How to: Chevy 63" Leaf Spring Swap

I did not get a measurement I will try again. She waz up to my knee. Probably 2'. Basically the amount of travel I've gained is probably about a foot or two more. She feels super stiff flexing because the frame is super stiff. I don't feel the body roll more than a jeep. Like it's not as top heavy so I don't feel like I'd roll. She feels so great at speed though. I just put about 250lbs and drove at about 70 hitting all the pot holes I could find. Trying not to be super aggressive in turns rn. No problems here though!!. Feels better with more weight actually. The springs are rated at 1300lbs and the shocks come off a heavier truck too. so It should feel better with a nice bumper, and air tank, maybe put a small water tank back there. Gonna get a shop to re due the exhaust when I install the anti wrap and truss.

 

So I just measurements, the canister from eyelit to end of canister is 16"

 

everyone wants to know the stroke length ie how much travel the shock has

this pic is for mountain bikes, but it’s the same idea

 

Threw in an antiwrap leaf last night, works good so far on the street doing burnouts.

 

What shock length is that?

 

14"

 

Your a 3rd gen tho? I’m a 1st gen I can’t get more then 12 without punching through bed

 

Yeah I'm a 3rd gen, and through the bed to retain all the uptravel I can get

 

do you have pics or a write up of your swap? I’ve been trying to get an idea of hanger and shackle placement on the early first gens. I also have a 95.5

 

3rd week report!!!!
So I'm a first gen taco 2003 and I put the fox 68341421af shock on mine. even with the angle the shocks have been doing great!! I've been hitting upwards of 100mph on the highway and before when I waz getting to 90 there would be a ton of rear chatter and shaking. But now... wwwwwhhhhhoooo boy send it!! The shocks take turns like a champ. Don't give in to much. Hit a couple round on ramps and exit ramps hard doing 60mph like a dick head on the ones I'm confident with, tires don't break loose. People will say oh you'll have a lot of body roll, you can't put shocks at that angle. 1 you can do what ever you want it's your rig. 2 bitch it works! I don't have sway bars so she rolls already and honestly I don't notice a difference she feel like a boat when I hit some good bumps but thats. 100x better than a stiff brick. Loaded she feels better the shocks like weight. I haven't hit the old bump stops (gonna cut) but also I haven't had time to take her to a real trail. As far as the abs delete I fucking love it. The abs module didn't work so the braking waz so trash. But now she breaks more like my street bike, or my dirt bike or mountain bike. No bs just straight pedal response. Waiting for heavy snow so I can test brakes in the snow but I love them so far.

 

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=tACrXM587Vw&t=1691s
Video is up. Left links

 

I finally got my chevys installed with my 14" foxes in late september and have been running around on them for long enough now to chime in. A big thanks to @WarFab Armor for setting everything up. He managed to get me 6.5" up and 7" down. The @ARCHIVE towers landed almost a full 2" below the bed with a 1" body lift. 35" tires with 4.5" backspacing and 1.5" spacers in the rear. So far I dont see rubbing.



Being a heavier rig, I lucked out and was able to score a 4+1 pack that I pulled the overload from. I was concerned that I would need to add a leaf, but followed suggestions here and rolled with it and I am pretty happy with where things landed. My truck sits within 1/2" of where it did with my $800 custom built alcan pack all loaded up, and the ride is much softer. I still havent captured a picture with my rear tire completely off the ground, but here's one that's close.



For me this was a pretty big, complicated, and expensive upgrade, but well worth it. The difference is night and day.

I really appreciate all the information posted here in this thread. I found almost everything I needed right here. Many thanks to all those who have contributed.

 

63s still working great on my truck after dozens of trips. Maxing out the 14s on both up and down travel, so going to some 16" bypasses sometime soon. My setup in the rear handles pretty well in the whoops, just need to Lt the front someday lol.


Also just threw some 63s on a buddys truck tonight in around 6 hours. Rear shock relocation for it tomorrow

 

Does anyone have pictures of full bump?

 

Only photo I have, but this is at the stock bump location on a 3rd gen. Spring negative arched quite a bit. Switched to hydro bumps to outboard the bumpstop so my vertical/articulation bump is the same. Have the new bump stops stopped at a little less negative arch than this.

 

How does the air bump look when flexing?

 

Great thread with a lot of clear concise information.

I am building up a 93' Pickup/Hilux. Currently focused on the engine swap but I have a pile of parts sitting on the storage rack, TC LT +3.5 with coilovers, and 3" bypass for the front and rear so my mind drifts to the next phase, suspension.

In the pile of parts mentioned above is an Alcan 10pack that was used in SUA format and I see the benefits of that, especially limiting axle wrap with the 1UZ/manual once thats shoved in. While I do go to the desert and Baja pretty much annually, I live in Colorado and Moab is only 1.5hr away. So a SOA setup would probably be better for my 'local' off road use for clearance. (on the fence, thinking about options)

That Alcan pack has Orbit Eye bushings which make finding off the shelf brackets a PITA. Not that big of a deal to make some mounts, but I don't think I need that level of articulation for this build. And yes, Alcan is only a little ways down the street from me but I am trying to manage the financial bloodletting at this point a little and having them do a rebuild is just not quite in the card$ at this point.

So that is the longwinded backstory, back to the topic of this thread 63" springs and @malburg114's hybrid build. Which might be an option for me.

Any updates with this?

How has it worked for you?

 

Those oribital eyes are kinda a sales gimmick, as any leaf will fully flex out/twist any way, and the limit is always just the natural arch of the leaf. They also make the rear end wiggle back and fourth. I had some Trail Gear creeper shackle hangers before, and you could shimmy the rear end side to side a decent amount just since there wasnt a bushing keeping the leafs and axle 90° to the frame.

 

The 63 main with deaver 62 pack spring over works well for me. The front out performs the rear with a bypass and coilover and links. A 14 in or 16 in bypass would be better but I’ll correct that later on. I can pound the dunes in sand hollow pretty hard and even the back roads what I feel is a decent pace. I’d like to have the rear revalved. I’m out of adjustment on the rebound tube and need to have that corrected with new valving.

I did bend a 63 main last time out but I was bound up in a climb and backed over a 3 foot vertical wall that inverted the shackle into the frame. A new set of junkyard leaves for 12 bucks and swapped them in and all good now.

and with all that, the leaves work so good I have no intention of linking it. Especially after watching videos of what a well tuned bypass can do.

 

@malburg114 thank you for the comments, exactly the honest feedback I was hoping for.

@Buttskevin21 , yes I agree the Orbits are kinda gimmicky. BUT . . .

The springs and Orbits I have were initially installed on Fire Guys Class 7 truck waaayyy back in the day.



Raced and rebuilt a number of times including service (minimal polishing) on the Orbits. At some point after multiple crash's . . .



. . . and a desire to go faster and faster the back half was cut off and the race truck was linked. Some of the former race parts were put on the Blue Angel Chase Truck. Life, projects, work, racing all happened and poof a decade is gone and it languished in the corner.

I used to have a 1995 XCab Toyota Pickup back in the day, sold it and moved on to a 97 F350 CC LB 7.3 td. It was great for hauling whitewater rafts all over the western US. Coolers, a trailer full of boats and a cab with 5 comfortably it was awesome at 'big' truck stuff. Sucked for just about everything else, cold blooded engine would complain even when it was plugged in, as a DD, merde' what a monster. Sold it and bought a 2003 Sprinter which I like.

Jason called one day and said

"Come get your parts" (I knew they were cleaning out the shop but I did not have any thing stored down there)

"Um what parts?"

"The Total Chaos stuff on the Blue Angel you nagged me about ten years ago plus what ever else you may want" (I did not even own a Toyota at this point)

"So yeah, money is a little tight right now . . . "

"We will work something out"

"So as Don Vito would say 'Its an offer I can't refuse', I will see you in GJ tomorrow"

Got the shop cleaned up, tearing down the 87 (?) just before it was picked up.



Wish I took more pictures for this story line but TC +3.5, Coils & Bypass, King Kong, Heim steering, bits, pieces, hopes, prayers, Bypass rears.



And back to the springs that were hanging on a beam in the corner.



My build vision for this thing is a solid all around truck. Good for 4 Wheelin, Good for the desert, Good for daily. I don't expect or need it to kick ass in any one area, just be good enough. The F350 mentioned above was lifted 4" and rode on 35's, that 7.3 would axle wrap, shudder and hop. I never blew anything up but did not like that.

From the internet SUA is supposed to wrap a LOT less compared to SOA. While I am not a flat billed kid of 20, I still like to hit the skinny pedal on occasion, no 3.slow, the 1UZ is getting closer. So axle wrap is a concern.

The Orbits were invented/applied by the rock crawling crowd for the front eye of leaf springs to help the pack articulate. The rear/shackle of the spring achieved this articulation with the two bushings at the shackle end, 2x the deflection. All of these efforts were to keep the steel leaves from twisting, flexing on a single axis is fine, but the twisting really shortens life span.

The Orbits are large in diameter, equals a larger hanger. The wide mis-alignement bushing means the hanger needs to be very big. I can overcome that, just not sure I need or want to use them, and not quite certain about SUA or SOA for what I am trying to build.

Thank you both for you comments, I appreciate your input.

Glamour shot, so many changes through the years (same truck as the red one above). Some good times with great friends.