here. I believe if we keep to the questions at hand we can provide a thorough information resource without digressing to the ridiculous state that the Pirate 4x4 thread did.



Did this help at all Bob?