i have been looking into aal kits for the rear of my truck. they seem reasonably priced and easy to install. i havent heard much about how much (if any) additional flex these would provide. shackles also are easy and cheap but im guessing dont do much in the flex dept. i've searched fyi.

 

i've never had any problems with mine being to stiff to get the maximum travel from them. I guess as much lift they give, you'd have that much more room to flex. I don't know much about the shackles so I'll just shut up.

 

A long, thin AAL will allow for good spring flex, a shorth, thick (i.e. STIFF) AAL will likely limit flex. An AAL will generally not allow any more flex than the existing spring pack, since the it is the main spring pack that basically determines what droop and compression travel you get. The AAL basically just raises the static ride height within that range of travel. A longer spring shackle can actually increase travel, since it will increase spring droop and if the rest of the suspension allows it, it will allow for the same compression as before. As such, you generally see an increase in spring travel of about the same amount as the lift you get from the longer shackle, which is on the order of 1/2 the additional shackle length:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/Shackles.shtml#FAQ4

 

Well thanks for the responses.

I have heard good things about rancho AAL's and tuff country (sp?) AAL's from other peoples posts. Would these be a decent, flexy setup? I'm not sure how thin these are or how much they flex.

If I went the shackle route, I would definately be ordering a set from you Roger. I dont mind paying a few more bucks for better engineered product.

In my sig. pics you can see where my stock rear suspension just isnt cutting it. I guess I am still undecided on what would work best for me. :pat:

 

I like the Rancho Soft-Ride AAL kit, it comes with 2 pair of leaves, one full length and thin, one somewhat shorter and thicker. Gives you a number of combinations with those two leaves and the 3rd leaf in your existing pack as far as mixing and matching go. Thin leaf is basically the same thickness as the stock leaves and flexes very well. If you need more lift, you can add the thicker leaf or swap those two for the stock 3rd leaf, etc. Dial in the ride and flex, then have a shackle built to get the rest of the lift you need, if any.

The truck in this writeup is running the thin Ranch leaf and a 2" longer shackle I made:
- http://www.4x4wire.com/toyota/hottoy/west/