Tacoma Spring refurbishing

Doug, I found decimal thickness of the individual springs that you like to use for your refurbs (Ford,Chevy) at "Husky Springs". They are running 0.340"-0.370" in most cases. I suspect that General Spring is measuring the spring liners as well for their tables.

 

Hey guys, great great mod! I just added two Chevy springs into my first gen pack, I kept the main and secondary with the mil wrap and then two stiff curved Chevys below, gave me good lift and way improved ride and capacity!
One question though.
I bought bil 5125s in 10" rear length as the shop said they would be fine for what I wanted.. As it sits with my lift the struts are half compressed! So I would only have 4-5 inches of up travel, more droop though.
Will I have to make taller bump stops to avoid bottoming out and destroying the strut?
Or should I get custom upper strut mounts the make them at wider angle and or higher up? I would like as much articulation as I can from the stock length main leaf. I can get pictures if you would like!

Here's the Chevys I cut. Ran out of time for the dog ears, but it was my test pack! Still awesome!

 

Here's my shackle flip Doug.

 

Can you get a picture? I did the same exact thing, 2 chevy springs and 10" 5125s. I had to get new shocks, the 5125s wer bottoming out. They make 9" 5125s, those would work great.

 

Extended bump stops would fix that. That is what I will be doing on mine.

 

Yea I'm sure the best thing to do is get the shorter shocks, a waste of another 200$
But I jacked up my one side rear tire with a floor jack about 1.5' and they still did not bottom out. That gives me hope that with longer bump stops for protection I will probibly rarely bottom them out. My rear end is pretty stiff now though, a waste of a 10" shock though.
It's not rock crawler flex, and was not designed to be. I wanted a stiffer taller ride for a full load of camping gear and work stuff!

(There is still approx 1inch+ inside the boot on the shock)
And about 5inches when sitting level

Thanks guys!

 

Just finished the springs for the first round to see how they ride. definitely more stiff but not bad. There are 6 springs total including the stock toyota upper leaf. I have not yet cut the edges of each spring yet either. The donor springs are from an early 80's Chevy 3/4 ton 4x4. The axle wraps a little (probably 1.5 inches up approximatly) on a hard take off. I plan to add some straps to keep the leaves from shifting.

Some issues I have are:

The front end of the top donor spring is close to the eyelet and the rear of it is about 6-7 inches from the rear eyelet. Not sure if that will be an issue where the top is in relation to the toyota spring.

any other criticism to make these better is appreciated.

Edit: I set the lower leaves to be 3.5-4 inches shorter than the one above it on each end for all the donor springs

Edit (12/17/12) finished the springs see later post

 

Did you cut your donors equal distance from the center pin hole? Second gens are not offset like first gens. For example, for a 34" donor, you should center off of the original center pin hole 17"s each side.

 

I did not do that.

 

You defintely need to take your leaf packs out and cut the longer side down to the same length as the shorter side.

 

I recently recieved some donors from a jeep that are heavy duty oem replacements. I'm trying to figure out how many and which leaves to use but I know that's its going to be a trial and error thing. Now from reading the last couple posts I now understand that I have to redrill the center pin holes to center the leafs with the stock yota main leaf? Or could I leave them the way they are? What would be the reason for having to redrill and center them? Thanks guys!- swanny.

 

First gens ARE offset, exact ratio I do not know. Second gen leaves are equal distance from the center pins. Second gens are recommended that you keep the top two leaves and build off of those, starting with a leaf around 33"s long, next around 27", with a 2.5" width with around a 1/4" thickness, with some decent arc, preferably from a late 70's, 80's model Chevy 1/2 to 3/4 ton. Doug does not recommend drilling new holes, as these may weaken the leaf pack. Remember, a little American steel goes a long way. I used one 33" leaf and got right at 2 1/4 lift with a non-tsb pack, keeping the overload because of the brake line bracket. I recommend reading this entire thread before starting your install. Lots of people have done this mod with excellent results, but you need to know what you're looking for and what is required to get the results you're after. Hope this helps.

 

When i pull mine apart to cut the ends equal distant from the center should I add the second original Toyota spring back in?

 

I would, just for the first leafs bushing protection. Then, depending on what kind of lift you're after, put in a 33" or a 32" donor centered off of the center pin, followed by a 26" to 25" donor. Adding one you can probably re- use your u- bolts. Adding two and keeping the overload, you will probably have to get new ones. New shocks will be a must, extended brake lines will vary depending on the gain you achieve.

 

Sweet. thanks for the help. I will post back when i finish those changes.

 

OMD... is it ok to mix 3/8" thick leaves with 1/4" ones? got some sick Fsuperduty overload units yesterday (the ones that live over the main pack) 4 leaves in all I was thinking that i'd yank out the lower leave (not the overload) out of my TSB pack and add the bottom three out of those.... Any thoughts?

 

i arguably dont know shit about shit but i think you will have a pretty bumpy ride. do you want more flex or better carrying capacity?

 

Sounds like a really rough ride and the best donor springs are 60 & 70 year trucks and SUV's... Also check the width of your donors compared to whats on the truck stock. Maybe wider if I remember corrrectly...

 

The springs are the same width 2 3/8" as our tacos but 1/4" thick rather than the 3/8" thickness of our leaves. The pack seemed very flexible.... Ill have to ask around a bit more though. I cannot find any 60-70's donor anything around here.

 

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