Leaf spring options

The other day I noticed that my leaf springs look more like a “W” than a nice arch. Pretty much everyone on the forums says they’re toast. After burning out my brain spending a couple of hours researching leaf springs, including the forums, does anyone have any suggestions for good quality leaf springs that won’t break the bank? I want to keep as close as possible to stock ride height, but a little lift is okay too (no more than 2”). I would also like better performance under load and longer life than the piece of crap stock springs. My truck only has 80k miles, so seeing flat springs is honestly kind of shocking.

 

Hmmmm....... FWIW My '07 has 87K, still sits level and rides like the day I drove it off the dealers lot. My rear leafs are also "flat" - I don't know that they ever had an "arch"... I installed air bags years ago, to level the truck with a horse trailer or my RV hooked up. Good luck.

 

The Tundras springs don't have much arch to them. Mine on my 2020 were bad at 13k miles. They creaked really loud and had about 1/4 inch gaps between the leafs. I replaced mine with Alcans.

 

I’ve read good things about Alcans. I’ll check them out. These are my driver side springs. There is almost no arch at all. There is no way this is normal.

 

I am fairly certain that the distance from center of hub to top of wheel well (see pic below) is 25” from the factory. My truck’s leafs looked like they had a negative arch like the W you are describing, but that distance was indeed 25” for me when I measured it at 115k miles on the springs.

edit: oops, forgot pic

 

I have 23” from center of hub to wheel well, so even new factory springs would give me 2” of lift.

 

If you look under Tundras that you see in parking lots you will see that this is quite common.

 

If I started crawling under trucks in my town, I’d probably get arrested.

 

True....for attempted cat theft.

 

I’m a big fan of sumo springs in this situation. The OEM springs and alot of aftermarket springs will eventually sag with or without a static load (but way faster with a static load/filling to capacity). The sumo springs just barely make contact with the OEM springs when unloaded and help prevent sagging. Recently I put in Dobinsons leaf springs with a 2” lift then added another 2” of sumo springs to also have constant support for loads. Install is quick and they have no maintenance whereas air bags are superior in ride/control but have more maintenance/setup (just tradeoffs).

 

How much are the Sumos? I'm wondering if I should get some for my Alcans.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I have Timbren bump stops so I don't need Sumos?

 

Oh for sure, the most common setup is part number SSR-610-40 and are usually 250-300$. Those are 1000lbs (blue) at half compression so are the softest, then there is a 1500lb (black) version and even more like 3000lb (yellow). Alot of people will say don’t reuse your leaf shackles as they stretch when torqued the first time (so consider getting new shackles if that is a concern). These will make the truck ride more stiff when unloaded, as there is much more support (somewhat like a sway bar when turning too). I’ve had these on two tundras for 100k miles and like it that way haha.

 

rockauto had some OEM for a good price. I got mine from junkyard from a truck with 45k miles and i don't have an arch either

 

I am having some Ironman HD springs put on my truck as we speak. Keep a decent load in the back constantly and will have a camper shell soon as well. We will see how they do.

 

Hmm..I’ll be in Missoula in a couple weeks? Mine are beyond flat!

 

I went with Alcans, airbags, cradles and dobinson greaseable shackles. I even reached out to @Tundra234 before hand on the ride quality.

I’ve only had everything installed for 2 weeks but took a dirt road at about 55 mph after install and boy did these leaf’s perform. Also yesterday there was a good stretch of concrete highway that’s known to cause the infamous bed bounce. I could see the bed wanting to start bouncing but the rear end held up and rode smooth.

Overall I’m extremely happy with the ride quality and so far no squeaks or noise coming from my rear end.