anybody got a good picture of a 1992 toyota 4x4 stock pickup rear leaf spring? im trying to figure out what i have.heres a pic ,is that an AAL in there or aftermarket lift springs?

 

if i remember to i will tonight, have the spare ones in the bed now i gotta unload sometime

 

this guy has stock springs minus the added in coils.
https://www.yotatech.com/forums/f116...s-pics-210057/

 

 

thanx guys...i updated my first post,check out the pic.

 

yep. that there leaf above the overload is an aal. toss those and do the chevy swap (i know! everybody says that.). its cheap, easy, and soooooooooo worth it. way better ride and if you dont want any lift put them spring under and it should maintain stock height roughly.

 

Yeah except to go spring under requires welding on new perches. And to weld on new perches takes a 220v welder, and some skill. (to be safe)..

Or, he could leave the AAL in and leave it alone.

Don't fix what aint broke.

 

Heres the deal,!! P.O put those in and cranked the TBs, and im not sure AALs are even needed,it has a BL and im running 32x11.50s and dont plan on going any bigger.i just replaced both cvs.i put a face cord of wood in last weekend and it only went down like two inches!!so i think one rainy day ill pull them out and take a couple cranks out of the TBs.BUT!! what i dont see on anyone elses truck is the way the spring are captured,in the two piece u-clamp type deal,if i take out the AALs,it doesnt seem like those clamps are going to enough room to tighten down on the springs??

 

I see what you are saying and i agree with you, I don't think it will work with those "u" clamps holding the leafs together. I can tell you this much the top half of the u clamps isn't OEM. I'll see if I can get a pic of what it should look like.

 

be sure to use a ton of PB Blaster or something...that rust is gonna be fun..
also have you picked up your new u bolts yet? it is not recommended that you reuse them...

 

are you kidding ...PB blaster is my best friend!!!!!!!

 

I forgot to mention why i brought this up,ride is EXTREMELY ROUGH!! trying to figure out how to soften it up some.its got good bilstiens all around.

 

so this weekend im gonna see if i can get those AALs out to see what happens,I should be able to take those AALs and top u-channels out and put it back together with the same u-bolts right? the bolts look pretty new.

 

U-bolts should be fine, make sure to hit the exposed thread ends with a good penetrating oil for a few days ahead of time (works best if given time to work). I reused my stock u-bolts for a few years after installing my first lift springs, only replacing them when I flipped the u-bolts to get them out of the rocks.

You might find the ride is about the same w/o the AALs, since now the original leaves will be riding down on the bottom overload leaf. Looks like the AAL you have in there is of the short-thick (i.e. STIFF) variety. A longer, thinner leaf might be an option to give a bit of support for the other leaves and get them up and off the overload leaf. That bottom leaf is fairly important with the stock spring pack as it prevents axle wrap as well as protects the other leaves from overloads. Was on a run with a guy once that had a new-to-him truck and he pulled that bottom leaf out. He was all stoked how well it rode and flexed but about a mile into the trail, he had a bit of wrap/wheel hop and suddenly had "S" shaped springs and the axle was sitting up on the bump stops.

 

have you tried FreeAll? Seems to works better than PB Blaster.

I've been told to always replace U-bolts. Looks like a factory spring pack. I chucked mine in favor of an OME setup.

 

Seems that there are two main types of u-bolts. Some are essentially one-time use and others seem to last a good time. The one-time bolts seems to be set up with rolled threads that have sort of a rounded profile. When you tighten down the nut on those threads, the V-shaped threads in the nut cut into the U shaped threads on the bolts and that helps to lock the nut in place, but it basically messes up the threads once you take the nuts off. I had a set of u-bolts like that what I had cross over steering installed on my front axle. You would get strands of steel off the u-bolts when you took the nuts off. I think they lasted for 2 or 3 installs before they stripped. But I found the stock u-bolts held up a lot better to repeated installations as long as the threads were well lubed. Those type have the V shaped threads on both the nuts and bolts and the nuts don't damage the bolt threads. I now run some Rancho grade 8 u-bolts front and rear and those are awesome. I've had the fronts on for like 12 years now and the threads look brand new and they have been on and off half a dozen times at least.

 

UPDATE...well,i got the u-bolts loose and off fairly easy,when i got the spring loose that spring pack is NOT coming loose,alignment pin is rusted and completely stuck.so ,its back together with AALs and still stiff as a board.looks like my only other option id different springs.oh,and get this,my passenger side shock is busted!!,i didnt even notice untill i took it loose,thats how freakin stiff the springs are!!!

 

What you need is new center bolts, so you can cut the old ones off and remove the AALs. 4Crawler has some for sale that would work. http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...ml#CenterBolts

 

Good luck hauling a cord of wood on stock springs. They'll sag to the bumpstops, guaranteed.