Ive been browsing the forum for a while and just discovered what all the fuss is about the "ZUK mod"...after looking at some before and after pictures I discovered that my truck (ive only had it since january) is pretty saggy...I thought the ride was just harsh...

1986 4x4 regular cab turbo 5spd.



A better look at the sag






There is nothing in the tool box lol
I guess this is what happens to 25 year old springs with 300k miles on em.


The question is... New leafs or ZUK mod? The truck is my daily driver...I put about 60 miles on it every day...and its not really a highway...

I dont ever plan on running bigger tires than the 31's that are n it right now.
I'm intrigued by a 1.5" lift but dont think I'd ever go more.


Im looking for reliability and driveability. The truck will see off road use about 3-4 times a year.

Whaddya guys think?

 

That thing looks CLEAN for an '86 with 300k. Damn!
I'd probably go for new leafs. After 300k miles you're probably due for some.

 

I did the Zuk mod and it was easy but I would just change the leafs if I had it to do again.

 

^^^Agreed...very nice truck

 

Thanks!

I brought it out of Arizona to the west coast of BC...and all that sandblasted by the desert bare metal woulda disappeared in months!

So I spent the first month painting it...lol and then three weeks later the headgasket blew...so I just got it back together yesterday

 

Take care of that thing...don't let it rust away.

 

I envy you :p very clean rig!

 

i envy his motor.

 

I had some sag in my 87, and did an add-a-leaf. I'm pretty happy with it, I think it looks better, and carries a trailer better. Maybe the ride is a little worse, but eh, it wasn't that good before. I didn't use shims, and maybe that's why my last ujoints only lasted a year.

Something I thought about was doing lift shackles. But there are more knowledgeable folk than me about springs and leafs (or is it leaves).

 

Or you could do like I did on my 2WD. The rear end was noticeably lower than the front, but not too bad, about like yours. I loosened the torsion bars up front and lowered the front end about an inch, so that the truck is perfectly level now. Didn't cost a cent either.

One additional thing I had to do though was chop off about an inch from my rubber bump stops up front, because after lowering I only had about 3/4th's of an inch of travel up front and was bottoming out constantly.

No problems so far, after six months and probably 10,000 miles. I figure I probably get slightly better gas mileage too. I originally wanted to do a Zuk mod, but those don't work on a 2WD, so I did this instead.

Are your shocks in decent shape" That might help your rough ride.

 

Ya the shocks are in good condition...the problem is the rear springs are basically flat...so they're not doing their job at all....

It seems people are directing me to replace the springs...
What are some replacement springs that are reasonably priced and offer good ride quality? Maybe something that I could do an 1.5" BJ spacer and make it all look good?

There's about a trillion threads on lifts but I basically was stock height or maybe an inch taller and something that's good for a daily...

I'm still tempted by the ZUK...

 

Let me jump in here for a second.


With new leaf springs you're going to have to deal with sagging again in the future. With the ZUK mod you will never ever have sag again. The coils take a lot more load than a leaf and make the ride better than it was factory. You could go with some 12" 125lb coils and I think it'd be just about level. You could do some 14" 125lb coils and then add 1.5" BJ spacers up front for some lift. Maybe even some 12" 100lb coils since you don't seem to haul a lot in the bed.

ZUK mod- about 60$ for coils if you don't lift the front.

New Leaves- No idea but I'd bet its more than 60$ and it'll sag again over time.


Edit: That truck is freaking beautiful. Just wanted to add that.

 

What makes you say that it carries a trailer better? Have you hauled with both to make a comparison? I haven't hauled with both, but I've ridden in both an AAL truck and my own ZUK mod truck. A friend of mine did the AAL to try and fix the sag, and that thing rode like a wagon! I love how my truck rides with the coil springs.

There's a reason why Toyota engineers switched to coil springs on the later model 4runners and 80 series Land Cruisers. Think about it....

 

You are just masking a problem with the coils; why not fix the actual problem?

 

I had the same problem and I got new leafs and I'm totally happy with it. can't speak to the zuk mod. I suppose new leafs will sag over time, but if your truck goes another 300k or 20 years or whatever saggy leafs will probably be the last thing on your mind.

 

Um, the coils do fix the problem............

 

What? You should be able to do some form of the Zuk mod on your 2wd. Just weld some mounts onto the axle housing for the bottoms of the coils to sit on and shove the tops of the coils onto the bumpstops, or make mounts to replace the bumpstops. In the end it's no more work than any of the 4wd guys who fab mounts for their coils though most don't seem to do that.

 

Putting the coils on doesn't give you new, fresh leaf springs is what I was trying to say.

 

From a visual standpoint, fresh new leafs are tempting to some. But my own experience with leafpacks (1985ish to present) has been one of constant sagging. I was plagued with loss of lift all the time on my 1991 YJ Jeep rear packs. I remember commenting to the magazine editor that what the hell is one to do? You put on supposedly good name brand brand new shiny packs and they end up sagging out and sometimes lean to one side. Is the solution to constantly replace them yearly? Then the coil sprung TJ's came into being and they didn't seem to have the sagging....though some would end up leaning to the passenger side.
In the end, new packs left a bad taste with me.....seems some packs never sagged and other did it very fast. Case in point here....

http://www.gearinstalls.com/scottcoil.htm

All it took was 1 Rubicon Express TJ coil to fix Scotty's sag....actually gave him the 3.5" of additional lift that he wanted.....maintained his nice cushy soft ride and no loss of his excellent articulation. It's been 5 or 6 years now and no noticeable change in lift. So, now when he goes off-road and flexes it out thru the deep ruts, people see the strange center coil and it turns into quite the conversational piece. Seems that the single coil took enough of the weight off the leafpack to make the leafpacks last as intended.

Coils have the easy life and only do 1 thing...they support the weight. Leafpacks do that and they also have to locate the axle front/rear and side to side, too. Is that one of the reasons why they might sag?....maybe. Or, is it because of a hit and miss thing if you're getting a quality set of packs that have good quality metal, proper heat treatment and possibly shot peening.

 

it looks like zukking it will make it more comfy too

im liking this idea.... How long have people been running the zuk mod?