The 95-97 Taco Thread

Your shocks are holding you back. I can tell by the angle on your shackle when fully flexed. You can surely get another 2" - 3".

You should check out this thread. http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/suspension/261770-rear-shock-relocation-thread.html

I'll be relocating mine before to long, and that should give me a couple more inches in travel.

 

Man, you might be right. I'll have to measure when I get the chance. I thought I had a bit left in them, being the 12" instead of 10" but it looks close...

 

^Next time you're out somewhere that you can flax, disconnect your shocks. Find a spot to let the rear droop as much as your springs will allow, then measure.

Also doable if you have a long enough hi lift.

 

To a point.. You dont want to be flattening your springs out. He should probly extend his bumps so when hes on them it doesnt completely flatten the springs out. Constantly flattening out your springs will cause premature wear.

 

This is true. Mine bottom out with a slight U still in them.

 

Tomorrow I hope to get both the shock measurements as well as the measurements for my extended bumpstops. I think I'll just extend the top strike plate down... is that what you guys typically do?

 

That's what I plan to do.

 

^Good to know. I'll post up measurements, if I can get them, later today.

In the mean time, does anyone else have spring length, Shackle length and wheel travel info? Flexed out pics instead of wheel travel would be useful to.

Blackdawg: Can you get your 33s down below the body of your truck?

 

So, I did some measurements last night and had some interesting results. It looks like my shocks have 5 more inches of extension left in them. (extended length of the shock is 28" and full extension on the truck is only 23")



The reason seems to be the binding in the leafs at extension:


The shackle angles show me that I need a longer main leaf. Here are a couple pics at full compression and full extension. (I've done the calculations and figured out that, if I go with a one inch longer shackle, I need a two inch longer main leaf giving me a 47 degree shackle angle. I'll post a thread about how I figured that out sometime.)

Full Extension:


Full Compression:


Does anyone else have bad binding problems in their leafs?

The front suspension, on the other hand is looking good. Almost exactly 11" of wheel travel, and my Light Racing UCAs have plenty of motion left in them:







I don't think I want to go any longer on the shocks because the axle is already at a severe angle:



So, overall, I think I might order up an Alcan main leaf, 2" longer than I have now. And I'll get a 6.5" Orbit eye Shackle setup. My hope: around 4" additional down travel. What do you all think?

 

I don't seem to have leaf binding...My main leaf is a Alcan from a Wheelers 5 pack. 1'' lift shackles..








ive never really measured my wheel travel tho..droop a 33'' tire past my sliders tho..

not surprised you have a lot of shock left. 12'' shocks are huge on our trucks. Really you should relocate them like /\. Your shocks are probably binding as well. I almost went with orbit eyes too. But was told by Alcan they don't handle weight great. So i didn't .

 

Man, your shackle angles tell the story. It looks like they are moving waaay more freely than mine. Also, it looks like you are running 3 or 4 leafs in your pack. I wonder if the fact that I've got 8 in mine is part of the difference. It seems like each leaf is helping the others resist the torsion. Whatever it is, I want my suspension to flex more like yours....


It's interesting that Alcan told you that the orbit eyes didn't handle weight well. I'll have to ask them more about that. I mentioned that I am going to build a rear bumper with a tire carrier for expo trips and they said the eyes should be fine, but I never asked explicitly about weight. I'll call them on Monday and check on it.

Out of curiosity, which shocks are you running and are you still in the stock mounts? I'm just wondering what lengths you are getting and if you see any binding in your rear...

Thanks, as usual, for the info Blackdawg.

 

Interesting, I've never seen leafs bind like that. I stand corrected on the shocks, yours appear to be plenty long enough.

The first thing I see is that the bolt on the rear of your leafs looks way to tight. That could be your binding problem right there? Secondly, what kind of bushings are you running? The bushings themselves should be flexing much better then that. Third, the clamp thingies that keep the leafy even, do they appear to have any wiggle room when flexing? And lastly, what does the front of your leafs look like at full flex?

 

actually i have 7 leafs..so not that far off from you..

Maybe your shackles are too tight?? I know i tightened mine too much the first go around and was like..WTF?!..then loosened then a bit..flex great now.

And well it was a year ago I honestly don't think just one makes that big a difference..nets you MAYBE .5''..and they are sooooo expensive. Plus you have to get custom shackles made by Alcan too as the Ordbits are much wider or something so normal sized ones don't fit.

I have just billy 5150s 10'' travel. Im sure im maxed something out tho..they leak pretty bad now..

Honestly i haven't seen much binding..im pretty happy with my rear setup. Id like to relocate my shocks like /\ and get some 11'' ones or 12'' and better shocks then my current ones. Something rebuildable at least..

 

I think you're onto something with my lower shackle bolt. I'll try loosening that up and see if that nets me more flex.

I'm running prothane bushings, which are pretty stiff. My hope was that they would break in, but they are holding up almost too well...

As for the clamp thingies, I think there is enough room to move in there. It looks like they let the top leave bend. What do you think?

Also, the front side of the leafs were just going into negative arch when I took the pic. This picture is from a different day... it's just a little more extreme than the negative arch the other night.

 

i actually don't have one of those retainer clips blot in either. The leaf that has the clip is too low so i can't fit a bolt on them. I bet that is one of the reasons i droop so well too.

 

Well crap... Maybe I'll head out to the garage right now and loosen those bolts a half turn or so. I didn't realize you had 7 leafs in there.

Yeah, I was looking at investing some pretty serious cash and going a couple of inches longer on the main leaf, going a little longer on the shackle and getting the orbit eyes at the same time. Maybe I can save that cash and start on my rear bumper!

Also, your 10" 5150s and my 12" 7100 Short bodies have basically the same compressed length. If you're looking for something to swap in with just a little more travel, I've been impressed with mine. Plus they're rebuildable and I like the bling!

 

How much do they run usually?? Same compression length is bad ass.

Yea try loosening the shackles. And take out that retainer clip top bolt.

 

Full setup was going to be over $500, so I'll try your (and Davtopgun's) advice with loosening the shackle bolts and pull that top bolt from the retainer clip.

 

Eh. Not that bad I guess. Cheaper then others haha

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

 

Blackdawg: It was that price because I was only going to buy the main/support leaf for each side. (plus the orbit eyes and special shackles) Like you said, I'll update you guys on working with what I've got first. When I post up new pics, I'd love your weigh in.

BTW, this is probably one of the most helpful forums/threads I've seen. Thanks for all of your input, guys