anti-wrap half leaf
12-04-2010, 07:46 PM
#1
anti-wrap half leaf
Well, I finally got around to doing it on my daily driver. I would get axle shudder in the sand...I would also get it when racing other trucks from the lights. 
Now, granted, mine is a Tacoma but this works just as well on the 79~95 trucks and rear leaf sprung Runners. It works particularly well if you are using a "zuk coil". I'm was getting bothersome axle wrap and mine is a 3.4L with auto. It would be even worse if I had a 5 speed. Even my stock Allpro 3" leafpacks(7 and one half leafs) were susceptible to a bit of wrap...I made matters a little worse a year ago by removing 3 leafs from each pack. To do this half-leaf mod, I chose to remove 1 more leaf from each pack. That leaves me with 3 long leafs/1normal upper anti-wrap half leaf/and 1 ungodly thick lower anti-wrap half-leaf(springboard leaf added after the fact, of course.). I have coils for support and additional lift, too. The bottom over-load "springboard" leaf from your 1986 thru 1995 trucks/runners is what you want to use. I think the early model 1979~85 overloads work just fine also. The result of this lower half-leaf mod is no apparent axle wrap and possibly a softer ride. I think leaving out that mid-length leaf is the reason for the softer ride in my case. Looking forward to seeing some of you guys do the same to your coil assisted rear lifts
You won't regret it.
.
.
.
ps----today is Sept. 17,2011 and the springboard addition is a keeper. The only thing I might do different next go-around is to not cut the back half of the springboard off like I did here. Keeping it on probably keeps the payload ability 100% and the coils are less likely to ever go "brick mode" where they compress all the way and act like a brick.
update again..........it's June 8 2012 and still a keeper
UPDATE again here on March 10 2013........................same leafpacks and no issues....I did upgrade the coils from 100 pounders to 150 for the load carrying power. Love them. The oem springboard "anti-wrap" is working great. Original Allpro leafpack has an front half-leaf that claims to work as an anti-wrap. Believe me, it is no wheres near as effective as a halfleaf springboard that is clamped to the front portion of the leafpack.....No wheres near the effectiveness. How can it be when the anti-wrap leaf is .25" thick and the springboard leaf starts out at a monstrously thick .625" Ken
UPDATE 12-25-2015.........Merry Christmas.......due to an SAS that was started last year (Oct 2014) the need for future updates no longer applies. This is due to the rear suspension being revamped....original leafpacks and coils removed in favor of 5" Allpro lift packs to match the lift of the SAS front end. Ken
.
.
.
Deceptive pic...the leaf was so springy that when the pressure was released, the
leaf sprang back to its former position within about 10%
Deceptive also.....makes me wonder if using a bud tip on areal torch would be an effective
way to get some arch in the thickest part of this overload and save a trip to the
spring shop.
Now, granted, mine is a Tacoma but this works just as well on the 79~95 trucks and rear leaf sprung Runners. It works particularly well if you are using a "zuk coil". I'm was getting bothersome axle wrap and mine is a 3.4L with auto. It would be even worse if I had a 5 speed. Even my stock Allpro 3" leafpacks(7 and one half leafs) were susceptible to a bit of wrap...I made matters a little worse a year ago by removing 3 leafs from each pack. To do this half-leaf mod, I chose to remove 1 more leaf from each pack. That leaves me with 3 long leafs/1normal upper anti-wrap half leaf/and 1 ungodly thick lower anti-wrap half-leaf(springboard leaf added after the fact, of course.). I have coils for support and additional lift, too. The bottom over-load "springboard" leaf from your 1986 thru 1995 trucks/runners is what you want to use. I think the early model 1979~85 overloads work just fine also. The result of this lower half-leaf mod is no apparent axle wrap and possibly a softer ride. I think leaving out that mid-length leaf is the reason for the softer ride in my case. Looking forward to seeing some of you guys do the same to your coil assisted rear lifts
You won't regret it..
.
.
ps----today is Sept. 17,2011 and the springboard addition is a keeper. The only thing I might do different next go-around is to not cut the back half of the springboard off like I did here. Keeping it on probably keeps the payload ability 100% and the coils are less likely to ever go "brick mode" where they compress all the way and act like a brick.
update again..........it's June 8 2012 and still a keeper
UPDATE again here on March 10 2013........................same leafpacks and no issues....I did upgrade the coils from 100 pounders to 150 for the load carrying power. Love them. The oem springboard "anti-wrap" is working great. Original Allpro leafpack has an front half-leaf that claims to work as an anti-wrap. Believe me, it is no wheres near as effective as a halfleaf springboard that is clamped to the front portion of the leafpack.....No wheres near the effectiveness. How can it be when the anti-wrap leaf is .25" thick and the springboard leaf starts out at a monstrously thick .625" Ken
UPDATE 12-25-2015.........Merry Christmas.......due to an SAS that was started last year (Oct 2014) the need for future updates no longer applies. This is due to the rear suspension being revamped....original leafpacks and coils removed in favor of 5" Allpro lift packs to match the lift of the SAS front end. Ken
.
.
.
Deceptive pic...the leaf was so springy that when the pressure was released, the
leaf sprang back to its former position within about 10%
Deceptive also.....makes me wonder if using a bud tip on areal torch would be an effective
way to get some arch in the thickest part of this overload and save a trip to the
spring shop.
Last edited by ZUK; 12-25-2015 at 10:43 AM. Reason: update
12-04-2010, 07:49 PM
#2
more pics.....
The 14" coils still will not fall out even with the aftermarket ALPRO leafs that tend to
drop farther than oem packs. I still have the factory length shackle which helps limit drop also.
I can still remove then by pulling down on the coils with about 100 pounds pressure to free then up.
The 14" coils still will not fall out even with the aftermarket ALPRO leafs that tend to
drop farther than oem packs. I still have the factory length shackle which helps limit drop also.
I can still remove then by pulling down on the coils with about 100 pounds pressure to free then up.
Last edited by ZUK; 12-19-2010 at 10:21 AM.
12-04-2010, 07:51 PM
#3
At least the pics are compact jpegs
The mid-length leaf on the brake drum was "in the way" of the new half-leaf. The bracket clip with
the rivet was preventing the overload from laying flat.....so I left the whole leaf out. That
means I have now removed 4 total leafs from these 3" Allpro packs since I first installed
them back in Oct of 2006. see the 2 pics below
OCT 2006
Oct 2006 7 1/2 leafs from Allpro.
Not a perfect fit but good enough for this test....
close clamped
The mid-length leaf on the brake drum was "in the way" of the new half-leaf. The bracket clip with
the rivet was preventing the overload from laying flat.....so I left the whole leaf out. That
means I have now removed 4 total leafs from these 3" Allpro packs since I first installed
them back in Oct of 2006. see the 2 pics below
OCT 2006
Oct 2006 7 1/2 leafs from Allpro.
Not a perfect fit but good enough for this test....
close clamped
Last edited by ZUK; 12-19-2010 at 10:55 AM.
12-04-2010, 08:25 PM
#5
It really does ride a bit softer than it did yesterday....all because I took out that mid length leaf. So basically, the front part of the leafpack is like a nearly rigid "control arm" now...and the back half is doing the suspension work...the coils add load capacity and lift. Those are 14" x 100 pounders on mine by the way.
The overload leaf that you may use for this project should probably be taken to a spring shop so they can heat it up and bend it more evenly than I did. I needed to put more bend in it than I did...that way I could have "pre-loaded" it for even better anti-wrap when going forward. Right now, mine is pre-loaded for backing up fast, if that makes any sense. I had some doubts about how much stiffer it was gonna be....but, as I said earlier, taking out that mid-length allpro leaf made the difference. Damn, I'm glad I did this....took me about 4 years to get around to it. ZUK
The overload leaf that you may use for this project should probably be taken to a spring shop so they can heat it up and bend it more evenly than I did. I needed to put more bend in it than I did...that way I could have "pre-loaded" it for even better anti-wrap when going forward. Right now, mine is pre-loaded for backing up fast, if that makes any sense. I had some doubts about how much stiffer it was gonna be....but, as I said earlier, taking out that mid-length allpro leaf made the difference. Damn, I'm glad I did this....took me about 4 years to get around to it. ZUK
Last edited by ZUK; 12-04-2010 at 08:49 PM.
12-05-2010, 12:50 PM
#7
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zuk when did you start doing this coil spring mod? the more i think about it, my dad did that mod least ten-twelve years ago on his yota and now his brother did the same to his yota
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12-05-2010, 05:38 PM
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I made an anti-wrap leaf a couple of years ago. I noticed lots of axle wrap especially because I had taken my overload leafs out since I thought they were not doing any good in the anti-wrap or overload department since the leaves do not touch it any more. I took a 1/2 ton chevy rear main leaf and cut it into 2 pieces. I placed it above my leaf spring from the u-bolts and coil mount forward to the clamp thing with the rubber bumper on it. The clamp has enough room to fit the chevy spring under it with a little grinding of width. Result - no more wrap, very happy with it. I will see about a picture but I think I am all iced/snowed up.
12-06-2010, 07:13 AM
#10
The theory is give it a shot and see what it does. It does force the pinion to travel thru a uniform radius arc now as opposed to the complex angle it used to and I think I prefer the new arc.....kinda like a control arm
Until more guys give this a shot, I won't say for sure how much 'firmer' it will be but it probably won't be much. Note that the front half of the leafpack connects to a fixed spring mount and the rear half is to a moving shackle.....every time a bump is hit, it's the shackle end that is absorbing the bump. The front half is along for the ride.
I would expect this to work with Chevy springs but be sure to pre-form the overload to match the bends and to use a clamp at the end of the overload like I did. This would work EXTRA good for the guys the have 5 speed Runners with the ZUK-coil because the load sharing of the coil would keep the ride about as soft as before. That's my theory.
I had a buddy that didn't believe me when I told him it rode a bit softer than before. I told him it was the removed leaf that did it, of course. He just figured that if you basically stiffen up half the leafpack that the ride has to get twice as stiff. He rode with me last night and he couldn't really say it was any stiffer.....he figured it was about the same as before pretty much. That's good enough for me since he doesn't ride in this rig very much anyways so he doesn't know how it feels going over the speedbumps and such like I do. Time for me to stop blabbing.
Last edited by ZUK; 12-06-2010 at 07:27 AM.
12-07-2010, 06:30 AM
#12
In the thick portion closer to the center pin, I would imagine it won't take much bend to make it true....and more arch as it gets closer to the tip. Seems like you could bend it a little then hold up against loaded pack...bend then hold, etc until it's good. If you do it, feel free to take pics and start a thread.....or, add to this link if you want. thanks ZUK
12-07-2010, 06:56 AM
#13
I made an anti-wrap leaf a couple of years ago. I noticed lots of axle wrap especially because I had taken my overload leafs out since I thought they were not doing any good in the anti-wrap or overload department since the leaves do not touch it any more. I took a 1/2 ton chevy rear main leaf and cut it into 2 pieces. I placed it above my leaf spring from the u-bolts and coil mount forward to the clamp thing with the rubber bumper on it. The clamp has enough room to fit the chevy spring under it with a little grinding of width. Result - no more wrap, very happy with it. I will see about a picture but I think I am all iced/snowed up.
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