toy89yota

Broke a rear spring on my 89 pickup the other day so I guess its suspension upgrade time. My question for all you guys is which springs would you guys go with OME medium/heavy rear leafs or 63" chevys? I can't decide which way to go, researched a bunch but still not sure.

I plan on doing a low SAS on this truck soon and its not going to see much rock crawling (I live in North Dakota) mostly trails and snow for trapping and hunting. All I need is enough lift to clear 33's and carry my heavy a$$ topper and future custom rear bumper. I really dont need it super flexy crawler more of and overland jack of all trades type truck.

So whats your guys opinion on this?

Who's done either of these and would you do it again?

Thanks

Here she is with the little tires I had on it for painting, now shes sitting on 31" retreads and a ugly topper on it.

[IMG][/IMG]

v_man

If you're running a lot of weight in the bed , like your camper , 63's would carry that better , they come off 1/2 ton or 3/4 trucks .

Other things to consider is mounting new leaf spring hangers to accomodate the extra length , possibly front and rear , so that is a weld job requiring some basic welding skills .

You're going to need to possibly lengthen your rear bump stops , you don't want your leafs over flexing much past flat . You might need new u bolts if you create enough lift . You need to consider that Chevy's and 2.5 inches wide , I think 'Yota springs are 2 1/4 .

Other than that , you get better rear articulation , I find springs to be pretty soft , so might need to stiffen up ride with adjustable shocks, and springs will get tired and sag a bit over time .

Overall I love my Chevy's , there's a reason why it's one of the most popular suspension mods out there ...

Good luck , love the green monster .

Laurentian

I say go with OME and keep it more stock. They will bolt in. With Chevy's, although a great mod, you will need to weld in hangers at a different than stock location.
My truck has about the same vocation as yours, it will stay IFS. Just beef it up
with heavier torsions, remove sway bar, add an IFS brace and some 1.5" BJ
spacers, gears etc. and call it a day on the cheap. SAS is great if you really
want to wheel hard. Your call.

Innocent Fool

Don't know if this relates to your situation or not but just throwing this out there...

Depending on how the spring broke you may be able to repair the spring by just replacing the broken leaf.

That's what I did with my truck and it worked well. In my case I broke the second leaf in a three leaf pack. I looked up a spring shop in my area and they were able to make a replacement leaf from new spring steel. Once I got the new leaf it was just a job of putting it in. Turned out to be pretty simple and I did it with the spring in the truck which was nice because I didn't have to worry about the hangar bolts, bushings, etc.... I've never done this before and it only took me about 2hrs

The top leaf is the one that attaches to the hangar in the front and the shackle in the back. As long as that's good you should be OK.

When I got done the side that I worked on was about 3/4" higher than the other but after about a week of driving it settled out and is pretty much level. Rides good and I'm really happy with it

Total cost: About $120 bucks and 2hrs time
They supplied all the nuts, bolts, sliders etc...

Chaser Johndoe

I love the painted stock steelies. I would go with OME's. not as cheap but simpler.

rattlewagon

If you can weld and use a tape measure, the the chevys are a piece of cake. Its hard to make a SAS level with the chevys. The 63s will get you about 2-3" lift, while the tg sas 3" kit will get you about 5-6".

Truck is on 63s and rufs, front is about 1" higher than the back. Not too much clearance between the tire rod and the frame, but workable.

toy89yota

Thanks for all the replies. Still not 100% sure which way ill go, but I do already own a pair of 63" Chevy's and a welder so ill probably end up using them and getting some MSR front springs or go with RUF set up.

I do like the idea of an easy project with the OME springs.

WyoWill

A little off topic but why are you going the SAS route again? I'd say go for it if you have the expertise and you wanted a more rugged solution for crawling but I think the IFS with some BJ spacers will be durable enough for what you are doing.. Plus, you get a better feeling ride.

highonpottery

iTrader: (1)

I'd go with OME. Oh wait, I DID go with OME on my truck. Brand new, direct bolt-in OME leafs or used 63s with questionable lift height and more work to install.....hmmm, let me think on that one....

plus, if you go with OME now, you could sell them when you do your SAS for much more than you'd be able to sell your 63s, then just replace with new leafs matching the height of your front end.

Stuwy123

iTrader: (1)

I did the 63" chevy swap on my truck. DD-ed it for three years after the swap.
They ride well, a great improvement over the flat stockers.
You will need to install new front spring hangers and make some custom rear shackles. I believe sky manufacturing sells a nice kit.

Check out Pirate4x4.com, they have a massive thread on the subject (63" chevy leaf swap).
Basically, remove one side, weld new hanger, install springs, rinse and repeat to the other side. You will need to drop the tank to get a weld on the other side. No one should be welding that close to a gas tank. Depending on the length of your shackles, you're stock shocks should work with stock mounts.
I swapped out the chevy spring bushings and that was a complete pain! I don't recommend it unless the rubber is toast.
I managed to level my truck with just cranking the torsion bars and the front matched the rear with 1" of rake.


If you want a sweet and simple swap, get some stock springs.