Are My Rear Shocks Screwed?

Tom,
Your feedback has been very valuable to me and I very much appreciate the time you’ve taken to share you experience with me. If I can pull the trigger on this newish set, then I do plan to AAL to the equation to help sustain the loads I want to carry. This should last me a while until I can afford the upgrade I really want.

 

It’s been a Texas truck all it’s life. Vehicles usually stay pretty clean down here.

 

If the springs on my 2006 were replaced 2000 miles ago, would the 3 leaf progressive pack enable those springs to last the life of the truck, or is that too many miles to hope for a revival??

My 3+overloads were replaced with 3+overload. The dealer said it hadn't been done yet, so I said go ahead and do it. First Tacoma and I didn't know any better. The set that was on had a funny leaf that sorta wrapped halfway up the bushing on the first leaf. Now I really don't know if that was stock or a replacement set.

Side note: Why is it called AAL when it's more that one leaf? Shouldn't it be AALs?

 

As long as your intended use is the same as mine and the ops' you should be fine, 2k miles is nothing (unless you've had a 2,000 lb load in the bed since install). If you plan on 35s, plate bumper/swingout and anything more than very mild wheeling then my solution isn't for you. That's been proven here too. Be aware that you could end up with more rake than you care for since you're stock in front. You could simply only use the longest two of the three leaves that come with a multi leaf aal (also referred to as a progressive aal). Another option would be to lift the front a little with a height adjustable shock like a Bilstein 5100 retaining the stock coil. That was the direction I went because I knew I was always going to be carrying the weight of the cap, rack and bed mat. Keep in mind that any height adjustment to the front end should be followed by an alignment - which is when you'll find out weather or not your trucks alignment cams are frozen or not (they will be ). Oh and an aal can be a single leaf (which don't ride as nice) or multiple leaves, typing just aal is faster I guess.

 

Thanks for the info.