Group Buy: APRIL 22 DEADLINE Wheelers Offroad 1st Gen Leaf Replacement

Hookay, kids, how about a little roll call and update on the state of your springs? Various posts on other threads have asked about settling, so I just went out and measured.

These measurements are to the very bottom of the plastic fender flares (where they are parallel to the ground) and vertical right over the hub centerline. Mine is of course stock tire size 265/70-16), which is 14.5 from hub to ground. So do the math if you have different tires.

Right after the install, ended up with 37.25 in the front and 37.75 in the rear, and that was with about 2/3 of a tank of gas.

Right now, after four months and, oh, about 4,000 miles, they have settled to 37 front and 37.25 rear, and that is with a half-tank of gas. I think they feel just a tad softer. Only a tad. Or maybe just a skosh.

I am still very happy. With the truck. In general.

 

No measurements here but They don't seem to have settled a noticeable amount. The ride is awesome and the load capacity is awesome with these things. I used to bottom out on speed bumps with 2 dirtbikes in the bed, now I get nowhere close.

Also no noticeable squeaks when driving, just some faint squeaking when jumping on the bumper.

Definitely worth the money.

 

My springs don't squeak no more period.. they have dropped a bit, but then again I've been loading the bed full of cut & split wood for the last couple months, so...

Easy way to break the springs in, go to Rausch Creek.. or you're nearest off-road park/trails, they will get broken in just dandy there.

I will get measurements soon.

 

Hi guys - been a while since I posted in this thread. I am happy as can be with the new leafs, 5100's and OME 880 I slapped on earlier in the year. I also put on premium Napa front rotors and pads. One of the reasons I jumped into this group buy was that my leaf springs were looking pretty flat - not as bad as MTgirl's - but I had a rough ride and was wanting to improve things a bit. This seemed like a good place to start. But the ride, while improved, is still not great.

At this moment I blame my tires which are not as happy as they use to be. So I have been obsessing about tires and doing my homework here on TW. I posted a new thread hoping for some opinions here:
http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/wheels-tires/123937-obsessed-tires-00-prerunner.html#post2397047

I'd love some advice from you guys and Gal. MTgirl - I know you have been tire shopping as well from my lurking. I'll try not to repeat every detail in my other post but basically I can't afford to upgrade my stock 15" rims to 16" and had decided I wanted Michelin M/s2's. The only size I can fit is 235/75/15 which is 2" smaller than the 31x10.5x15's I currently have. I could get A/t2's and M/s's in 31x10.5x15 and keep the size.

Opinions would rock. Thanks.

 

The last time I had my tires rotated I was told they are wearing unevenly. And the tread is getting down there - not quite to the top of Lincoln's head but close. At 50-60mph I have a bit of shake in the steering wheel but I didn't get an alignment after the springs and shocks were installed. I was waiting to do an alignment when I replaced the tires.

The BFG All Terrains have about 40,000 miles on them and in trying to improve the ride this seems like the next logical step. Looks like they were mfg'd in 2003.

I am having a different issue as well that might need a separate thread. Right after the suspension upgrades the truck rode beautifully. Braking was smooth. But after a few months a "shutter" returned when braking going downhill. This has happened in the past as well. I had resurfaced my rotors four times and replaced pads up front twice since I bought the truck in 2004. Everything is fine for a few months after but the shutter returns. You can feel it in the brake pedal and it feels rough. I have wondered that since the tires are wearing unevenly whether that could be some of the issue. So I wanted to replace tires and align to eliminate that idea.

Oh yeah, miles - about 4000 since the swap but that's a guesstimate.

 

^ I read somewhere in this forum that it could be the pistons in the caliper? One may be clogged or something putting uneven pressure on your rotors which will eventually warp them. It was a fairly simple fix. Just take apart both calipers and find the piston not workong properly.
Try doing a search for this or maybe another member can chime in. I'll look for that thread as well.


I found these maybe they will help ya:

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st...questions.html

http://www.tacomaworld.com/forum/1st...g-braking.html

 

Thanks TJack. I am going to check the brake pistons now. It seems that this is most likely the case with the shutter. Nothing else makes sense and with brand new rotors and pads - I shouldn't be having this problem.

 

I got the Michelin AT2s. Love 'em. Great on the highway for a daily driver. Quiet, good mileage. Great in rain, like I'm on rails. I've taken them offroad on "medium" trails, washboard, snow-covered dirt, did great. Good traction. As an all-around tire, I am happy with my choice. Had them for about 10k miles.

 

After diving in I have found I indeed have warped rotors and stuck pistons. Explains a lot of what I have been experiencing with the braking shudders. I need to decide whether to rebuild with a seal kit or whether to just replace the calipers all together. I wasn't prepared to do anything today but try and figure out what was going on.

And I'm a little bit of the cart before the horse guy so the tires before brakes isn't super smart but there's a Michelin rebate good until 11/27 and I'm motivated by saving money. That line of thought may help determine whether to rebuild or replace the brake calipers as well. Thanks again for the links. They helped motivate me to figure it out once and for all.

 

I am definitely leaning hard towards these since they are available in 31x10.5x15's and the MS2s aren't. Since I plan on having them for at least 60000 miles I would rather have the newer technology tires as opposed to the MS's (although they are well reviewed). Thanks for the input SCO.

 

Nice! Glad you could figure it out!

Do you think cleaning the pistons would get them working until the horse catches up to the cart?

If you Google or search on this forum "cleaning brake caliper pistons" there's a ton of good articles and even videos. Just a thought. GL with your decision!

 

Time to bump this beast

So I just wanted to add that all the vibration I was complaining about in various threads was completely due to the tires. I just got rid of the coopers for some BFG A/T's and there is zero vibration.

 

Trucks great, life's great lol. I've been driving back and forth to school every weekend because I work weekends 90 miles away (stupid I know but I need the money), hence the smaller tires.
Thats the reason Im not on here very much anymore, too busy with 16 credit hours and 20 hours of work on the weekends.

 

Anybody that missed this buy can get in on the new on the GB page. Spread the word.
Thanks ya'll