Broken leaf spring!

So who else is driving with a broken leaf spring?
Those that replaced there's did you go to Toyota?
Has anyone bumped up to a heaver set?
I was wondering what that noise was!

 

That sucks man, do you do a lot of hauling with your truck? What springs are you running the 3 leaf or 4 leaf?

 

Almost everyone I have talked to around where I live has broken a leak spring including myself. I tried bring it to the dealership but they just send it out to another business so I dealt with that business directy. The dealer told me that they would just pass the bill along with no mark up. If the dealership you deal with has that capacity of doing it they will, if not, they will just send it to the proper spring shops.

The local spring shop told me the leafs usually break because you drive around with an empty load and hit bumps in the road. He said it would be better to drive with something in the back to 'preload' the leafs.

 

I call BS on that reasoning, if that were true about driving on empty, unloaded leaf springs EVERYBODY would have the same problem. If/when mine break I'm getting the Wheelers replacement set.

 

That is about the dumbest thing I have heard in quite some time!

 

Were you able to hold back the urge to snicker when he told you that? If that's honestly why the springs are breaking then Toyota really, really, really dropped the ball on their leaf springs. They can't hold weight because they just bottom out and you can run the truck unloaded because the springs will break

 

Guess my wife and dogs are riding in the bed from now on...

 

Was told the same thing by 3 different shops when I had my 2001

That being said my pass. side broke about 2 months ago on my 2009 i decided not to go to Toyota and replaced both sides myself with aftermarket HD 4 pack cost me a little over 400 bucks.

http://www.generalspringkc.com/product_p/90-297hd.htm

 

Thats sucks it broke. Time to upgrade.
I had mine "upgraded" to the 4 leaf TSB at Toyota. The leafs are already about flat with my truck cap on.
Heard good things about these. Good Luck.

 

$270 for replacement @ spring shop $390 with add a leaf .each no install.

 

Come into this thread and ask around:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/north-east/204874-new-england-b-s-thread-1651.html

A lot of local members just installed lifts with replacement leaf packs and one or two of them might be willing to sell you their old leaf pack. I'm assuming that $270 is just for a single side? I wouldn't replace just one side if it were me.

 

You are correct!
$270 each!

 

1. Had a broken leaf on an 03, knew about it for a little while.
2. Didn't want anything to do with a dealership
3. Obtained a standard duty replacement from General Spring, wasn't looking for a heavier set but they do have them if you want.
4. YES THAT IS AN ANNOYING SOUND ! Even when you know what it is

I was very happy with General Spring. Great service, fast shipping, good quality springs for a fair price. I would use them again. I made the mistake of failing to purchase the U-bolts and hardware with the springs. You're not going to save those parts, just go ahead buy the new hardware up front and cut the old ones off when you swap them out.

For some reason Toyota totally screwed up when it came to leaf springs. It seems to be bad steel, which is a shame because they know how to build good stuff. Factory springs break a lot but there's better stuff available on the market.

 

4 leaf pack here also broke on passenger side. Canadian truck. Only replaced the one side. Figured i'd wait for the other side to go before replacing it. No good?? 2009 happened at 118000km should't be. Other than that no complaints

 

As you can see there are many drivers out there that are having the same issue. I didn't say it was true, it might have been a sale tactic but from other posts, there are a couple of shops out there that are doing the same thing.

 

When my leak broke, it was around $110 for 1 leaf installed.

 

How much weight to you throw in the pan to cause your truck to bottom out? It must be more than the rated!

I am guessing the shop meant some weight, not 5 lbs but enough to offset the unload springs.

 

I'm on my 3rd set of leaf springs. The first set bottomed out with a sport bike in the bed (when I say bottomed out, I mean sat pretty squarely on the bump stops). The bike was a CBR600 so about 400# give or take, no gear and just me in the cab.

Toyota then gave me the TSB leaf springs, they were better but with just the weight of the shell, the leaf pack would ride on the overload leaf the entire time. It wouldn't bottom out because of the 1/2" thick overload leaf but it rode like crap.

I'm now running a new TSB leaf pack (I bought a new TSB leaf pack take off from another member since mine was flat) and the Icon 3-leaf AAL. All problems solved

 

It seems this issue has been brough to Toyota's attention.

http://www.tacomahq.com/508/toyota-tacoma-leaf-springs-break/