Author Topic: Rears up front with 3 leaves... RIDES AWESOME! (Read 13200 times)

H8PVMNT · « **on:** Oct 27, 2010, 02:26:19 PM »

I just got the latest issue of 4WD&SUV and there is a green Toyota with HUGE fiberglass fenders that has "owner built hybrid front springs"... It looks like he has some stock rears up front with only 3 leaves in the packs. This would be an ideal setup for my '80 if the ride height turns out in the 2-3 inch range, which it looks like it does on this truck. Somebody check it out and tell me if you think they are stock rears or something else.

NorCalToy · « **Reply #1 on:** Oct 29, 2010, 02:22:26 AM »

Iv got a stock rear pack up front on my truck right now and it flexes great and wheels great but it sits almost on bumpstops. And mine is a 4leaf pack

H8PVMNT · « **Reply #2 on:** Oct 29, 2010, 06:46:01 AM »

I've been messing with the springs and it looks like it should work. I re-drilled the center holes in the right position to work with the stock steering and put together a three leaf pack with thne two top rear leaves and the bottom leaf from the front pack. I might add one more rear leaf or switch out the bottom leaf... I put it on with the stock shackles and the shackles hit the cab mounts, then I tried it with some 1" lift shackles and it seems ot work. I still have about 2.5 inches of up travel before even touching the stock bump stop. I might be getting a little more ride height because these are 1980 rears and they look like they have a bit more arch than the later model springs I've used before. If this works I'll post some pics.

Sparkplug · « **Reply #3 on:** Oct 29, 2010, 08:47:11 AM »

I have a stock rear pack, no leafs added or removed, I cut the overload down because it made a lot of noise slapping on the springs. It sits almost flat, rides good, and flexes real good, maxes out the shock I have right now easy as hell. Uptravel is around 4 inches, but cud be more if i didnt have an ifs frame. Im not running bump stops up front at the monment, im letting my 10 dollar shocks, and my free ruf that I have 209 sets of act as my bump stops. Well see how that works out

Phazertwo · « **Reply #4 on:** Oct 29, 2010, 09:03:19 AM »

mine are stock + one leaf, and they are now VERY "S" shaped. Flexs better than any other leaf springs set up I have seen. They are also the longer 3rd gen leafs.

PZ

H8PVMNT · « **Reply #5 on:** Oct 29, 2010, 09:28:15 AM »

Nice to see someone else running the 3rd gen rears. I'm running emu 3rd gen rears up front on my 4Runner... The longer 3rd gen springs flex insane and ride reallly really well! Easily maxed out the 14 inch shocks I started out with and you could play the extended brake lines like guitar strings!

4x4yota · « **Reply #6 on:** Oct 29, 2010, 09:54:41 AM »

I ran a stock (83 rears) 3 leaf pack on my 81 and it gave me about 1-2" of lift and then with a 5.5" sky shackle I ended up with about 2-3" of lift it flexed great but was very soft so I used stiff shocks and it tured out great but still leaned hard in corners
after springs settled on 235/75/15s

then on 33s

Phazertwo · « **Reply #7 on:** Oct 29, 2010, 10:16:19 AM »

Quote from: H8PVMNT on Oct 29, 2010, 09:28:15 AM

Nice to see someone else running the 3rd gen rears. I'm running emu 3rd gen rears up front on my 4Runner... The longer 3rd gen springs flex insane and ride reallly really well! Easily maxed out the 14 inch shocks I started out with and you could play the extended brake lines like guitar strings!

Agreed. The 3rd gen (I think they are 51's) move great. Not the best for road maners, but I don't beat my truck down the canyons (tires cost to much) so I don't have a problem. I should be building a new set this winter. Going to change the leaf sizes to the don't "S" so bad.

As far the the original post goes, I would not run a stock pack, I would make it at-least a 5 pack to ensure they ride a little positive. (I also have a V6 so you may be able to get away with 4)

PZ

4x4yota · « **Reply #8 on:** Oct 29, 2010, 01:39:33 PM »

Im looking to make another pack using the 2 main leafs from the rears and then the 2 lower leafs from my stock front leafs to keep it low and ride better but still have the flex of RUFS

santa cruz crawler · « **Reply #9 on:** Oct 29, 2010, 03:06:30 PM »

i have a pair of 4" leafs idk what they are but they flex savage , idk let me no

H8PVMNT · « **Reply #10 on:** Nov 09, 2010, 08:42:10 AM »

After alot of messing around with leaves I ended up with only the top three leaves from the 1st gen rear pack and a small trim peice cut to the length of the perch to level the drivers side. When I added a short overload or anything else the springs wouldn't flatten out. I am going for almost no lift, so it had to be only the three leaves. I did have to use my longer shackles and I also had to trim a bit off the front of the cab mount to avoid contact with the shackle. The shocks are on hoops that allow for full stock compresion travel and I added those daystar foam shock bump stops to slow things down before the stock rubber bump stop.

There is a tiny bit more body roll than the stock front springs with an added leaf but the ride is freakin' awesome! Absolutely sucks up all washboards and potholes. I am running some stiff valved monotubes that seem to be matched very well with the soft spring rate of the 3 leaf rears. This feels like the emu we had on my wife's '95 4Runner. Dead butt stuck to the road damping and soft, smooth ride.

While I was doing this I swaped in an L-52 5 speed and added power steering from an '85. The 5 speed is WAY better. The funny thing was after wheeling with no power steering for like 3 years when I got in the truck to move it out of the garage my first thought was that I still had the drag link un hooked or something

. What a huge difference!

It is low enough that I can still use stock steering without fliping the J-ball... Of course I'm only using about 3" more downtravel than stock, so I'm not asking much of it. The springs probably have like 5" more downtravel than that.

Probably no one really cares about this setup since it is not alot of lift and I am not trying for huge flex, but for a good riding DD and mild trail suspension on almost no $$ this is turning out pretty sweet...

H8PVMNT · « **Reply #11 on:** Nov 20, 2010, 08:09:44 AM »

So after running these for a week or so the springs have settled about 1". This was not really a problem because I am going for little more than stock ride height, but I could see where the springs would probably just keep saging out over time until they were junk. The bottom leaf of my pack was the third leaf down of the rear pack and was VERY thin and flexible and probably not a good choice of material to be wraping around the square edges of the perch.

When I was first trying these out I added a thick 16" long overload from the bottom of an old emu pack I had to finish off the spring but it added like 2" of ride height which was taller than I wanted. Then I tried the bottom leaf from a stock front pack, which was longer and thinner but it did the same thing.

This time I took the bottom leaf of the front pack and re-drilled the center hole further back and cut off about a foot of the front of the leaf, hoping that it wouldn't add much ride height if it was shorter and it would make a better seat for the spring on the perch so the spring will maybe not crap out...

Well so far it got me back the 1" I lost from the springs settling and the springs sit nice and flat instead of wraping aroud the perch a little bit like before. In theorey since the bottom leaf is a little thicker and made to ride on the perch it should hold up... Time will tell.

Redbeard1 · « **Reply #12 on:** Dec 05, 2010, 03:09:28 AM »

I am running a set of worn out Old Man Emu 2" rears on mine with one extra leaf added from a set of 52" chevy rears for a touch more arch. The the center hole is moved an additional inch forward on them over a the Toyota stock rear springs. iI'm 4.75 inches of up travel and they max out 12" shocks on the down stroke.

fade · « **Reply #13 on:** Dec 07, 2010, 01:51:55 AM »

Stock ruf will work for a while. But they are annoying to drive on the street and will bend or warp after a while. Best thing to do is take out the overload and bottom leaf and mix 2 packs together.

4x4yota · « **Reply #14 on:** Dec 07, 2010, 11:56:40 AM »

what about adding 2 bottom leafs from stock front pack to the top 2 stock rear leafs? making a 4 leaf pack giving the longer main spirngs for flex and the stock fronts for ride

SloCrawler · « **Reply #15 on:** Dec 07, 2010, 12:01:35 PM »

i got a 4 pack going, i personally think its a little too soft

swapped89 · « **Reply #16 on:** Dec 07, 2010, 12:18:42 PM »

Quote from: Phazertwo on Oct 29, 2010, 09:03:19 AM

mine are stock + one leaf, and they are now VERY "S" shaped. Flexs better than any other leaf springs set up I have seen. They are also the longer 3rd gen leafs.

PZ

Did you move your front spring hanger forward to get the 3rd gen springs to fit? How long are your shackles, and whats the angle on the shackles like? I have a set of 3rd gen leafs i wanna use but the extra length makes me think my shackle's are gonna be sitting on the frame rails.

santa cruz crawler · « **Reply #17 on:** Dec 18, 2010, 06:48:06 PM »

:beerchug:I'm pulling all pro leafs front and rear just saw this if you or any one need s the right springs I I will have them , cool build lots of good talk here $Beer Chug\'n$

H8PVMNT · « **Reply #18 on:** Dec 18, 2010, 08:58:47 PM »

My front springs now have like 7" more down travel than the shocks I am using and the push pull steering will allow so I added some limiting straps this morning before wheeling. I used those 24" tie down straps made for anchoring rear ends on a trailor. They were only $4 each and they worked great today. I have them topping out about 2" before the shocks do so the last bit of shock travel has a nice soft slow down before it tops out. I totally flogged it like a trophy truck today and it felt great and very healthy.

I know that very few people give a hoot about an old school setup with only moderately improved travel and very little lift but it is riding really well which is pretty tough to acomplish for a stock looking 1st gen and I can flat out haul ass in the rough with it without worrying about twisting the end off my j-arm or whiping out the shocks. I have to admit that it did feel kind of dirty putting something in there that could actually restrict articilation but as far as I can tell the straps stretch under load in the twisty stuff because it didn't feel like I was missing any downtravel while crawling and flexing it out.

I'll add picks soon...

H8PVMNT · « **Reply #19 on:** Apr 02, 2011, 05:05:13 PM »

These things are still alive! I added a winch and they could use a little more tuning to compensate for that. I got some old style crossover steering so I will be adding that and some different front shocks to use all the droop the springs have. I also have a dual adapter so I will get that all on at one time and do drivelines at the same time.

twistedtoy92 · « **Reply #20 on:** Apr 02, 2011, 05:42:29 PM »

add a set of those wanna be air bump stops and you'll be golden!

H8PVMNT · « **Reply #21 on:** Apr 03, 2011, 04:43:35 PM »

Ah you mean the ones with the polyeurethane squishy inside?

twistedtoy92 · « **Reply #22 on:** Apr 03, 2011, 10:49:39 PM »

yes sir!

SloCrawler · « **Reply #23 on:** Apr 04, 2011, 08:17:41 AM »

Quote from: twistedtoy92 on Apr 03, 2011, 10:49:39 PM

yes sir!

you guys got a link to what your talking about?

H8PVMNT · « **Reply #24 on:** Apr 04, 2011, 10:39:52 AM »

I think poly performance has them.

http://www.polyperformance.com/shop/Daystar-Stinger-Bump-Stops-p-26466.html

SloCrawler · « **Reply #25 on:** Apr 04, 2011, 10:55:59 AM »

thanks

H8PVMNT · « **Reply #26 on:** Apr 05, 2011, 06:46:43 PM »

So I found some shocks to accomodate the low ride and get alot more travel. I have some decent monotubes on shock hoops up there but to get full stock compression I had to go with a 7" travel shock and The springs have WAY more downtravel than that. Not really a problem with the stock steering since it couldn't handle any more downtravel than that anyway, but since I have the crossover steering here now I might as well use it all.

Also for some reason the monotube quit working when it was below -10 degrees F which was weird. We had a long cold winter so that sucked. So I've been thinking about trying something else. I also wanted plain jane looking shocks with metal dust covers that were super available at any parts store around here in the middle of nowhere. Kind of goes with the whole "not built" crummy old stock Toyota farm truck look I'm after.

I found that the shock for the rear of a 90-96 F150 4WD allow the same full compression length as the monotubes I was using but have about 4" more downtravel. I guess twin tubes don't have the floating piston so more of the shock body can be used for the stroke. Perfect ends too with the 5/8" eye on top that will work in my hoops and the 12mm sleave on the bottom that will fit the stock Toyota mount on the axle. The other thing was the valving. I wanted a really slack compression with a well damped extension valving. I had some emu nitrochargers that were that way and they were probably the best shock I've had ever all around on a Toyota. You can't be sure with this stuff so I got one out at Napa and felt it. Sure enough a real easy compression with an nice damped extension. I bought it and took it home to mock up.

Some time I'll get another and put the crossover on. Should be cool having a barely lifted 1st gen with great articulation.

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