Gents,
I think what our customers have said is exactly correct. I've said it before in other posts and I say it to every customer who wants to know what his results will be before he orders a system:
We don't know how our suspension will work on your truck in your environment. We have data from hundreds of customers and we try to recount what they say as accurately as possible. These forums are also excellent for information. The point is that results vary. Trucks vary. Roads vary. Driving styles vary. Most importantly, expectations vary.
We don't push this stuff as the solution to all life's problems.
In fact, we don't push it at all. I'm a terrible salesman because I'm honest. I don't B. S. anyone into buying our stuff. I know what our suspension's capabilities are and with two trucks side by side and the same piece of terrain, I can clearly demonstrate the vast differences between OE performance and T. Rex performance.
In a nutshell, here's what T. Rex does:
We offer a suspension that immensely broadens the capabilities of large solid axle trucks. We take a truck that when stock, must creep along at a snail's pace off-road and enable it to go much faster over the same terrain without damage or discomfort. When a customer reports that the truck feels similar or only mildly improved on the pavement, I consider that a triumph of engineering because we've simultaneously multiplied the truck's capabilities off-road.
These trucks weigh nearly 8000 lbs. so they've got to have really heavy springs just to hold them up. In addition, they've got to be able to carry up to 4000 lbs. aft of the cabin. To do this your coil and leaf springs must store incredible amounts of energy. Springs with lots of stored energy are not soft. We change them around a bit to make them more progressive, but they still have to do their job. While the spring controls weight transfers, load height and cornering forces, the shocks control the springs. The springs determine to what point a given amount of force will move your axles, the shocks determine the time they take to get there. Because Heavy Duty truck springs must be so stiff, shocks can only do so much to control small pavement bumps. For the street the shocks must hold the springs steady for safety and control, yet allow the springs to move as much as possible when little bumps are encountered. When they're new, OE shocks work great for this - especially at lower speeds.
T. Rex suspension is trick because it permits your axles to move much farther, so bigger bumps can be absorbed without bottoming out. In addition T. Rex shocks are "smarter" than OE because they can hold the truck steady over large, rolling pitch changes or cornering moments then instantly respond to rapid, sharp impacts such as continuous washboard or a series of deep pot holes. For these situations, most will contend that T. Rex suspension works better than anything available.
The rougher the terrain (paved or not), and the more aggressively you drive, the more you will be impressed with our high performance suspension.
That's why we don't tout our product as "The Ultimate Suspension For Driving Grandma to Church. "
That's why our website and all our marketing shows photos of a black 2003 Dodge Ram going 80 mph six feet in the air and not puppy dogs, kittens and infants wearing pastel colors while frolicking around a Volvo station wagon in a grassy meadow.
Our suspension is big and gnarly and it's made for people who like that sort of thing. My wife was driving the truck during those jump photos. She's tough and likes stiff valving and mean terrain. From motion sickness, she vomited four times during our last Baja 500 prerun session because she was trying to program skull and crossbones danger symbols into the GPS while we were hammering out of the mountains back to Santo Domingo on some of the nastiest road you can imagine. That's the kind of people we are around here and that's the kind of company T. Rex is. We are off-road, four wheel drive, big and serious. We aim to please and will work ceaselessly to care for our clients, but our stance is HIGH PERFORMANCE OFF ROAD, and nothing less.
Our suspension is good on the pavement, but it comes into its own off-road. Unless a potential customer states that the pavement they frequent is "very rough" - which means to us - lots of bigger bumps and pot holes like off-road - we don't try to tell them that the benefits will be worth the cost - unless they factor some other T. Rex benefits such as that our shocks are fully rebuildable and our parts and springs are guaranteed for life, cool aesthetics etc.
It's kind of like horsepower.
Are you the kind of person who likes 500 + hp? Do you need it? Can you use it? Some people do. You know who you are, Bad Boys! haha! Well, you've tried to get that 500 hp while still keeping your truck, "drivable" - meaning it's still has OE driving characteristics during "normal" use. You don't want a clutch that takes all your force to push in. You don't want a turbo that kicks in and snaps your neck (or your wife's!) when you're just leaving a stop sign. You don't want to smoke the tires when you're just getting groceries. You want the engine to be reliable, controllable and "civilized" - but you WANT that 500 hp on tap when you NEED it - like when the kid in the $5000 Honda Civic with $20,000 worth of bolt on accessories and an exhaust as big as a coffee can shows up next to you at a red light, revs his motor that sounds like a lawn mower with an blown head gasket, and gives you "the look"...
So how do you do that? How do you keep your truck feeling stock at lower speeds but effectively _broaden_ the range of your truck's usable power - to the point where it's at least doubled - the 500 hp range? It's not easy; it takes some serious work. Ask anyone who's succeeded.
Suspension? Same thing.
To get the kind of performance we're offering while still being civilized on the pavement is not easy. We're offering a suspension system that can, over certain types of terrain sometimes triple or even quadruple speeds over stock.
Our Bilstein system was designed to offer the max improvement on the pavement, meaning the expansion joint and small bump issues have been addressed to the greatest extent possible. Bilstein learned so much from us that they've changed the HD Dodge valving on their 5100 series shocks to match as closely as possible the performance we've achieved with the 7100's - because our profile works better than what they were offering previously. Few companies are willing to spend a year of R and D on one model to make it the best it can be. We don't revalve Bilsteins. For their intended purpose, they're as good as they can be while still remaining safe.
The Fox and King systems we sell can be made more firm, but not softer. We sell a standard valving to start with that works well in all situations. If we're absolutely certain about a customer's expectations - meaning competition or 50% off-road is the intent -we will custom valve before they ship. Otherwise we prefer to start off with a relatively plush valve profile, the softest possible while still remaining safe - yet it still rages off-road.
Is 500 hp for everyone? Probably not. Just getting there is a hard to do.
Is T. Rex suspension for everyone?
We can't determine if the neighborhood bump that spills coffee, makes wives complain and babies cry will, with the addition of T. Rex suspension, magically go away. We haven't driven over every bump in America in every truck under every possible condition - so we don't know. Hitting the same bump, you may spill your coffee while driving a $300,000 Trophy Truck that has 30" of wheel travel - and you may be able to drive over that same bump at 100 mph in a clapped-out Datsun B-210 while performing eye surgery. We don't know.
I've said this before in other posts and I will say it again here: If you're just a boulevard guy, unless you've got plenty of money, don't buy our suspension. With T. Rex you'll be getting F-18 performance when all you really need is a set of Ranchos that you can also use on your '72 Bronco. It would be a waste to put our product on your truck.
We're currently selling more suspension than we can produce and the waiting period is getting longer and longer. I would rather have fewer people who are happier with our product because it exactly met their expectations than masses of people with our product and a couple here and there who expected a greater performance gain on relatively smooth roads.
No matter what T. Rex product you buy, it's the best there is for hard core, serious adventure and rough use.
That's what we designed it for; that's how we sell it. For everyone else there are plenty of lift kit companies who will sell nice cosmetic lifts for your trucks. How will they ride? Don't know. That's not our thing.
For guys who only drive the street and are interested in T. Rex? I suppose it comes down to a question of personality - how gnarly are you?
If you're the type that _needs_ 500 hp for commuting, then you're probably also the type that _needs_ T. Rex.
Cheers,
Kent
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