Hi, I am Michael, and I just bought a brand new '88 2wd pickup with extended cab and long bed to replace my worn out (blown engine) '86. With the exception of the wheelbase, etc, the 2 trucks are identical.

The '86 has been fitted with 1-ton springs from a salvage yard, plus 2 sets of overload leafs. (It's a stack of 4 leafs.) It's a positively glorious configuration because no matter how much I would load on my truck, it would never sag. The ride and handling was just fine, fully loaded or not.

Ideally I should duplicate the performance of the '86 in the '88. The '88 is not sagging, but I haven't put anything in it yet.

Here's my question:

Is there something special about the main spring of a 1-ton, and do I have to swap it over from the '86 to the '88 in order to duplicate the performance, or is it enough just to add an extra overload leaf to the '88.

Also, are the leafs on a long-wheelbase truck the same load rating as a short-wheelbase truck? I mean, maybe the '88 already has a heavy duty main leaf and I might be better off keeping it as is.

By the way, why do people replace leaf springs instead of just having the old ones re-arc'd. That's what I did with my 1966 Dodge; re-arc'ing worked out well. Is it only a matter of availability of new parts?

I have to know about of this before the '86 is dragged off to the salvage yard. If the 1-ton main leaf is a special breed, I am keeping it!

 

What are you paying to re-arc the springs? New leaf springs aren't that expensive , and you can pick up lower mile leaf springs all day for pretty cheap, so perhaps that's why people are going new...

 

Thanks, but do you have any response to my other questions?

 

With trucks this old there is no way to know what springs might have been swapped out.

Age and abuse always enter in to just what springs will do.

In this part of the world I don`t know anyone who re arches springs it comes down to to many lawyers

25 years ago it was quite common for spring shops to custom build springs to just what you wanted

 

you could talk to
Deaver: http://www.deaverspring.com/
or National
http://www.nationalsprings.com/

when I had the rear springs on my old 84 re-arched and two thin leafs added the re arch lasted about 3 years

 

To answer my own question, when I took the leaf springs for my base model Hilux off of the 1-ton truck in the salvage yard, I had forgotten that that truck had a 6-lug hub. That's significant. Although the spring may look the same, it's beefier. This is already apparent because my "new" 1988 Hilux is sinking down because of the weight I am putting on it as I transfer stuff from the old 1986 Hilux. While the new 88 is sinking, the old 86 is gradually gaining ground clearance.

So there's my answer: I have to save those 1-ton leafs. In fact, I think I am going to be buried with them. And if re-arcing is in my future, it will be the 1-ton springs that will have to be re-arced if I am going to get decent service life.

As for you folks who do not have the benefit of 1-ton leafs, I recommend adding extra leafs to your spring pack. I think this will make re-arcing hold longer.

By the way, My 1-ton springs have 2 overload leafs, which keeps the main leaf in shape.