About 1 1/2 yrs. ago I ditched my rusted bed from my 89 Pickup for a free aluminum flatbed. In doing so, the flatbed ended up being heavier than the original pickup bed. The rearend was sagging a bit. Rather than buy new leaf springs I took the easy way out and put 3" blocks in the rear with 3" shocks. I bought $10 clearance Edelbrock shocks. Since then I have put on a homemade steel bumper.

Now, the cheap shocks have blown on me. The question I have is should put in an add-a-leaf to help with the added weight and age of the leafs? Or are there some other junk yard springs I can put in to help maintain the weight and still keep it level? Perhaps some full size or something?

Also, I will need some new shocks but I need to measure to find out the exact length and I don't know how to measure to find out. I do know that they aren't stock length shocks and 3" seem to long.

If anybody else has a suggestion I am more than willing to hear them.

Thanks guys.

 

I've got a suggestion:

Ditch the blocks.

Get new springs.

Be amazed at how well your truck rides.

 

Thats what I was gonna say!

 

The only question is stock springs won't deal with the added weight. Do I get some leaf packs with 2 or 3" or lift or are there some leafs from say a full size that will fit in to give me the added height and weight capacity?

 

Old Man Emu makes stock replacement Springs. Old Man Emu makes very high quality Springs by the way. They make stock replacement springs in medium duty (similar to stock) and heavy duty (what you'd probably want to go with) configurations that are at stock ride height.

 

go with some 63" chevies...or some 57" ford rear springs...that will give you more lift and load carrying capacity....got to do a lil bit of welding and what not though...

 

what sort of welding will need to be done?

 

You need to weld on a new front spring hanger for the longer than stock springs and likely move the shackle hanger on the frame. You can likely find everything you need on the Pirate4x4.com Toyota truck FAQ:

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=459180