I have an '81 Solid axle pickup, and the front leaf springs are sagging pretty bad. I was wondering if anyone knows of a good affordable aftermarket helper spring, or if i should completely replace them. Could i take springs off of any other trucks besides the obvious Toyota....?

Thanks

 

Well I'm in the same boat with the rear of my 4Runner. I've been looking at Old Man Emu and Downey replacement springs. Add a leafs are really tempting due to the low cost ($40-$60) but I keep thinking I'd just be putting a band aid on the real problem. So, I'm holding out for full spring replacement. Now I'm wrestling with OME or Downey because the Downey are alot less expensive and nobody can tell me why so far.

Heres a clicky to Downey:
http://www.downeyoff-road.com/home.html

Good luck,
Mike

 

OME is the best option out there for a mild (2") lift type spring.
On a front spring, solid axle application, you really can't do the add-a-leaf route, no room to add springs without causing steering issues. Those issues can be resolved, depends on how far you want to go with the project. BTW, the stock front springs flat to slightly reverse arched.

 

AddaLeafs ride very very harsh... I had them once and will never do that again.

Check websites (Skyjacker, Trailmaster, Rough Country, Tough Country, NWOffroad, Downey - you name it,) or go pick up a couple 4x4 magazines and look at the ads. EVRYone makes springs, although they show up in the advertisements less and less as time goes by, and some are pretty reasonable priced and some are stupidly expensive. You can get everything from replacement springs to lift as high as you want.

 

There are different types of Add A Leaf springs. The common (and inexpensive) ones are short, thick and STIFF. The better ones are long, thin and SOFT. The Rancho Soft-Ride AALs are pretty good, you get a long leaf, similar in arch and thickness to the stock leaves, plus a shrter, slightly thicker leaf you can add in a variety of combinations to the stock pack. You can swap one or both new leaves for one or more of the stock leaves or you can add them to the pack to get the ride height and quality you are after. Granted, you are looking at over $100 for the AAL kit compared to maybe $30-40 for the less expensive single leaf kits. Or, pick up a set or two of stock springs at a junkyard and build a custom spring pack. Cut down the junk leaves as needed to fit your spring pack. I run a full custom front spring made from 2 packs of stock rear leaves and it works as well, if not better than any of the off-the-shelf springs you can buy, and it cost nothing:

http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/4R_suspe...#CustomSprings

 

I have an 81 pickup also with sagging front springs you can buy new front springs and helper springs and four shocks for about 300.00 from 4wheel parts