Reinstalling lift kit after leaf spring replacement

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Looks to me that the third spring down is the Add a leaf- you can totally reuse this spring in your new leaf pack. Because you are doing the rear only you will not need a wheel alighnment(calibration) this is only needed when working with the front. It is not harming anything driving it around but I would imagine your headlights are pointed a little high driving at night. There is slink in my signature to give you an idea how that AAL works but call around to tire shops or off rad garages and they can have you sitting level in no time.

 

The simplest answer to your question is that Toyota is doing you a favor by replacing your FACTORY leaf springs. The dealership is not going to install your AAL for a few reasons.
1 - The technician is getting paid to replace the leaf springs, rear shackle bushings, and hardware for factory leaf springs. No more, no less
2 - The new leaf springs must be separated to install the AAL. The leaf spring guide pin will not be long enough and will need to be replaced. The ubolts may not be long enough as well.
3 - The dealership will not be liable for disassembling a brand new component and install a customer's added component.

Like I said at the beginning, you are receiving a stock replacement for a stock part. Hope this was a good enough explanation for you.

 

If it's not too rusted, you can re-use the centering pin from the original springs, although those don't cost very much.

 

You could reuse it with the old centering pin. But it's a few years old, both are showing some rust and you'll need new u-bolts anyways. For around $150 you can replace them with new parts. It's not a complicated job, and you'll learn how these things work by doing it yourself.

 

Thanks for the response. The top spring, the one that looks inverted, is that part of the AAL as well? The new leaf pack doesn't have anything like it. Sorry for the noob question.

 

I could use a lot less of these kinds of "favors" in my life... I never asked for the factory leaf springs to be faulty and then have to deal with replacing them prematurely. Anyway, I appreciate the added insight into what goes into installing the AAL. Makes more sense as to why the dealer wasn't willing to install it.

 

Honestly, I would like to learn, and I have access to military base auto hobby shops, but I really don't even know the basics. I would definitely need someone who knows their stuff to give me some pointers.

 

Those hobby shops are great. Usually full of the same people. I'm sure anyone in there would love to help you learn new things. Hell the person running the shop might even be willing to help out. I used to bs with the manager for hours about motorcycles, guns, etc.

 

no problem- Top spring is with the mounting "eyes". The thickest one is on the bottom called the overload and in this case is slightly inverted to the rest of the spring pack.