Does anybody if this is doable? I'd love to take a couple of inches off the overall height of the truck, but custom springs are out of the question right now, by Cruiser budget is small this year. I don't even know if this is possible, but I'd consider it.

Remove the bottom leaf or two. See where that gets you...
Gotta love free....
:D

De-arch? Oh man, put them on my Jeep, it can de-arch a spring fast!

SixtySeriesGuy,

I know it can be done. I've heard of Lowrider guys (:flipoff2: ) doing it so I looked into it a few years ago. I think w/ the OME's its probably a good idea. the problem w/ taking out a leaf is that it leaves the springs more vulnerable. W/ OME it might not be a an issue. The problem is the spring shops usually charge about $75 per spring to do it (same as arching). I'd give them (any spring shop) a call & see what they say. I think de-arching them will soften them up so you may need to compensate somewhere to keep the speed wobbles & sway to a minimum. Does your 62 have a rear sway bar like US versions?

HTH

I dont recomend taking out leafs expecally on a heavy SOA 60 you will just tip over. Get them done by a spring shop or just let time do it eventually you will want those inches back once those start sagging. I use to run stock springs with an add a leaf and I thought it was to tall for a while then after a few trips it setteled down.

If you are running the OME HD spring packs then couldn't you just remove spring leaves and let the weight of your beast naturally sag the springs?

I thought that the only difference between the light/med/heavy OME kits was that they added spring leafs for the heavier kits (and if you had a lighter kit you could upgrade by just buying the additional leaves)?

...So if you take the leaves out you aren't necessarily any more vulnerable than someone running the lighter duty OME springs.

Hell, if ya want to make it droop, no need to even take 'em of the vehicle. Just fire up the old torch with a rosebud tip and heat 'em up. That'll make 'em sag.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
Just Kidding. If you really did this, you'd be stopidor than...... me!

Or you could just take them off & reinstall them upside down :rolleyes: :D

Or you could just take them off & reinstall them upside down

Isn't that how they make those way cool low-riders outta cruisers? Paint it purple and cover with chrome!


Should look fyne on a FJ60

yeah, thats what I've done on my other spring under 60. I installed 4" alcans upside down, 20 gold daytons, limo tint & kawasaki metallic green paint. more chrome than you can shake a stick at. & I almost forgot to mention a boomin system!!! I'm thinking about taing it to moab this year but I've heard there are a couple of speed bumps between here & there & my hydros wont be installed in time :( :rainbow:

Henry, take the bottom leaf out and then take them and have them de-arched.

You will then have longer springs and you may need longer shackles to compensate.

If it angled your shackles out to 45* you will LOVE the improved ride.

Good idea...giddy up!!

De-Arching a spring is as easy as arching it, if you have a 20 ton press you can do iy yourself. Back in high school thats how we all lifted are trucks (by re arching using a press).

Whats the difference between spring rate? Well its not simply adding more leafs or taking them out, thats for sure. The bottom leaf in most cases is an overload spring, so it does'nt effect spring rate so much, but the others all serve an important role in the job of a leaf spring!

Heavy duty: they use thicker leaves and different tapers, plus the steel is heat treated differently than of a "soft duty" or light duty spring.

Basicly, you can remove all the leafs in a pack that you want, but it will affect the spring rate in one way or another, good or bad, well that will depend on weight, load points, torqe, etc.....

Jeff

Thanks for the advise, everyone. FWIW, I originally thought my HEAVY-ASS Land Cruiser (and HEAVY-ASS driver) and the SO would flatten those springs down, but it's been two years and they're still up there. I am contemplating going from a 10" rim to an 8" rim, so I'd like to reduce some of the truck's height. I have no complaints about the ride or the articulation. My truck *did* at one time have the rear anti-swaybar, on the original Dana 60 axle, but I've since replaced it with an FJ60 axle out of a 1983 FJ60, which doesn't have the brackets for the anti-swaybar. I'd prefer not to remove leaves from the springpacks, I don't want to mess with the load rating, but I like I said on my original posting, I wouldn't mind losing a couple of inches of height. I'm going to call a couple of springworks in this area and see what they say, I don't relish the possibility of paying $300 to have it done, but that's still a lot cheaper than custom springs...

Gracias!

Thanks for the heads up on the shackle length, Nolen...dang, I knew I should have kept those two sets of long OME shackles....

Originally posted by 60seriesguy
Thanks for the heads up on the shackle length, Nolen...dang, I knew I should have kept those two sets of long OME shackles....

HC
I still got those long shackles you got from Chase, and then gave to me, if you want them.
Ross

Thanks, bro, I don't know if those would work, but it's good to know you have them, I'd totally forgotten about those!

De-arching as stated above is no big deal, any spring shop can do it. You should be able to better than $75 per spring though. A friend had 4 spring packs arched, new bushings, new u-bolts, and add-a-leafs added to 2 sets of springs for $400 and he drove the truck in and drove it out. You can get them arched for less if you pull the springs and bring them in off the vehicle.

Originally posted by 60seriesguy
I'm going to call a couple of springworks in this area and see what they say, I don't relish the possibility of paying $300 to have it done, but that's still a lot cheaper than custom springs...


When I bent my Skyjacker front spring, I took it to Chantilly Spring Works on Woodbridge Drive (Next door to the LCC old place). They straightened it, and wouldn't take any money for doing it. Should be in the phone book, or could drive over there to check them out. Also, ask Lance which springworks made the custom leaves for his FJ55. He was happy with their work. HTH

Ross

Henry,

A guy in our club had this done to his OME springs for his SOA 40. It worked very well for him. I think it cost him $150 to have all 4 done. But we are in rural America, so our prices might not be in line with the coasts.

Later!

Eric V.

1085FJ60350TBIRNGERUNDRDRVOMERS9000RSWNGOUTBMPR331
050ATS15X8MODS2X4SLDR

Christ Newbie...that will give a man a headache!

The good thing about Pirate is you can spell all of that alphabet soup out and tell us what the hell you rig actually has on it!!

Henry,

Just keep in mind that if you go too low, you may have to make a few changes to bumpstop height and shock placement. I'm sure Gary set up the height of the shock hoops/pins to be optimum with the amount of installed lift/travel.

Just my $.02, I'm going through the same thing with my rig :p

Henry,

Just keep in mind that if you go too low, you may have to make a few changes to bumpstop height and shock placement. I'm sure Gary set up the height of the shock hoops/pins to be optimum with the amount of installed lift/travel.

Just my $.02, I'm going through the same thing with my rig

In theory the bumpstops or shocks should not have to change because the spring *should* still have the same range of motion even though it is flatter. But theory isn't always "real world" practice. I'd flatten the springs & take it out, carfully flex it & see if you still need to change anything. I've found that rs9012's have about 3" xtra (1" up & 2" down) travel not being used on my SOfj60 & it has quite alot of droop & stock location bumpstops.

HTH

would increasing the distance to the bumpstops help fatigue the springs by letting them go negative? i was thinking of this for my piggy as well.
BTW, i am looking for a set of rims, do yours have any offset? if so i might like to buy them from you if you go with 8" rims.

Hey 60seriesguy: Do you have pics of your SO 60?

What size tires and what offset are you planning on going to?

Just trying to get some ideas for future mods! :D

I got a few pictures; currently running 35" tires on 10" rims, but wanting to move to 36" or 37" tires on 8" rims. First I have to address the gearing issue...

Here's the truck!

Forgot to add: current setup is 15x10" rims with 3.75 backspacing, planning to go to 16x8" with 2.25" backspacing. Also, I'll have these 10" rims for sale cheap soon, all offers entertained. I have 5 of them, too. Here's a couple more pictures!

This is with the 10" rims. Look how :rainbow: they look, I hate it! Besides, it's been a bitch on the steering and street ride.

One more...

Here you can see the truck from the backside, I *much* prefer the stance with the 8" rims, and it rode a whole hell of a lot better.

Last one, a classic poseur shot on Poison Spider!

Cool! I'm eventually gonna do a SO, but since I'm a Newbie (says so right on my profile), I'm gonna stick with a ~3" lift and 33x12.5s on 15x8s with 3" bs...

Just got a bonus at work, so I'm gonna spend on the Cruiser! :smokin:

Thanks for posting the pics!

By the way, are those gas or H2O cans on the roof in the 2nd to last pic? I guess you could make good money selling fuel to FJ40 owners on long trips... :D

Henry, got any shots of your rear tires stuffed? All your shots show the rear extension.

Hmmm, I just checked through my pictures, and I don't have any that show the rear tire stuffing..The last three or four times I've been wheeling I haven't even taken pictures...sorry!

Those are fuel cans, by the way, and they're not for selling gas to FJ40's, they're for keeping the old bitch from running out of fuel! I get horrible mileage, about 11-12 MPG at best. It would be better without the @#$% roof rack, but I don't have a place to store it.

You need to do an EFI conversion like me! Of course I went ahead and got the 42 gallon tank on my truck which makes it go as far as most cars make it on a 16 gal tank... :D

That's a lotta gas up there! Can't be :smokin: near it!

For personal reasons, I didn't read the whole post so sorry if this was suggested... If you have a trailer hitch, go hitch up to something with a ton of tongue weight and let it sit there for a few weeks with the assend dumped, this will take the arch out. un-hitch every few days to see how it's progressing. When it's the height you want stop. tractors work well for this. HTH;)