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Old 05-29-2006, 08:40 PM   #1 (permalink)
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63" Chevy spring swap

Well I have just completed stage 1 of the swap.
I have had these springs sitting in my garage for over a month. Recently my rear passenger pack decided to crease for no apearent reason. The truck was riding on the pass bumpstop and I was worried about the pack breaking sending my axle flying!

Look at this crap.



So I got to work fabricating the hangers and shackles. Garrett came over several times to help get this whole thing together and I can't thank him enough!!!










Look at those springs.





Chevies are LONG!








I just realized that I have no pics of the finished product sitting flat.

Only flexed.

This loading dock really maxed out my stock junk.


Now I need something bigger.


That is more like it.


Urban wheeling at it's finest.





Jeeze!


As you can see I have stock springs up front and they aren't budging!


Once the front gets some tlc I will be flexin all over the place!





When I bought the truck the bumpstops in the rear where only one inch from touching. Now with the chevies on there the bump stops sit 6.75" away from the frame! I am willing to say that I got 5.5" of lift from the chevies over my saggy stock springs. WOW.

Future work includes:
-shocks
new crossmember
weld on tabs to axle
-ubolt flip
-uhmw polyethylene in between each leaf
-spring clamps
-shims (vibrations)

I am so happy with the springs so far. The flex blows my mind.
Not bad for a 50 dollor set of springs!
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3D 85 4Runner SR5 | 33" BFG M/T on flat black rims | Chevy springs | Custom Grab cage with overhead cb mount | Custom fabbed center console | Freshly rebuilt axle with IFS hub/caliper swap | Rock Sliders | Lots more...


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Old 05-29-2006, 08:49 PM   #2 (permalink)
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it's too big and flexes too well. go back to stock.
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Old 05-29-2006, 09:06 PM   #3 (permalink)
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You know, I feel like this is the first REAL mod I have done. It is just the first I have ever done to the suspension. Can't wait to finish the rear and get started on the front!!!!
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3D 85 4Runner SR5 | 33" BFG M/T on flat black rims | Chevy springs | Custom Grab cage with overhead cb mount | Custom fabbed center console | Freshly rebuilt axle with IFS hub/caliper swap | Rock Sliders | Lots more...


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Old 05-29-2006, 09:34 PM   #4 (permalink)
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i have the chevy spring swap too though don't know enough about how they perform. i wish i knew how to weld and cut like that, beautiful work!
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Old 05-29-2006, 09:44 PM   #5 (permalink)
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For cutting I used about 10 cut off wheels for my harbor frieght angle grinder. Everything was from plate.

If I had to do it again I would have used square tube for the hanger. Also I would have been more careful as to what kind of metal I was getting out of the scrap bin. See drilling metal for explanation.
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Old 05-29-2006, 11:06 PM   #6 (permalink)
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how would you have used square tube for the hanger?
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2000 Taco TRD Access Cab
v6 | 5spd | 33" BFG A/Ts | 33" PC Mud Terrains | OME 882's | Bilstein HD struts front | Rancho shocks rear | Chevy 63" leaf spring swap | Custom sliders | Custom front bumper |3" BL | U-Bolt flip | Flowmaster exhaust | Kenwood Speakers | Grey Wire Mod | Aux. Reverse Lights | Deckplate Mod | Lots of lights

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Old 05-30-2006, 08:26 AM   #7 (permalink)
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Like this.
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3D 85 4Runner SR5 | 33" BFG M/T on flat black rims | Chevy springs | Custom Grab cage with overhead cb mount | Custom fabbed center console | Freshly rebuilt axle with IFS hub/caliper swap | Rock Sliders | Lots more...


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Old 06-17-2006, 05:50 PM   #8 (permalink)
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What the hell?

10 Man points to who ever can specifically say what these little pacman things are.

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3D 85 4Runner SR5 | 33" BFG M/T on flat black rims | Chevy springs | Custom Grab cage with overhead cb mount | Custom fabbed center console | Freshly rebuilt axle with IFS hub/caliper swap | Rock Sliders | Lots more...


In Colorado, Dig.

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Old 06-17-2006, 07:51 PM   #9 (permalink)
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What, no body has any man juice tonight? Fine I won't update untill someone gets it.
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3D 85 4Runner SR5 | 33" BFG M/T on flat black rims | Chevy springs | Custom Grab cage with overhead cb mount | Custom fabbed center console | Freshly rebuilt axle with IFS hub/caliper swap | Rock Sliders | Lots more...


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Old 06-17-2006, 11:34 PM   #10 (permalink)
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they are shock mounts for the u-bolt plates
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Old 06-17-2006, 11:38 PM   #11 (permalink)
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another thing to note: wtf happened to the overload leafs from your stock pack? running without them is no doubt the reason for the failure.

using 3.5"^2 X .25" wall tubing for the hangers is definitely the way to go. also, if you need new busings for your chevy springs, napa has them.
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Old 06-18-2006, 06:59 AM   #12 (permalink)
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10 MAN POINTS FOR PETER!

That is exactly what they are. Yep the overload has been out for a while and no doubt the cause of the bent pack.

I got new poly bushings from energy suspensions. The part # is in the pirate faq.

Pics after work.
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3D 85 4Runner SR5 | 33" BFG M/T on flat black rims | Chevy springs | Custom Grab cage with overhead cb mount | Custom fabbed center console | Freshly rebuilt axle with IFS hub/caliper swap | Rock Sliders | Lots more...


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Old 06-18-2006, 05:41 PM   #13 (permalink)
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Ok, update.


Let me just say something about UHMW-PE(Ultra High Molecular Weight - PolyEthylene)
It is used in my pack just like the little teflon pads in normal packs. The UHMW is 30 times slicker and I think its stronger too. I heard about it from an article(posted below) and decided to give it a try. It is pretty cool tech if you ask me.

READ THE ARTICLE ABOUT IT LINK

This stuff is about 40 bucks for a 50ft roll that I can do BOTH axles with.

Ok. Back to my truck.



Bam, everything is gone.






A king on his throne.



Got the springs painted, made some antiwrap leafs out of some yj leafs(far left) and replaced the bottom leaf with another from the chevy pack with clamps.



Shot of the clamp and how I beveled each end of the leafs so they would rub smoothly on the uhmw-pe.



Beveled.



These are the brackets for the shocks. The two pacman ones are for the ubolt flip plate and the triangles fit on my crossmember I made.


Welded, cleaned, just painted.


All 1/4" thick. Beef.


Made this with my left over slider material. The triangles are also 1/4" beef.


It sits directly above the axle, welds on top of the frame. My shocks will never break the mounts.



I am waiting on the paint to dry up more before I move on. Soon, I will weld on the crossmember and swap out the plates for the ones on the truck now. Pics when it's done.
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3D 85 4Runner SR5 | 33" BFG M/T on flat black rims | Chevy springs | Custom Grab cage with overhead cb mount | Custom fabbed center console | Freshly rebuilt axle with IFS hub/caliper swap | Rock Sliders | Lots more...


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Old 06-18-2006, 08:01 PM   #14 (permalink)
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Is that a pro mig 135 you're using for the welds?
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Old 06-18-2006, 08:57 PM   #15 (permalink)
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just warning you, you will probably hate the shocks angled in that far. their effective dampening will be cut in half. taking a corner at speed and nailing a pothole or a rough spot will be some scary S H I T my friend.
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Old 06-18-2006, 09:25 PM   #16 (permalink)
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Those welds are made with my lincoln 175pro. Quite a bad ass machine if you ask me.

I am actually impressed with how much these things stiffened up the ride. I have been going to work and back(little more than a block) with no shocks now for like 4 days. With the shocks in there I am not bouncing all over the road!

But it really seemed to make bumps a bit rougher than the cushy chevies alone. Also it seemed like it limited my flex just a schmidgen. Maybe not, I didn't measure.

Pics!



These are rancho 5012's by the way.





Need to play with the ebrake cable to get it farther away from the shock.


You can see the uhmw-pe sandwitched inbetween the leafs here.


Still have plenty of flex left in the shocks. Especially drooping.


Have at least an inch of shock left to stuff, which is probably like 2 inches of wheel travel.


The ride is really good. It handles alot like any truck would. Very predictable. I went down really bumpy roads, over train tracks, down the highway at 75+, and flexed it out. I am very pleased with the work/money put in vs the results. Just love em!
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Old 06-19-2006, 06:12 AM   #17 (permalink)
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your shocks are upside down, ranchos are supposed to be mounted can down
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Old 06-19-2006, 07:17 AM   #18 (permalink)
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Does it really matter? I just wanted less unsprung weight.
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3D 85 4Runner SR5 | 33" BFG M/T on flat black rims | Chevy springs | Custom Grab cage with overhead cb mount | Custom fabbed center console | Freshly rebuilt axle with IFS hub/caliper swap | Rock Sliders | Lots more...


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Old 06-19-2006, 09:06 PM   #19 (permalink)
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when i ran ranchos, they didnt dampen as effectively upside down, something with the valve and the way the oil and gas sits in there.
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Old 06-19-2006, 09:12 PM   #20 (permalink)
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Hmmm. Well I didn't really make the brackets to fit can down. I think the can will hit the bottom bracket.

Oh well I guess now I have to get bilsteins. I think that is right, can up for those and can down for rancho.

Wish I would have remembered that before.:pat:
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Old 06-20-2006, 10:57 PM   #21 (permalink)
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That's a great swap... Although, the shackle length isn't right... or maybe it's the placement of them. Hmm. Sure beats stock!!!! How is the axle wrap?
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Old 08-18-2006, 01:07 PM   #22 (permalink)
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I just finished my 63 rears & rears up front swap too...still needs shocks tho.
Cool idea for the bottom shock mount, might loose a little stroke if leaves are added, but cool.
For the upper I was going to do the same, but between the rails & add longer tabs to give me adjustability for the angle of the shock. Basically weld 4, 6-8" long flats to the tubing with holes spaced ~1" apart.

How long are those shackles?? You could've moved the rear hanger back 4"...

Clean install non-the-less!
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Old 08-20-2006, 06:01 PM   #23 (permalink)
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The shackles are 9" eye to eye. The reason I didn't relocate the rear hanger is because some people on the pirate thread said they used the longer one and it worked great.

Well, I have been driving on these long ass 9" shackles for a few months now. Let me tell you guys, they work great. I have been flying around tight twisting mountain roads at 70 and ralley driving down dirt roads with these shackles.
Sure I could have moved the hanger back, and really I still can, but that is just more work. And as I have come to find out, it's more work than its worth. They work great. End of story.

I guess the only down fall is they stick way out. Which in my opinion looks like but. Especially with the 3" bodly lift.
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Old 08-20-2006, 08:06 PM   #24 (permalink)
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Gotta have you come over and consult me on doing this to both my 85's. It is sweet work. Oh yeah welcome to Colorado.
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Old 08-20-2006, 08:20 PM   #25 (permalink)
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Thanks, just talk to Ric... he is my agent.
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