BayAreaTaco's Expo Crawler. Custom 1 ton SAS!

They are Chevy 1/2 ton springs. Common swap from a Chevy truck. There's actually quite a few parts from Chevy that for well in Toyotas. They call them 63's for short. Due to the fact they are 63" long from eye to eye. There's a few different styles to chose from. @bayareataco chose some from a Chevy 2500 4x4. They have a four leaf pack and a overload. He rebuilt them and cleaned them up. We removed the overload and one spring for the current ride height preliminary setup. We most likely will be adding the fourth leaf back in maybe we'll see. Haha

I set them about ~2"
Farther back them stick CL because we wanted to stretch the wheel
Base a bit. Why? Well I have built a few rigs in my time and I am happy with a few set lengths depending on width and height. Also in case Jimmy ever wants to link the rear we won't have to move too much.

As far as the exhaust no that's not it. It's getting a new tail section with a turn down once I can finalize the bump stops and shock location I'll get it placed correctly. It's the factory exhaust jimmy and I both don't like noisy droning mufflers. We have touched on a few options but for now well
Run the stock setup with a nice short tail section.

 

Damn...shouldnt have sold my 63s huh......ima pick up another set.....was gonna go dakars....cody, watcha think? I dont have crazy shit in the rear..i will be doing a swing out soon..heard the 63s suck with weight

 

They're pretty okay with weight, but you'll get a rough ride in the rear. That or a great ride in the rear and a terrible carrying capacity.

 

They have there limitations. As far best bang for the buck can't beat them. I used them for years on several builds always worked great. As far as weight if its moderate. They are fine. Huge RTT's and tons of expo gear and trailers . I'd shy away. But then again as I always say lets nail down what exactly you're building for. Expo rigs aren't rock crawlers and Rock crawlers aren't drag cars if you catch my drift. Jimmy an I have a few tricks up our sleeve to try out for this one. I think with a little effort and some time spent not packing everything including the kitchen sink we will nail it.

 

Is one of those tricks called "linking the rear?"

 

Shhhhhh

 

Love the knowledge you share man...thank you...i guess ill do more research as the time approaches...i think 63s will suit me just fine....i dont plan on alot of weight

 

Anytime man. I am always here to help. When you get closer to that point feel
Free to stop by or call. I am always down to talk suspensions.

 

Cody I'm familiar with 63's, I just wasn't sure if that was them. Ever run any of the Ford 56" or 58" springs? A lot of the guys in my club seem to prefer them because the Chevy's are so long they get hung up on and the Fords droop even better. Here's a cool little spring chart
http://littlekeylime.com/MrN/mrnimages/leaf_springs.png

 

Apologies for being redundant.

And that charts pretty bad ass!! I'll be printing and laminating that one thanks dood

I haven't run the ford springs. I know a few guys who love them too. I wouldn't be opposed to it. Well except it's a ford part haha no really tho they are a fine choice as well. We went with the Chevys because it was familiar for us and that jimmy had them already. But I have had a them hang up on the back and smack shit when you come down off a ledge more then once. Especially with the old double shackle set up.

 

I think you may just have my money one day...lol

Thanks cody

 

No reason to apologize at all. Yeah that charts good so you know what to pull stuff off of. I used the chart to get an early set of Toyota springs for a trailer project that I'm doing. Please keep the truck porn pictures coming. I know this will be over before (almost) everyone of us will want it to be

 

FWIW i am running all pro expo leafs in the rear of my truck with 2 leafs pulled out and its great. It rides a bit rough completely empty (no tool box or spare) however it reduced my axle wrap a ton over my clapped out deaver 8 leafs and they hold a good amount of weight even with the leafs pulled. The nice part is i have two leafs to add if they start sagging, which i will most likely will be adding this summer sometime. I have been running this setup for 4 years now. I don't wheel with a lot of stuff in the bed as i dump that crap off at camp before wheeling.

 

Good info man...thank you.....so much to learn from these damn leafs..lol

 

Haha yup. So many options and soo many different ways to go. I could type a novel to explain all of them. Haha that's why I say just swing by the shop someday.

 

Cool deal. I know jimmy and I were talking about a full build thread with about a million pictures we have on 3 cameras. So I don't think the truck porn is done just yet amigo

 

Sorry to derail the thread, but I'll make it quick.

Which leafs did you pull?

 

Will do man....btw, how is your build coming along.....the time i visited i could have sworn you were building a rock crawler buggy thingy

 

Its in my build thread.... i think

 

I'll check it out, thanks.