Will you miss the leafs?

You had to…

 

Just wire the bike frame directly to the battery.

 

My Taco has leafs and I'll be keeping it forever so no worries here. If it needs new leafs at some future date I'll get some new ones.

 

fwiw, i had a ram 2500 with the coils and others with leaf springs and could not tell the difference in the ride, handling or when towing/hauling.

 

The '68-'72 Chevy pickups had coils, why did GM stop using them if they were so good? Ram does it cause it's cheaper, not because of the superior design. Rear disc brakes are ridiculous on a pickup truck too. It isn't needed, why do people insist it's better? I find that they wear out much faster and emergency brakes just add to the complexity, unless your like Ken Block or someone, you can't tell the difference anyway. I just want a reliable truck, that's easy to work on, it doesn't need no fancy backrub tailgates, rear disc brakes or coil springs.

 

They likely wouldnt be using coils on the new Tundra or Tacoma if not for the design of the new platform. From what Mike Sweers said the truck would have ridden to rough with leafs. It still doesnt ride as well as the Rams from what I heard.

 

To each his own but it’s a known fact in the industry that a multi-link, rear coil suspension is superior to leafs. Why did every passenger car made do away with leafs?
Price out a set of leafs, then price out a set of coils along with the associated trailing arms etc and I’ll bet you a box of Whippet cookies 2 leafs are cheaper.
I’ve worked at a Ram dealer since 1993 and a good progressive rate coil will beat the pants off a leaf set up. Before we had coils, we had constant complaints of sagging and un-even ride height. When coils came on the scene complaints completely disappeared. No problems, zero, nada, goose big egg…..with more capability.
I understand if you’re old school, respectful of that, but I’ve seen first hand the difference.

 

Ain’t broken so why fix it? Leafs & drums go forever w/o requiring service, which is in character with the Tacoma, and seem to work fine in present form. Which is probably why most trucks on this planet still have leafs.

Not to trigger the newer is always better crowd, but coil springs have been used since the 1930’s and disc brakes appeared 100 years ago.

If you really believe a single piston rear disc would be so revolutionary while handling 20% of braking vs the drums, you’re in luck soon anyway. As for the leafs, I’d defer to Tundra owners as to whether the added complexity is worth it.

 

Fabricators will love the opportunity to sell more armor for trailing arms.

 

I am a bit old school, and don't see the reason to reinvent the wheel. Passenger cars did away with leaf springs to improve the ride, which coils are better for. The coil spring set up prevents sagging while towing? How does the coil spring system wear? Add a salty environment like the northeast winters, is there more maintenance required? If it is better, cheaper and easier to work on then I'll be all for it. So far I'm not convinced

 

I would say some factors for passenger vehicles going away from leafs is the real estate needed to mount them under the car, and the fact most cars went away from a sold rear axle, kinda negating the possibility anyways.

In some ways those that argue that pickup trucks are slowly morphing into cars are right. The end of leaf springs is maybe another example.

 

Now that we are gonna have 5-link in the rear, get ready for a bunch of front-flop rollovers on Black Bear. So far that’s a 4Runner specialty

 

Moved Post.

 

A suffering Canucks fan here. Good thing about the Canucks missing the playoffs again, is I do not have to waste so much time watching more hockey at end of season. Playoffs are a brutal time suck.

It sure is odd how the Leafs exit early so often, with a pretty decent team too. Maybe the recent trades will help them this time. Won’t hurt to have Luke Schenn dishing out some punishment, the Leafs have been too soft each playoffs.

Saw that last night on some of the Ottawa goals where your top D were stick checking on Ottawa goals when an easy push would have taken the guy off the puck. You gotta make the forwards fear the front or back of the net.

Even the Canucks sad defence are playing the body hard now under Tochett. Too little, too late.

As for leaf springs, I am adding rear air bags this spring as I carry 1,000 pound loads on frequent off road trips. That will help. My buddy down the road has a Dodge ram with rear air bags, and loves them for towing his trailer. I like the fact you can adjust the ride for the type of off road conditions.

I personally would not go the add a leaf route.

 

Absolutely nothing wrong with being "old school". I am old school on a lot of things. If you like leafs better, we all know they work.

The trucks I see are in the salt belt (and by the ocean) and we never see a higher instance of wear or service needed. I see more broken main leafs than I see broken coils.

As far as leafs go, I see two main heavy duty advantages:
1. Cost.
2. All out weight capacity and the ability to "re-arc" or add leafs. With that said most owners of 5th wheel equipped pickups with leafs are still using airbag helpers.
The advantages for coils suit light duty applications better than leafs:
1. Better ride and handling.
2. Better off road articulation.
3. Much easier to replace/upgrade.
4. Less space requirements.

Keep in mind adding leafs to a spring doesn't increase load capacity of any given truck. The GVW is mostly determined by how much the axles will carry, the braking capacity and frame capacity. I've seen landscapers adding three leafs to a truck to carry a sander without sagging and actually snap an axle shaft due to the weight.

So I guess it's "pick your poison". I personally have seen such an overall improvement with a coil set up (over leafs) I am a firm believer in them for light duty applications. However, in the real world, it's all in how well either system is engineered.

 

Hard core fabricators will find a way shorten 18” off back of truck with no rear leaf mount getting in the way.

 

I like the leaf springs in my utility truck. Love the drum brakes too. I also love how mad they make people feel.

 

long bed guys

 

I’ve never fully understood why trucks continue to use leaf springs, but I guess the reasons are a combination of cost, simplicity, durability, compatibility with solid axles, non-linear behavior (non Hookes Law), and marketing data that suggests there is a market for trucks equipped with them.