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The center leaf spring on the driver's side broke, so I need to replace my leaf springs. Going online, I see many different products, yet I don't know how to compare them. I see lifts of 1.5" - 4". Warranties are all over the place, from nothing to lifetime. I don't know what is stock on this truck, and the OEM part #s are discontinued. I'd appreciate any help you can offer to help me choose replacement springs. It doesn't look like 2.7 engine, Xtra cab and manual transmission affect the choice.
Leaf springs are one of those things on these trucks that are a pain to replace, unless you're looking for a lift. I'll let other people recommend good aftermarket lift springs, I don't know much about them. For OEM quality and height, you're kind of screwed. I don't think they exist. There are crappy aftermarket stock-height springs, and there are crappy aftermarket lift springs. But for lift springs, there are also high quality options. For stock height...you're at the whim of the crappy producers, unless you go completely custom. And the high quality lift options are expensive.
I went with General Spring. They have a regular and HD version for our trucks. I bought the HD because I tow and carry a lot of weight in the back of my truck. I did get about 1.5" of lift, which is starting to settle into about 1". They seemed to have less negative reviews than other cheap springs...though I think the quality is still suspect. I've had mine for about a year and a half, so that's too early to say anything about longevity. But the price was right.
Obviously verify what works for your truck on your own, but this is what I see from them for your truck. For me, the quality-price tradeoff felt reasonable. But time will tell.
Thank you for your response. General Spring seems to be most commonly recommended, so I'll have to see what shipping costs are. I haul a quarter ton of horse manure once a week, and I have 214K miles on this truck and live on a dirt road. Would you recommend paying the extra $40 each to go with heavy duty? What makes the springs a pain to replace? Did you discover any tricks for making it easier?
Ah sorry, by a pain to replace I meant that stock-height, quality replacement options don't exist. The job is very straightforward. Sort of like pulling a transmission. Not technically complicated at all; just heavy, dirty and awkward.
Like everything, there are plenty of videos online, and you should definitely study up before doing the job. Shackles and bolts, an angle grinder and cut-off wheel, lots of PB Blaster or something similar for a few days leading up to the job.
If you haul any amount of real weight, and plan to keep the truck for a while, yeah, HD is well worth it. Of course I didn't buy the non-HD...so I can't compare. I assume that stock, OEM springs are higher quality than General Spring replacements. The OEM springs are...good...but built for offroad, not work. So they're purposely soft. They don't hold up to heavy loads. Even a fiberglass topper will make the rear end sag after years. Since I carry a lot of crap in my bed, plus ~300# of tongue weight from my trailer, I wasn't going to chance aftermarket, lower quality springs to replace OEM springs that weren't up to heavy loads to begin with. Know what I mean?
Up to you, but that's my take. The OEM springs aren't up to task of heavy loads. General Spring is almost definitely not OEM quality. So I wasn't going to spend the money and do the work for something weaker than what I started with. There are options, though. I have airbags in the back. There are also other products like tall, rubber bump stops (forget what they're called, but Timbren is one brand), that only kick in when you carry really heavy loads. Things like those will stop from bottoming out the leaf springs, keeping them from wearing out. For me, I need both. HD springs and airbags. You could always buy the non-HD, then add the rubber bump stops. Won't be cheaper than just going with HD leaf springs though.
Toyota dealership sites say all leaf springs are either "discontinued" or "not for sale". And when they were available, I remember them costing something like $600 each.
I finally got around to replacing these leaf springs, and I did go with General Springs. Yes, it was a pain to do, and I had to replace the front bolt on both sides. I do have a questions, though. The springs are thicker than stock, so the parking brake cable sits on top of the left leaf spring. Is this a concern, and what do you recommend to fix it. Maybe I can add an M8 coupling nut at the bottom of the center bolt and then raise it up with a piece of M8 threaded rod. I could also put insulation around the cable where it crosses the spring and not raise the center bolt. What are your thoughts?
I can't quite picture what you're thinking with the coupling nut and rod.
Not sure if it makes a difference, but maybe it's my airbags holding my truck high enough that the cable clears the springs. My cable has about 3/4" space above them. Looking at mine, I don't see that sitting on the springs is too much of a concern. You can see just a little farther in how the cable runs through a plastic-lined sleeve. Seems like so long as the cable isn't frayed, creating a place for it to hang up on the spring, it should just slide nicely along the spring.
I'd also consider whether your cable needs to be tightened...
The brake cable connects to a distribution joint at the top center of the rear axle. I raised it up by putting that large black plastic 1/4" spacer between the distribution joint and the axle. That was enough clearance for the cable to no longer touch the left spring. For the right spring, I just bent the bracket up slightly. Maybe that helps you understand the photo better.
A slight concern I have is I had to cut the front bolts that are torqued to 110 foot/pounds. No one available just before a holiday weekend had the bolts, so I picked up 7/16" hardened bolts at my local Ace Hardware. I had no problem torquing the right bolt, but the nut for the left one is up against the gas tank. I didn't want to drop the tank, so I just pushed on a box wrench, while preventing the bolt head from turning, until it didn't seem to move anymore. I hope it is tight enough, though I'm concerned the bolts I got may have just run out of thread and stopped. If anyone wants to know the easiest (not easy) way to remove the bolts and bushings in the front and back, ask, and I'll share.
The ride is slightly higher and feels a bit tighter, which seems to be good for stability. I'm glad I changed both sides to keep them balanced.
Hmm, interesting. I don't remember running into torqueing issues, but who knows. It was a couple years ago now. I did research online to see what grade bolt I needed to use, since I cut all four of mine off with the angle grinder. I think I did get them from Ace, but I made I sure they were the right grade.
Oh yeah, I think only changing the leaf pack on one side would be a terrible idea.
Your '98 6-cylinder probably is designed differently than my '97 4-cylinder, so maybe you don't have the gas tank sitting so close to the bolt. To get my rear bolts out without cutting them, I torched them and then used a gear puller to push the bolt out. This only needed to be done on the bottom bolt with the bushing. I would have been in trouble if I had to cut the double bolt out, as there's no way I could have found that setup before a holiday weekend, especially at Ace. The front bolt doesn't allow that, as the whole assembly is surrounded by steel, and a gear puller can't be used.
Yes, it's a good idea to have shackles and bolts ready before starting this job. Expect to cut them.
Here's a photo of my brake cable clearance (and airbags) and the space for the bolt near the gas tank. That one was fun to cut...throwing sparks at the gas tank.
It looks like your nut is close to your gas tank, also. I don't know how to get a torque wrench in that space. Torquing the bolt head won't give an accurate torque... only the nut. Here's what mine looks like. https://u.pcloud.link/publink/show?c...MUcd6qtLrm5any
Ah, I didn't know that. Yes yours looks pretty similar. Well I figure it's closer to accurate to get a box wrench wedged on the nut and torque the bolt than it is to just guess, but I'm just guessing! From what I remember, I wedged a box wrench onto that nut and cranked the bolt head with a ratchet, then the torque wrench, rather than trying to get it to 110ft/lbs with the little box wrench.
Actually, that was a typo on my part about the torque. It is actually 115 foot pounds. I torqued the bolt head to 115, but then I found I could still easily turn the nut with a box wrench. If a bolt goes into something solid, with no nut, it can be torqued through the head, but if a nut is involved, the torque wrench needs to be on the nut to have an accurate reading. There are box head torque wrenches, but they are extremely expensive, so I just did my best. I always find it strange when mechanics claim they can feel how tight a bolt should be tightened, so they never use a torque wrench.
I always find it strange when mechanics claim they can feel how tight a bolt should be tightened, so they never use a torque wrench.
They develop a system. Snug, tight, really tight, and "gimme a hand tightening this bolt down" tight. Or, "OMG, Gimme that 5 foot pipe over there so I can tighten this bolt down" tight. Also called the "half-a-grunt, one grunt, 2-4 grunts, and, well, you know".
Some of them wind up getting pretty close after many years of doing it, but I have yet to see ONE get their estimate of how tight "tight" is correct. Usually on the too tight side of the equation, but sometimes on the too loose side. If your mechanic refuses to use a torque wrench, I personally would loosen whatever it is back off a little, and use a torque wrench on it, once you get your truck back. Or take it to another mechanic that DOES use a torque wrench.
You're paying them, so they should do things, within reason, and their experience, the way you want them to. If they won't, take your business elsewhere. It's your money, and your truck.
On my old truck, when I got new tires, they tended to over-torque, so the stud would bottom out on the end of the lug nut. I can't tell you how many studs they had to replace when the stud sheared off when I attempted to remove the lug nuts. I wonder if these mechanics would accept our payment system of close, somewhat close, really close, not so close, but never quite exact. Unfortunately, who has the time to watch them and make sure they always torque? My ex got the Subaru Legacy station wagon in the divorce. The first time she took it in for an oil change, the mechanic failed to tighten the drain plug. The plug fell out, and she burned up the engine. This led her to believe all Subarus are just trash.
04-10-2021, 09:54 AM
