Rancho Add A Leafs
installed on a 1st gen 4Runner
10/17/2002
Todd (toddski on the forums) installed some Rancho add a leafs (aal)
to cure the rear sag he was experiencing in the rear of his '88 4Runner.
I started by soaking the u-bolts with some WD-40. Removed the 4 u-bolts
and
swung the shock holder out of the way. Good time to clean the shocks
:)
Next I soaked the leaf's center bolt. This was tough to remove. You
need to
use some vice grips to hold the bolt head then try to remove the nut.
It took a while to finally get it to break loose.
Once the center bolt was out I lowered the pumpkin jack and the whole
axle
dropped far enough to allow separation of the leafs.
Make sure before you lower the axle that you remove the parking brake
cable
from the drum.
Its just a small pin that you remove and the cable is free. Make sure
the
parking brake is OFF!
I installed the add-a-leaf between the helper spring and the bottom
leaf.
We used a center punch to line the holes up for the center bolt. YOU
will
need a new longer center bolt. I purchased mine from Paul at Les Schwab
tire's.
Once the center bolt is installed you need to raise the pumpkin jack
up to
the leaf's.
Well it comes to find out that there is a hole in the axle where the
center
bolt head rests in.
And of course the hole in the axle and the center bolt do not line
up.
So what we did was use a come-a-long wrapped around the axle and the
other
end anchored to the frame. I know thats probably not the best solution
but
you only need to move the axle about an inch forward.
Once you get the center bolt lined up raise the pumpkin jack up all
the way.
Swing the shock holder plate back into position and install the u-bolts.
Now that you have a thicker leaf pack, the u-bolts are not going to
be as
long.
Before I started I had about 4 threads showing on the u-bolts. When
I
finished I had about one thread showing.
So it might be a good idea to purchase longer u-bolts.
In the end I gained 2.75" of lift on the passenger side and 3" on the
drivers side.
Plus I now have an arc to my leafs where before they sat flat against
the
axle.
Before picture:
After picture:
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