Tacoma Spring refurbishing

Well it's still a hypothetical right now. I still have to measure tomorrow to confirm the ole' "eyeballin it" measurements of width and thickness but if they are good I will definitely give this a try!

 

Just a reminder about them friction pads Doug.

 

Fuck !! I knew I forgot someone.....


sorry Derek.....


Look for them by weekend or first of the week...

 

Beating the shit out of smart ass jeep owners...

 

& congratulations to CMACK (Connor) for being the 1300th post on this thread ... see below for your prize !!!!...

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keep going......





















































guess we forgot.....

 

Doug, I measured those mustang spring and they are the same thickness but are 2 3/4 in wide where my taco's are 2 1/2. I'm guessing that's a no go...

 

Hey it was worth a shot, you could still use them if you want to shave off the extra width , but it would have to be done equally to each long side of the leafs, a lot of work ... but...

 

Doug,
There is one thing I am hoping you can shed a little light on to...
It is Linear vs Progressive in regards to our springs. I saw that someone had labeled each leaf as progressive or linear and I didn't get that train of thought. can an individual leaf be progressive vs linear in nature and how would you define them?

Is the idea behind progressive springs (the whole pack) is that they are somewhat soft under normal load and get progressively firmer as they compress? Is the advantage of this so that you have a softer ride when driving normally, but as you start to add weight to the truck the springs compresses and the ride firms up.

And with linear spring packs is the idea that the compression is uniform and should be more firm loaded or unloaded? In the linear spring configuration would this help with our trucks "roll" while cornering?(not that it rolls much...I guess I am comparing to my previous truck) with the addition of a higher spring rate on the front coils...
David

 

You're pretty much right on target, like mentioned earlier I ran a progressive leaf pack for about 4 months & hated it, the theory is sound its just the actual manuf. is where it all goes sideways for me.. Linear springs all the way...

 

I've been trying to follow along on the thread but are most people modifying there own leaves or sending them to you (OP) for modification?

 

Both, alot of locals including myself have Doug work his magic, a few have had shipping involved.

There are those that takes Doug's advise go get the add-on springs and follow Doug's teachings and DI themselves.

 

Okay that makes much more sense now, thanks!

 

slow cycling


http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_profilepage&v=4f8GGAhWP5E#t=68s

 

A few shots from this weekend, Stretching out the leafs.

 

Nice !!!, now get me a pic with the rear tire on a big rock & show me how far you can stuff the rubber....

 

Like this Doug?

Leaf_Clamp.PDF

 

Looks good, one of your doodles erik ??

 

Hi David, I'm sorry i kinda just glossed over your question the other day & I apologize for that.. I know what you mean by body roll in corners with our trucks. In the stock spring config they are horrible in corners on freeway, even unloaded, with the linear spring (which 1st gens & 2nd gens. are linear the onlt difference is 1st gens are eliptical & 2nd gens. are on center) But the steel is so soft & weak that the ride just sucks thru out & as you know you can forget about any real load, there was a guy couple months back that was trying to tell me that he halls up to 1500lbs in back because he said thats what his manual said & thats what was on the truck for specs.... & this was on stock suspension, of course I laughed to myself & replied "Oh !! YOUR the one that got the 3/4 ton Tacoma." He never replied back... haha, people, whatchya gonna do right ??

Any spring improvement is better than what toyota sells as OEM

 

I agree, this truck will never be a 3/4 ton. But as you know, it was never designed to be....
Like you said any improvement would be better. I mean the remaining 10 leafs I didn't use from the pictures below and a single 60 lbs. bag of sand was enough to cause my rear end to ride the overloads and hit the bump stops. I guess an AAL would have done the job but where is the fun/challenge in that. Anyone can buy one and pay someone to put it in.

I didn't get a chance to install this weekend. The weather didn't want to cooperate. Snow and to cold to work on the truck uncovered.
However I did pull apart the leafs and cut them down. Then I cut some "ghetto" pads from a 10" tire.


I didn't do to much because it was chilly.