What have you done to your 1st gen Tundra today?

I read about this clamping just in front of the axle on the entire leafs pack. They reported the axle wrap is eliminated by doing so. I wonder if the high speed rear side hop when hitting a bump would be eliminated? Might need to try this even though my OEM leafs splayed years ago. I got them back in line for the most part and put some jack leg keepers on them. The spring arch is still good on them and new ‘Silencer/Isolator Pads’ have eliminated the clunk on low speed turns.

 

I can tell you my truck stops better, starts better, and generally feels better since I installed that $18 worth of clamps. Bumps included.

 

Nice. Can you post up a pic of yours? I wish I hadn’t cut my u-bolts down on my jack leg keepers or I could have reused them on this mod. Think they cost about $25 at Autozoned.

 

It's the narrower of these two. I can't recall which one it is and I failed to put the pn in my Tundra notes
https://www.autozone.com/suspension...ilt-fh975043-leaf-spring-clamp-kit/975043_0_0
https://www.autozone.com/suspension...ilt-fh541729-leaf-spring-clamp-kit/541729_0_0

I will try to remember to get a pic later.

I remembered

 

ALSO!

Yesterday, I put in a little work on the truck.
I installed that K&N intake I mentioned previously. (https://www.autoanything.com/air-intakes/77A1914A3094121.aspx?kc=AFFCJ&AID=10375065)
I also changed the oil and replaced the positive battery cable terminal.

With regards to the K&N intake, since installing it, I'm now getting 200mpg and can carry the front wheels for ~1000'.
More detailed (highly scientific) datum to follow once I clock more miles than the 30 I've accumulated so far.

 

What terminal kit did you use? Just a standard one from the auto store?
I’ve got the SDHQ kit in a box waiting to be installed; I even bought a hydro crimper, just sitting in the box......

 

I bought some "marine terminals" from the FLAPS. I slapped the red one on in lieu of the ~40% missing positive terminal. No cutting required. Undid the 12mm nut on top the old terminal, removed the terminal, fixed the new one in place, slipped the cable ends over the stud on the new terminal, and tightened the wing nut. Easy like Sunday morning.

 

Wow. Your pic looks super far up. Not sure how I’d be able to accommodate that as my overload has a large gap there. Looks like in your pic the leafs might be altered too much?

Did an Autozoned trip today and picked up some u-joints clamps. Installed them about an 1.5” in front of the axle. Did the same drive on familiar roads 3 times. Once without. Once with 1.5” up. Once with u-joint moved close as possible to axle.

Couple of observations:

1) Rear end doesn’t rise as much in all types of speeds braking.

2) Braking feels more solid as rear end is planted more. Might now shift the LSPV bias more to the front brakes because the rear doesn’t rise as much.

3) High speed bumps in road have reduced squirrely side hop.

4) Squirty/slippy feel on speed embankments turns is gone. I kinda liked that feel and will miss it.

5) Front Steering feels tighter in all aspects/speeds. Its as if the front is planted more so requires more power to turn wheel. This is a minor nuance observation noticed more during acceleration.

Conclusion: I’ll experiment more with u-joint clamps at differing locations along the leaf. So far the 1.5” felt as good as the location right at the axle shaft (someone). @chrisb pictured location doesn’t seem doable for me and makes me think the leafs might bind resulting in a rough ride. I’ll flip my clamps over on the next experiments such that they they are upside down.

 

I kind of like that. Are there any laws that prohibit this?

 

2 quick points.
1. If the rear is more planted, it can be counted on to handle more of the braking force without locking up the tires.
2. I had to do some squeezing to get the clamp tight that far up on the o/l spring. It's pretty drastic, but it has not resulted in a harsh ride. *shocks/dampers are responsible for ride quality more so than spring rate*

 

Stoked on this guys. Finally settled in on this position with the u-joint clamp flipped upside down and up tight against the axle bracket. I added a second plate from another clamp for extra rigidity when torquing down on those bolts, as the single plate tended to bend by itself.

The important thing (to me prior) which is now corrected:

1) No mas rear end side hop at highway speeds after hitting a heav or hard bump in the pavement.

Unintended side benefit:

2) Rear end north/south axis planted at all speeds and braking. Better braking and handling feels.



Total Cost: $16.99

 

Eyeballing 6.5 speakers for my doors. Ive had infinity in there for 12 years, I think they've done their job and probably won't handle the added power that I might put in this weekend. I'm thinking Sundown components will get the nod.

 

Whilst under I aired up the Spare Tire with my best all time pressure gauge I’ve ever owned. It has a little check release valve for airing down. It also rotates on the hose and in general is very ergonomic.

 

This is interesting, and makes sense. These 17 year old springs have done things they should not on multiple occasions. I greased up the driveshaft this morning, and then released the pressure, but only drove the truck across the yard, so unsure if I had any effect on my clunk.

A couple questions/thoughts.
Since there is a zerk there, I have always put a couple pumps in and moved on, asI assume many have. Have I (we) been immobilizing this joint or is there some kind of pressure realise in there somewhere?

If axle wrap due to worn out springs is the culprit, is clamping to the overload a nice band aid, but new leafs the solution? What about traction bars or add a leaf to help mitigate?

Not meant to sound sceptical of the solution. Just thoughts.

 

Here is a pick I snapped today of the shaft movement since last greasing. Note the grease layer where the shaft has been from tow/haul. I’m not sure of the total shaft movement measurement in these shafts, but can tell you I’ve had 1500+/- pounds on numerous occasion since the last grease job about 3 months back.

My leafs still have good arch, but were splayed for many years. I straightened and boxed them in with keepers about 2 years ago (no clamp force). These clamps today make a big difference for something that doesn’t seem possible.

 

Just ordered ! Cant believe you didnt post this on our page about the leaf spring insulators that we started.

I'm glad I saw this though

 

I still can. I just saw them as separate issues, but they do work closely together.

 

About to rent an engine hoist and lift my engine out for the rebuild. There's not a lot of info specific to our trucks out there, so I've been going by the FSM (thanks to whoever sent it to me on here, it's been a lifesaver). I'd like to leave the transmission in place. I plan to try and be super organized with all the bolts and parts that come out. Any other advice?

 

If your leaving the trans in place make sure you support tut with a jack or something... some people forget that and it gets ugly

 

Maybe use some scrap 2x4 blocks?

 

This can be done.. nice quality ratchet strap works too if it’s not going to be out super long ( just have something under it as a backup should strap fail)

 

1) Tooled around under the back end and dropped a few drops of 3in1 Oil on the crank lever pins and wadded up some grease on top of that.

2) Filled a squirt bottle and shot some 0w-20 Mobil Synthetic up in the boxed frame. Works nicely! Currently, the oil is ponding inside as the truck is on a slope. Poured some on the front wheel frame areas around the engine, too.

3) Recorded some data of work performed on the truck from recent.

4) Came close to making a Projector Purchase.

 

Realized its pretty impossible to slip 12 gauge speaker wire through the factory door looms. I guess I'll have to drill holes and get grommets, not what I planned for and thats gonna set me back.

Did get my passenger side front door sound deadened at least. Maybe I'll do driver side tomorrow or maybe I'll wait until I have grommets. I really despise taking doors apart.

 

Put speakers in the kick panel instead. No more taking door apart. Of course, if you mounted pods on the sides of the headrest....

 

Don’t give up. I used a piece of 12AWG (with some lube on it as a fish device). Disconnect the rubber off the jamb side. Leave the rubber connected on door. Push the lubed hard wire (use tape on the end so you don’t nick wires) through from the door side and into the rubber tunnel slowly. You’ll manipulate and turn the wire as it navigates. Key is to use the existing loom to help guide the bend.

May need a few tries to get the angle of dangle but once you slip through the rubber you can then grab the tip and push it into the jamb frame hole. Reach around the footwell and grab that.

Now attach the stereo wire (lubed) to the fish wire and pull slowly. I did this on my Side Mirror Turn Signals.

 

@Professional Hand Model that's very similar to the approach I took today. I probably should have disconnected the two wire harnesses at the kick panel for more slack. I kept hitting the butt end of the conduit when using a coat hanger.

Tomorrow is another day and I may try again, or I may stop by Fry's and pick up some grommets and sleeve so I can just pop holes and be done. I might even grab some 16 gauge wire to use instead since I need to run two wires per door in the front.

I slapped my door back together without the tweeter connected for now. I'm relocating the crossovers to under the dash rather than in the door.

 

I just had a pretty good idea, might be worth a try. Right now my door speakers are running off the factory wires from the headset. I'm installing an amp, I think if I clip the original wire harness from in the cab I might be able to tape my new wire up and pull it through. That is of course if there is no blasted heat shrink holding things together from the factory. I couldn't tell if it was heat shrink or tape at the end of the boot.

 

Fun fact. One of the dealer options on my 66 Mercedes was the oil soaked rust proofing.



they literally sprayed the underside of the car with oil.

 

Can you tell which one is new? Lol. Thanks SkidRow

Straight off work and got this on in less than an hour. Using the floor Jack really makes the install a breeze

 

Off the record, they still do that up north. Heat it, spray it, ignore the fish .