What do you guys think....limpy leaf?

I have a pretty substantial taco lean that developed a few months back. Somehow I missed this, but thankfully I was changing out the suspension anyway. I guess it was on the inside so it didnt jump out at me when I looked things over. So this obviously contributed to it.


So that got replaced this week and I put in the new Fox 2.5's. I adjusted the driver side up 2 extra threads than the passenger side to compensate for the normal taco lean. But I'm still way short on the driver side.

I'm assuming when that spring broke, the rear leaf had to do some extra work and maybe flattened out? I'm on the old cs047r Dakars. They're 5.1/2 years old and 70k on them.

Heres the numbers:

top of rear axle tube to frame: Left: 10.7/8 Right: 11.3/4

Center of hub to fender:

LF: 22.1/2 RF: 23.3/4
LR: 24.00 RR: 25.38

Ground to fender is pretty much the same. I'm about 1.1/4" more on the driver side than the passenger and again, thats with some adjustment built into the coilovers already.

When I look at the rear leafs, I can see that there is more of a gap between the 2nd and 3rd leafs (counting from bottom up). When I measured the gap at the end of the 2nd leaf to the bottom of the 3rd, I'm about 1/4-3/8 more space on the passenger. So that would suggest my driver side leaf is collapsing more, hence some of the lean.



Nothing loaded in the bed. Gas tank is nearing the empty mark. Nobody in the truck. etc etc.


So do you guys think it's the rear leaf pack at this point? I don't know what else it could be. Although they're firm, I've been pretty happy w/ them.

 

Those leafs look terrible. Wether they’re the culprit or not, they need to be replaced. After you replace them, you can then see if it fixes the excessive lean.

 

lol...they look that bad?!

 

Lol, he’ll yeah! There’s not supposed to be gaps between them. Especially solid, then gap, then solid again. The right side looks especially bad. Looks like your bottom two leafs are separating away too.
All of the leafs should be solid touching together throughout the entire leaf pack

 

Pretty used up.

 

Know whats funny? Looking from the outside, I never saw those gaps in the right leaf pack until I took that picture from underneath this morning.
I've also realized, thanks to this thread, that I'm starting to really question my eyesight

 

Shit man, it happens. Glad to help.
I just installed some Icon RXT leaf packs. I recommend those if you feel like spending that much $. They are great and in my opinion, very worth it.

 

I feel your pain. I just got new glasses a couple months ago, but I use an older pair that's scratched to shit when I'm underneath the truck.

 

Good to know! I'll start my research. Plenty of time on my hands these days thanks to the quarantine

 

My glasses arent scratched and practically new....because I never wear them lol

 

The sway bar masks some of the lean. You ditched your sway bar back in 2011? That results in more lean than normal and you will have to rely fully on the coilovers to compensate (like I'm doing with my Icons). 2 extra threads is nothing. Keep cranking the driver's side spring perch another 1/2 to 5/8 inch.

 

Yep, sway bar is nothing more than a fixture in my garage these days.
I did read about another guy who did 4 extra threads to compensate, so I know I started on the low side of it. But before I cranked up the driver's side, I wanted to make sure all other issues are addressed first so I'm not adding excessive pre-load for no reason.

 

Says the guy from Florida, , up north its incredibly hard to keep our stuff from rusting.
Also, a leaf pack will have gaps towards the ends if it has tip inserts.

@Chris(NJ) due to miles and rust, its possible the driver pack may have a cracked leaf. If you wire brush the middle area, that can help inspection

 

Did you look at the pictures? There’s inches in between the ends of those leafs. The leaf clamps aren’t even attached anymore due to the extensive warping of the leafs. Those things are TOAST!
I wasn’t even acknowledging the rust.

 

This is a new Dakar leaf pack. No gaps and the bottom leafs are curved upward along with all of the other leafs.
Florida, New York, California, those things are toast.

 

That's how they look brand new, thats Dakars design for the overload leaves. I am very very familiar with nearly every leaf pack on the market over past 5 years for Tacomas, since I designed and manufacture shackle hangers for the Tacoma

 

I gotcha. I must have looked up the wrong Dakar leafs for the Tacoma that are pictured above.

 

Those are the "light duty" Dakar packs. The "heavy duty" (advertised for 661 lb weight) packs have two overload leafs: https://www.bilsteinlifts.com/shop/...-weight-rear-springs-2005-2018-toyota-tacoma/

 

That’s what I figured, I looked up the wrong ones