My Tundra got Ass Implants today

Well we spent a little time down at Champion Leaf & Spring in Fort Worth today (est. 1928). Same family has owned and operated this shop since they opened and my first trip there was back in high school in 1981 with my 1971 Chevy Monte Carlo where she got the same treatment, rear springs overhauled and a couple of leafs added (ass implants) to run big wide Mickey Thompson's on chrome Crager's with the matching skinny wheels and tires on the front.

They used to fire the steel and hand beat it by hand back in the day but they have modernized and use a press to bend and shape the leafs. I was a little skeptical when the owner Mike, son of the original owner, said that I need 3, yes THREE LEAFS ADDED to the stock 3 leafs.

Well about 5 hours later here is what I wound up with. I am TOTALLY BLOWN AWAY on how nice my truck rides!!! Million times better than a brand new one and I can haul what ever I want now. Very cool to have gotten this nice of a result and was truly an honor to hang out with the crew there today.

I could not ask for a better ride, towing, and payload capability. My Tundra has some serious ass now.

NO MORE saggy "grandma butt"

 

I thought for sure that that huge stack of steel was going to loosen every tooth in my head. I CANNOT BELIEVE HOW SMOOTH AND NICE THE RIDE IS, ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE

TOTALLY DIFFERENT TRUCK NOW. She is Officially a "BAD ASS" no pun intended.

They set the front and rear at STOCK heights to each other just like it came from the factory.

 

These guys are unbelievable. This is my 4th truck that they have worked on and I highly recommend theses guys. Will be worth every penny to go here and have them work on your truck. I spent right at $750.00 bucks for material and labor and was worth every dime. I will NEVER have a payload, ride, or towing issue for as long as I own this truck.

 

Very interesting as I'm doing some spring work to mine shortly.

 

Its totally the SHIT!!!!

COMPLETELY AMAZING HOW NICE THIS TRUCK RIDES< I AM BLOWN AWAY.


I was a bit worried that the trailing links on the TRD sway bar were not going to be long enough but they are perfect!

 

Go to a spring shop and tell them you want 3 leafs added and if they don't look at you like you're crazy let them have at your truck.

Stock Tundras rear ends are slightly higher than the front. Have them set it up just like factory even if you're at stock height or up on a lift like I am. The geometry is just like Toyota engineered it and the ride will be just like factory except 100% better, especially with the sway bar added.

I could feel my truck smiling as I drove it home. I know how chicks must feel after a boob job now.

 

This guy Mike is in his 70's and has worked on springs his entire life. I'd say that he knows WTF he is doing. Don't let anyone tell you anything different if your going to have some work done like this.

 

Congrats on the great upgrade! Wish I had a shop like that around here that I knew of!

Enjoy

 

Unfortunately not, all of our stuff is packed. Making first of several trips to Alaska next week.

 

You're going to have to share this guy's info with the rest of us DFW people......js


Truck looks good!

 

Truck looks great but I think the rear is higher than stock. Looks great.

 

We threw a tape on it and it is about one inch higher right now. It will settle a little and should be right at stock height.

 

Awesome. Might have to drive to DFW if I ever need replacements.

 

So the ride is not stiff after the mod? I have a toytec boss 3 inch lift with an inch rear block and TRD swaybar. I have been thinking of doing what you did but was afraid it will make the ride harsh...

 

That's pretty wild.

Glad you like it!

I love everything about that shop, 'Merica!

 

Bring your friends with you!

 

Tundra caravan

 

Hell yeah! we could make it a big meet & greet!

 

done the old school way. Bending that steel

 

I actually like the rear to be slightly higher (1") than the front so that when you load up the bed your still ok.

your beast ready for AK trip I would say

 

My thoughts as well. I was pretty iffy about it first thing this morning before they started. We had talked about two leafs on the phone so when he said three I went into the oh shit going to be a tooth rattling machine. I could imagine the rear end of the truck jumping all over the place going down the road and was afraid as hell that it would buck like a Bronco.

I told him what I needed to do, level up the truck, haul some serious weight in the bed, put some serious tongue weight on the hitch, and tow nice and level. I said that I would put up with a harsh ride if that meant getting those things done. I bought a set of Firestone airbags a few weeks ago but never installed them. i said that if kicked too hard that I would through the bags on it and run a little air to try and smooth it out and add some more for towing and hauling.

He said that it would not be necessary and didn't even say "trust me". He just told his guys what to do and they got after it. I swear that the ride is as smooth as glass. I was shocked when I drove it home. Been driving it this evening and smooth as glass over speed bumps, dips, RR tracks, and everything else. Im utterly shocked how nice this truck is now.

I took it pretty easy at first driving back this afternoon to to see exactly what I had. Fricken solid as a rock. I put on the the sway bar a couple of weeks ago and knew right out of the gate that it made a huge difference on how the truck handled. The springs was the icing on the cake.

I step up on my side steps and the truck dose not move one bit. I flipped down my AMP rear bumper step and the same thing. Truck feels solid as a rock but rides like its a Porsche on airbags. Crazy amazing how well it turned out. These guys know there shit.

 

They used to fire it in a furnace and beat on it. They switched to the press about 10 years ago. Pretty killer old place. I shot some videos and may through them together and put it up on Youtube. Was cheaper then buying a ready made set plus having to have them installed. They did it all in about 4 1/2 hours.

 

that's awesome

 

I thought about you when I was driving home with that set of sliding cabinets you have and how you would be using your truck. I was seriously looking into what you had done and figured Id give these guys a shot and see what they thought about it before buying the same springs that you have. Their 89 years of experience was well worth the 750 bones for sure. Worth every penny to have this thing set up right for sure.

They took apart my leafs and went inch by inch pressing the new leafs to match perfectly the curve in the stock leafs. Custom made new clips and hot riveted them on. Pressed out custom new U bolts which are way more heavy duty than the stock ones and put in all new plastic caps and pressed them back together. Pretty fricken cool.

 

On another positive note, those guys all said that the Tundras have way better rear ends and front ends out of all of the other makes of pickups. They said Fords were the worst for the longest time until they changed their design. The Gov is forcing everyone to get better gas mileage and the engineers are saving weight by lightning up the real steel parts of the truck, front ends and rear ends and the frames. Out of all of the makes Toyota is still building the best real steel components. They said that they work on more new trucks now than they ever have. They are getting lighter and lighter weight. The new trucks have the Horse Power to pull but can't carry what they are able to pull any more so they are constantly beefing up rear ends and fixing front ends. Worst thing that you can do to any truck is stick the tires way out and then load it up on weight. Wrecks the whole suspension.

 

Great looking tundra

 

Congratulations the truck looks good and thank for the info. Oh and by the way your truck has a nice ass lol