Leaf springs

[gearnut]

I think leaf springs lose their "spring" over time but an engineer told me once that spring steel never loses its spring. Who thinks that they just "settle" in and thats it? My OME leaves have 100K on them and dont seem the same, but if I'm wrong its buku mula.

 

[Sgt Grunt]

Springs are not cheap, however keep in mind how long you may have the vehicle and more importantly what you carry in the truck (could become a safety issue)...

 

[Grim Reaper]

Springs do settle but in most cases, unless you are bottoming out, the ride quality complaint is going to be more about the shocks then the springs.


Personally I am sold On Bilstein shocks. They made an amazing difference on My Suburban that only had 73,000 miles on it at the time. I'm about ready to put a set on the 4Runner.

 

[cruiser guy]

Toyota Land Cruiser '60 series springs do sag. They also will eventually wear out as mine did. What happens is the lower leaves wear into the leaves above them and eventually they will break.

I now have BDS springs with slip plates between leaves and they have not settled appreciably since installation.

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

springs can be brought back to life with heat tempering. 100K is a decent amount of miles for an OME kit, and they do settle out. I agree though that a new set of shocks would probably a lot and would be cheaper and easier to install. If you do pull them and take them to a shop, they can do a lot with leaf springs. Heat/temper bring back to life, add or remove arch as well. Hope it helps

 

[rusty_tlc]

I kinda doubt that stiffer shocks will solve the problem.
As I understand it shocks are intended to damp the oscillations in springs, coil or leaf.
New shocks may correct the ride if the old ones are worn out but I don't think they would fix ride problems associated with worn leaf springs.

A cheap short term solution might be add a leaf helper springs.

BTW I love my old, worn out, flexy leaf springs. They suck on the road but shine in the big rocks.