How to: Chevy 63" Leaf Spring Swap

Why not just add airbag helpers?

 

Airbags aren’t made for crawlin rocks

 

That's what Daystar airbag cradles are for.

 

That’s all great and fine until they get torn to shit because a branch or a sharp rock punctures the bag.

 

I fiiiinnaaaally got some time to do the 63 swap, after having the parts for almost a year. Super stoked on how it's all working! I made a couple posts in my build thread with more pics (HERE). But here are a few pictures of it all finished.

Ended up doing 4 leafs, no overload (I bought a 2500 pack and a 1500 pack from the junk yard and mixed them up). 16" shocks. Extended the bumps 3". And I got 30" brake lines, which are more than long enough. I had to do a tonne of work on my frame to clean up all the rust, which is probably what took me the most time out of everything. That and the bed cage took a little bit of figuring out as well to try and save as much bed space as possible.

 

Love that cage!! That is excellent work!!

 

Thanks man!

 

absolutely disgusting! I love it! Looks like the bed could use a bit more trimming since the shock body seems to be making contact. Love it.

 

Haha! Thanks! It looks close in the pictures, but it doesn't make contact anywhere. I did have to put wheel spacers on for the tire to clear the shock though unfortunately.

 

If any one is still looking to do this I have a set for sale that were on a 96 first Gen Tacoma.$100

 

Out of curiosity, how much on average did this swap run you guys?
I'm considering it as my next upgrade path.

 

Kinda like that speed costs money deal... how fast you wanna go?

You can still get these springs used at a junk yard for dirt cheap and if you are handy with a welder or source some of your own hangers like may from ruff stuff or even eBay you could be in a couple hundred bucks and just cost you a little more blood, sweat and tears. If you are not the fabbin’ type I could see it being $500 plus quick at a shop.

 

As DIY as I can basically, and as for speed.... Well I've been sitting on sliders for about a year and a half now so what does that tell ya....
Was definitely going to grab the kits though from BAMF/RuffStuff. Welding myself is the cheap route and the route I'm willing to go. Cutting a bunch of steel is beyond my tooling capabilities, at least in a way I'd want to go about it.

Going down the OP list, I came up to around $3k.

 

He meant fast as in speed not doing the swap.

I spent including new wheels because of my shock relocation a little over 3g it was a little over 2g I want to say like 2300 without wheels for all brand new stuff. That includes the ruff stuff made swap parts I didn't make any of that stuff.

Just remember you get what you pay for sometimes with junkyard parts and springs do wear out over time and you don't know the history of said springs.

 

For mine I'm in ~$950 + consumables for the first iteration.
Ruff stuff kit and outriggers - $225
Heavy springs (new) - $400
14" Billies - $70 each
Extended rear brake lines - $35?
BAMF relocation - $15]

Offset wheels not included in my costs: I just tweaked the specs on an already planned set. Scratch/ding wheels x 5 - $900


Second iteration I'm in $900 so far and expecting more
Hoops -$50
Used 14" double bypasses -$850
Custom Alcan pack - TBD, expecting 700 to 1k

I love the load capacity, but not sure if I'd do it again vs a custom pack. Currently pulling ~9.5" shock travel due to poor droop on a 2250 lb rated pack

 

New springs can be had for pretty cheap. Right here in KC.
The money on the 63 swap in my opinion is in the shock relocation.
Or more like, now I can flex how big of rears can I fit.

 

if you go cheap you can get it done for under $1k. I have a complete budget swap, but went with archive stuff instead. Need to sell all my 63 stuff.

 

I was eyeballing a set of kangs, but @MuddySquirrel mentioned the 14" travel billies. Those are like a 20th of the price of Kings dual spring emulsion set.
I spent too much time in @In4aride 's build thread and the flex finally got to me. Between you and him, yall are gonna make my truck envy empty my wallet and my wife's gonna hate me lol

 

You'd have to go links to do the dual spring kings since that's a coilover. All you need for 63s are shocks it's like 800ish for RR kings