99 Tacoma LEAF SPRINGS

99 Manual Tacoma 4x4, Looking for Leaf Springs buying New are outrageous.

Or should I just break down and buy them New??

 

New aftermarket springs, from a known manufacturer, with a decent warranty can serve you well. Check out Rockauto for different options, but definitely stay away from "various manufacturers" as you don't know what you are getting. The Dorman brand is well respected, but there are others that might fill your needs.

 

I don't recommend doing this unless you like some adventure.

My Old Man Emu (OME) springs had 130,000 miles on them and my truck is pretty heavy. They were no longer up to the task.

I went to a junkyard and pulled some chevy springs from a chevy Tahoe that were the same width as my tacoma for $100 and a few hours of work.

I used an online spring calculator to figure out what combination of chevy and old man emu springs to use.
I cut up the chevy springs and replaced some of the OME springs and replaced the OME bushings.
For about $200 and a solid day's work I have decent springs.

Originally I was going to run these for a year and replace with custom Alcans that cost around $1,000 last time I checked. the Old Man Chevy springs are working well enough I'm going to keep them. I'm sure the alcans would be much better. But are they $1,000 better?

 

Alternatively, dodge Dakota springs can be disassembled and the leaves applied to the stock Toyota leaf. Gives some lift, but they seem to be a better spring. That’s what I’m running

 

Thanks for the info

 

Chevy 63s are a super common swap, but that's also assuming the OP can weld.

As for a $1k leaf pack being worth it? Absolutely, they'll be custom for your use.

 

New General Springs leaf pack are cheap.

 

+3 for General Springs. I had a heavy duty set from them installed on a '97.
https://www.generalspringkc.com/leaf-springs/toyota/tacoma/1998-2000-toyota-tacoma-leaf-springs/

 

I didn’t do a 63 swap.
I got them from a Tahoe which doesn’t use 63’s.
I swapped individual leaves from the Tahoe that are thicker with the thinner old man emu springs.
No welding required, just cutting.

 

Just replaced the leaf springs on my father's 95 Tacoma.
Rockauto was the best price. Best part is they have new bushings already in them and one less thing to mess around with. We did the shackles also (Amazon).
Previous owner had T100 springs on it and it rode like shit. Now it rides like it should.

 

Something to be mindful of, the pre-tacoma trucks had different length leaf springs. I don't recall the exact year they changed. But if you're in that 95-98 range it's worth noting.

As for the stuff on Rock Auto- If you look at the part numbers for the springs list there, they are almost identical to the part numbers for general springs, and doorman as well if I recall. If I had to guess there is one company out there making them and slapping whatever manufacturer label on them is required.

 

1995 Tacoma extracab DLX, not preTacoma
And I searched all the usual places like O'Rielly's, Napa and Autozone, and they were the cheapest. Some share similar part numbers and on RockAuto there is an info button by the price. That gave me the measurements that confirmed they were correct as well as the manufacturer who I also called.
Anyway, that was the route we chose for his rig as well as my 2003 Prerunner.

 

The short springs were 95'-97 according to All Pro.

 

This is a very common practice among manufacturers. There are many obvious examples of this practice and it is also routine for the source manufacturers to contractually agree to not revealing that a particular marque (Toyota, Porsche, Ford, etc.) is using its formula or manufactured part. Think of batteries or coolant (anti-freeze) for example. Porsche does not make its own coolant but it can slap a label on its coolant and charge three times the price that you would pay for coolant from the original producer. These are closely held trade secrets that result in major profit centers for all of the marques, especially the more prestigious ones. These marques rely on the insecurity they cause owners for these owners to pony up for their branded parts.

Another obvious example is for car starting batteries, where most aftermarket car batteries sold in the U.S. are made by three companies that build them for retailers. (Johnson Controls, Exide; and East Penn). Most of the names you can buy at regular stores or car dealers are made by the 3 listed.

I am certain it is the same situation with leaf springs.