Rear leaf springs - lift question
 

I've got a few questions related to my 4" Superlift w/rear springs that I had installed back in early July.

First, the rear leaf springs sit on a flat thin metal spacer which rests on the axle. I assume this spacer needs to be 50/50 over the axle for balance reasons? I noticed last night that about 20% of this spacer is in front of my axle, with the other 80% behind. When I go from Park to Drive they seem to almost shift. My guess is these have worked themselves loose somehow and need to be readjusted and rechecked on a regular basis.

Second, my right rear leaf pack, the top spring, has shifted on about 1/2 inch off the spring pack in the direction of the driver side. I have an open rear diff so the right wheel would always be grabbing. Why would the spring shift off the spring pack? Can I just adjust it back and not worry about it happening?

I noticed a few times in when my truck went into O/D that it hit hard, like the back end hopped or shifted. It makes sense now seeing what the rear suspension is doing. I am planning to not drive it until it gets looked at and fixed. I'm not sure what could happen if those spacers shifted out.

Thanks.

Sounds like a possible dangerous situation, I wouldn't drive it untill you get it fixed. Sounds like the u-bolts are loose and dude that is all that holds your rear axle and therefore your rear wheels on! I would remove the leaf springs and inspect the center pins for damage and replace if needed.

I don't know what the spacer is you talk of, got a pic?

Here are some pics I took when I added a couple leaves to my spring pack. One shows the center pin if you don't know what one looks like. There is a brief description next to each pic. http://community.webshots.com/album/191135149WHNAHa

Is the spacer wedged shaped? If so, it was most likely put in to adjust the angle of your driveline.

I took some pics of the questionable areas last night but didn't get to upload them before work this morning. I will try to post them today after lunch. The truck is in the shop as of this morning gettings gears and LSD installed, and will be taken to the place that installed the lift as soon as it's done and ready to move.

Thanks.

It's like a flat metal shim that sits under the leaf spring and above the axle. It's the same width as the leaf and maybe 1/4 inch thick at the most. It's hard to describe, sorry.

It may have been put in to fill in some space so the installer could use the old u-bolts or something.

Here's a pic of how the bottom spring is shifted over from the rest of the leaf pack:

http://bryanandsara.com/ToyotaTruck/...n/PA160009.JPG

And here's a pic that shows the spacer I was referring to underneath the leaf spring. See how's it way uneven and sticking out the back? The other side looks exactly like that.

http://bryanandsara.com/ToyotaTruck/...n/PA160010.JPG

Any ideas?

Ok, I wouldn't call that a spacer, I'd call it your overload leaf. It looks like if you ever had a center pin that it is gone now and I be very carefull driving that :scared: over 20mph. It looks like the overload leaf is thicker in the middle so as it has slipped out of place (due to no center pin) the u-bolts have gotten looser and looser.

Bryan,
I may be wrong, but it appears that the center pin that mt_goat was referring to may be missing. This would be the only thing that keeps those leafs aligned properly.

Oops! mt_goat beat me to it :)

I've been driving this thing for 3 months now. I wonder how long it's been like this. I'm a bit scared of what could have happened if this wasn't caught. Thanks guys. I'll get it addressed immediately!

Also, is a center pin specific to the leaf springs or something I can pick up from a local hardware store?

I was able to use a grade 8 socket head cap screw for my center pin and yes I found one the right size at Lowes. Here's a pic of my original and new center pins. http://community.webshots.com/photo/...91143318fIbnuM

Just to clarify, that Overload leaf should be centered on the spring pack correct? Not way off center like it is? It makes me wonder how both sides got like this in 3 months.

The center pins on my spring packs are not exactly in the center (front to back) but much closer than that. So you didn't notice if it was like that 3 months ago or not? It kind of looks like the axle has shifted forward on all the leaves, see if you can tell if the top of the u-bolts have been sliding forward on the spring pack, it would have rubbed the paint pretty good if it did.

My center pin is located about 22.5 inches from the front spring bolt and 29 inches from the rear spring bolt.

Wow. I hadn't thought it the possibility of the axle moving forward, but since both sides are out of wack, that makes sense. I didn't notice my wheel closer to one side or the other but I will check that first thing!

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.

On my 85 the add-a-leafs both shifted like that, to the same side (i.e. clockwise rotation both sides.) They would eventually nearly rub the tires, so once a year or so I'd loosen the u-bolts a bit and whack em back in line with a hammer. Eventually I wrapped them with a metal clamp thingie that I took off of some leaf spring setup and they stayed put after that.

I got it to the shop this afternoon. The U-bolts on both sides were surprisingly loose, which was causing the axle hop I described in the first post. The center pins are both still in place and accounted for, so I guess the overload leaf placement on the axle must be OK since they can't really move with the pin through them. They adjusted the bottom leaf spring back into place.

It drives much better. I don't feel any hop when I take off now from a stop or when I take my foot off the brake. Hopefully things are back to normal.

Thanks everyone for the good info!

I stock replacement center pins:
- http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/ForSale/...ml#CenterBolts

Cound be the overload leaf at the bottom was improperly installed, like it was just placed over the perch and the springs on top of it. Or the u-bolts got loose and the shifting leaves sheared off the center bolts.

You should always re-check ubolts after an installation. Same as you should always re-check lug nuts after installing new wheels.

BryanR - don't you have any tools?