Topic: tired 1981 truck suspension

[boobap]

ok...i have a completly stock 1981 toyota 4x4. the front springs are so tired that they are negative. the rear seems ok. i have 31x10.5x15 bfg all terrains. i am looking for a 0-2" replacement kit and having a hard time finding one. rough country has a 3" one with all 4 springs, shocks and all hardware for about $450. my question is by putting that on, would it make my truck with 31's look goofy? would the 31's be OBVIOUSLY small? does anyone have any pics to help? thanks guys and girls. 

[mudmaster]

I have sort of the same type of question. I don't want to lift my 80, which is stock except for 31s. It rides way too rough. Anyone have any ideas short of custom springs? Sorry about the highjack

[toyodaaddict]

ok...i have a completly stock 1981 toyota 4x4. the front springs are so tired that they are negative. the rear seems ok. i have 31x10.5x15 bfg all terrains. i am looking for a 0-2" replacement kit and having a hard time finding one. rough country has a 3" one with all 4 springs, shocks and all hardware for about $450. my question is by putting that on, would it make my truck with 31's look goofy? would the 31's be OBVIOUSLY small? does anyone have any pics to help? thanks guys and girls. 

check out old man emu suspention its good stuff but $$expensive$$

[jrock]

Original stock will lift your truck ~1", negative back to flat. Just keep it in mind. 3" lift = 4" lift.

[Steve_925]

rough country spring are really stiff. keep that in mind.

[mudmaster]

check out old man emu suspention its good stuff but $$expensive$$

I don't think they have SA stuff anymore 

[All_Set]

31" will fit with negative arch.

Grab a junkyard set of springs and cut/add the one with the most arch to your pack. 

4" lift with 31"s would look GOOFY.

31" stock, no bl, typical neg arched spring.

[All_Set]

33"

[jrock]

Is your axle pushed forward? It looks like you have more clearance that me.

[cgbemis]

Get some Downey springs. They are three inch lift, but will sag to about a 2". A friend of mine put them on his 84 with 31's, and it looked nice.

[kneedownnate]

I ran 31s with no lift on my 80 for years and they fit perfectly.  I now have 33s with no lift and they rub when I turn.  My springs are the stockers with the factory negative arch, but I'll be swapping out the top 3 leafs soon and will hopefully end up with 2-3" lift.

[Snowtoy]

Just rebuild the old spring pack using either stock rear springs.  Cut the eyes off of the stock rear springs pack and use the entire rear spring pack w/the oem front spring and the leveler spring for the left side(IIRC).

I have sort of the same type of question. I don't want to lift my 80, which is stock except for 31s. It rides way too rough. Anyone have any ideas short of custom springs? Sorry about the highjack

Buy two sets of 58" Chevy leaf springs.  Cut the eyes off of the main.  Using the Chevy main and the next longest leaf from the Chevy pack, install them in the Toyota leaf pack where they fit by their length.  Some cutting might be needed depending on the length of the oem springs.  The 2 Chevy leafs will give you about 2-3" of lift(about 1" alone from the thickness of the springs) w/o stiffening the ride.  You might want to use just the Chevy main leaf under your stock rear mains and a longer shackle if you don't carry any weight in the bed.

The Chevy main leaf spring and the next one down support about 300lbs each, so you may have to remove a spring if you get too much lift, or it rides too stiff.

Building the springs will take you about and hour/side if you aren't in much of a hurry, so it is something you could easily do in an afternoon in your driveway.

Cost for the doing just the front should be under $50, and under $100 fro all 4.  Of course the cost assumes paying about $25/pair of leaf springs and about $3.50ea. for new center spring pin bolts, ant what ever new U-bolts cost if you need them.  The oem u-bolts are usually good for one additional spring, two springs is pushing it.  Depending on the condition of the oem u-bolts, you might want to replace them, even if just using one extra leaf spring