Best leaf springs?

only for you crazy canucks...

 

Haha, last year we saw the thermometer hit 40 below. then the power went out for 8 days after an ice storm, o, and t shirt weather for us is about 110 in august lol. quite a bit of temperature fluctuation here.

 

FINALLY got my leaf packs rebuilt! Got some salvaged from an old 3/4 ton ford. I even got enough lift to ditch my axle blocks. Ill post somepics so everyone can see just how dead they were. Thanks again Doug!

 

Sounds good. Cant wait for pics.

 

Yea dude you'll shit when you see what the looked like before. They still don't have a while lot !of arch, but at least i turned the toyota frown upside down! I dunno why doug's thread on this hasn't been stickied yet.

 

It should be a sticky.

If it wasn't for me getting a good job now, and If I was on a tighter budget I would rebuild my packs vs. getting a wheelers 5 pack like I will soon.

I really wish I could get an AP Expo pack....but they insist on not making packs for us 95-97 tacos...and I dont want to hack off my spring hangers

 

No kidding. Its pretty tough to get enough money to spend on your pickup when your highschool and only have a summer job, plus a dirtbike and snowmobile to take care of. As far as these things go, you cant go wrong with free.

 

I know what its like mang....

I was there once too...bringing home $75 a week after paying for insurance/gas/phone SUCKS ASS.

 

Shit i don't even have to pay for any of that and I'm STILL broke. I have some pretty generous parents. 75$ a week extra sounds pretty appealing lol. Cant get an after school job because of sports and shitty grades

 

yeah, I had to bust my ass. HS, plus early college classes, and 25 hours a week at work.

Wake up, school, study, work, study, sleep.... repeat for 2 years. Glad that shit is over. Lovin life now man! Just get through school go to college!

 

Yea I'm shipping out to caterpillar tech in two years. Gonna be sweet. every other semester ill be off campus working in a shop to get experience. So ill have lots of breaks.

 

yeah man. Everyone I have talked to in that industry has loved it. I guess the money is good in heavy machine tech too.

 

Yea, should be sweet. I just wish there were more taco enthusiasts in the area. theres no trails or orv parks to play in around here. It sucks.

 

Oooook, so I finally got the install done, found an older 3/4 ton for a donor, I had overload springs on it, so I don't think they had been stressed too much, and I thought they were in pretty good shape.

Here they are.



I broke 'em apart and decided to use the bottom, and the next one up, so I used a bench grinder wire wheel to clean them up a bit. I had to have my pickup the next day for school, and since I didn't start till 1ish, so i didn't paint them or anything. I'm sure they'll hold up enough to wear out before they rust out, and no ones gonna be lookin' at 'em so whatever.

Heres my pathetic excuse for factory leaf springs. I don't believe i've ever seen leaf springs look this bad. Our 1991 2wd nissan pickup has better lookin' ones.


As you can see, they aren't far from the bump stops and the base plate. And I'm sure my 2" axle blocks weren't doing them any favors either.



I didn't take any pictures except before and after, so DRUMROLLLLLLLLLL
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Driver Side!


Passenger side.



^^^ this one doesn't look real great, but I was working on uneven ground, so it was flexxed a litte. But look at the one above this one, and you can see I gained alot of clearance from my bump stop. The only issue I encountered was my u-bolts from my lift kit were too long, and the stock ones too short, so I improvised. cut some pipe to use for spacers on top of the nuts and washers.

Dunno If you can really notice a difference, but heres the truck after the rebuilt springs.

It turned out great and I would recommend it to anyone. It rides alot smoother over small bumps, and on the section line (undeveloped trail) pretty smooth at 25 mph. Once again, thanks a million Doug! nothin beats free!!!

 

c'mon, somebody needs to be interested still! My thread finally has a conclusion and then it dies!

 

looks pretty sweet man. Had a good stance now

 

Someday when I settle down I hope to work on projects like this. This would be one of them. Great job!

 

I have a 98 reg cab with the same flat springs as you, but no lift, and will not have any lift. I never go offroad except creeping into the woods to load firewood, and I tow a boat sometimes, but mostly my truck is a daily driver. Here is what I did:

Timbrens $200
4 New Mastercraft Courser HTR tires C-rated $600 installed(replaced P225- 75-15s with LT235-75-15s)
Rancho 9000 rear shocks

Now, there will be some who think I am a fool, and maybe I am, but this setup is working very well for my purposes. If later I want to do something about getting some new stock-height springs, I will do it, but for the moment this is working fine. Ride is stiffer, but not beating my kidneys in. Loaded it with firewood and it sagged an inch and stopped. Tires warranteed for 60k miles, but with the C (6-ply) rating and how light my truck is they will last every bit of that and maybe more.

 

yea, I'm pretty happy with it. I did the bare minimum of work. no diamond cuts or spray paint but it still turned out great. Plus i'm happy to be able to ditch the axle blocks.