63" Chevy 1/2-ton spring swap FAQ!!

[TrailCarnage]

When I installed 63" springs on my Taco, I mounted the front hanger 11" forward of the stock mount. This is what the majority I spoke to recommended. After stuffing the heck out of my tires, I relocated them to 10" forward of stock. This worked out great!

For 98 and newer Tacos the springs are longer so these measurements do not apply.

BTW- Mine bent all to hell. They are great for cheap flex and lift but mine lasted less than a year before they folded.

[Brian in Mass]

What i'm hearing is that these springs are good for my deal...any ideas on this ?

"87 chevy shorty.....inboarding both front and rear (for ease of fab and strength)...and sitting it on rockwells.

Think it will work ok...or will i rip the axles right out of it ?

[ToynJeep]

Ok using these chevy springs will get it done on the rear. But What is the best setup to run on the front? or do you use the same springs? Sorry I dont know much about yotas but I'm learning.

[poorwheeler]

Read the toy FAQ has alot of good info on SAS and front/rear springs. I run Wranglers but am switching to Waggies soon.

[Yunaderis]

thanks for the writeup...it has been very helpful to me

[Ratbasturd]

Got the chevys on now I have DL vibration. I had shims on the skyjacker set-up and they pointed my diff up past straight at the diff if that makes sence anyway I had no vibration. I have no CV. Should I rotate my pinion back up to the way it was with the skyjackers? I tried pushing the springs down to point the pinion more at the T-case and it got worse. Thank you for any help.

[nomorejeep]

Originally posted by Rat
Got the chevys on now I have DL vibration. I had shims on the skyjacker set-up and they pointed my diff up past straight at the diff if that makes sence anyway I had no vibration. I have no CV. Should I rotate my pinion back up to the way it was with the skyjackers? I tried pushing the springs down to point the pinion more at the T-case and it got worse. Thank you for any help.

are going to cut off the front hanger ?

[Dirk00TJ]

I'm looking at the 63" chevy springs too. Has anyone moved the center pin placement from the center of the leaf to a more offset position? I need to do something like that for my application.
Thanks! Dirk

[Cracker]

I would suggest that anyone living in the rust belt, (or just even if you get snow at all), that goes with the Chevy's, regularly lube the sleeves/bolts.

When I was at a Pennsylvania pick-n-pull, I tried to get myself a set of springs....I tried about 10 trucks, and 9 of them were impossible to get the springs out of because the bolts had seized in the bushing sleeves.

Remember, this is also in a state that doesnt even use salt on their roads....

Just thought I'd mention that...

[larryboy]

Originally posted by Cracker
I would suggest that anyone living in the rust belt, (or just even if you get snow at all), that goes with the Chevy's, regularly lube the sleeves/bolts.

When I was at a Pennsylvania pick-n-pull, I tried to get myself a set of springs....I tried about 10 trucks, and 9 of them were impossible to get the springs out of because the bolts had seized in the bushing sleeves.

Remember, this is also in a state that doesnt even use salt on their roads....

Just thought I'd mention that...

thats why i take a can of PBBlaster with me when i go scout for the stuff i'm getting on half price day .

[aaron t]

are you guys bending these chevies with bumpstops? i have only 3-4 in of uptravel. i don't want to have to replace springs every year.

[Nate C]

I got bumpstops and still they are bending a little. My torque arm seems to have stjopped the bending, for now. Now my crossmember (ox-collarover xfer case) is tearing itself off of the frame! Welded back, but we'll see.

Rat,
you need to run a cv and point the rear pinion about 2 degrees below the drivesahft angle...fixed my vibration!

[Adam F]

Has anyone gotten uneven lift with their springs? I installed some 4 leaf plus overload packs from a 98 Chevy 1500 and the driver's side is sitting about 1" taller than the passenger side. Whats up with that? Is there a drivers side and a passenger side spring?

[BlueYota]

How full is your gas tank?
Just a thought

[Adam F]

I wish it were that easy. Ive measured both full and empty not much change

[racebill]

I have a 1991 Toyota 4x4 truck and did the conversion and used a double shackle setup. The 1st shackle is 6" eye to eye and the stock Chevy going downward. My question is I am only getting about 12 14" of travel. Some people said they were getting 20-22 " of travel. Did I do something wrong?? The springs are really close to being inverted (past level) Need help

[paniolo]

Well reviewing the FAQ and found this thread, so I thought I would post my thoughts after 1 year of using my Chevy's.

They are really long and the front hanger will really be a rock catcher unless you make an angled mount. Sky mfg makes a nice reasonably priced one ($12 each) http://www.sky-manufacturing.com

The back eyes are always rubbing over rocks, but thats no biggie just keeps them off the sheet metal.

I'm running the dual shackle which gives killer droop, but I don't like the way it unloads on climbs and it seems to induce axle wrap especially if using blocks so I'm going to go with a longer single shackle moved back a little on the frame.

Overall, I've really liked them. Here's a pic of the rear flex I'm getting.

[WHEEL N TOY]

nice write up, I could have use this about 9 months ago. I finally got the mod. right ( vibration problems ) after trial and error. Nice work.

[chad dillon]

Pretty new to this whole thing, so be a little patient. I've looked through quite a few threads and I can't seem to get an answer about which setup works better. Dual shackles or a buggy spring under the frame when putting in Chevys. Obviously this is going to be a lot of personal preference, but I'd appreciate any pros and cons about both setups.

[montezuma]

Ask Im4yotas how he likes his buggy leaf, chevy spring contraption. If I were going to go with chevy springs, I would just do one long shackle as apposed to either of these other two options. It just seems that people are having better luck with just one shackle.

[Ratbasturd]

Originally posted by chad dillon
Pretty new to this whole thing, so be a little patient. I've looked through quite a few threads and I can't seem to get an answer about which setup works better. Dual shackles or a buggy spring under the frame when putting in Chevys. Obviously this is going to be a lot of personal preference, but I'd appreciate any pros and cons about both setups.

I don't know about the buggy set up but........

Duals have a tendency to unload or allow more wheel hop on hill climbs, single shackles are just long, but to me they feel more stable.

I tried both.

[Im4yotas]

Wow, another old thread that keeps coming back to life!

I did Chevy springs with buggy leaves, and have had no problem with the buggies at all. Even DD'd it for about 8 months. Problem is, (I think) the front end is too soft for the rear to flex much. I have the 3 leaf pack with opened up clamps, and buggies, but it doesn't get anywhere near as much travel out back as the pic above paniolo posted.

But in order to get my 3/4 ellip to work right without having to make a trac bar, I just doubled up the upper leaves and wrapped a clamp around them. This actually provides about an inch of lift, and has enough resistance that axle wrap is not a real problem.

But I would highly reccomend against double shackles. They are loud, annoying, and have no resistance against axle wrap. Heywood had duals for a couple trips, and replaced them with a 9 inch shackle in the stock mounts, which gave a perfect shackle angle, and enough lift with Chevy springs w/no blocks to match his front Waggy setup with 1" drop crossmember and an AP shackle.

Here's how my buggies are setup. The sandwhich plates let me change the shackle angle or the buggy springs easily.

[chad dillon]

I'm looking to get the extra droop that the buggy or dual shackle provides without having the huge amount of ride height that you get with a super-long shackle. Just want to run 35's, so I'm not looking for too much lift. God I'm glad the 80's are over.

[Ratbasturd]

Originally posted by chad dillon
I'm looking to get the extra droop that the buggy or dual shackle provides without having the huge amount of ride height that you get with a super-long shackle. Just want to run 35's, so I'm not looking for too much lift. God I'm glad the 80's are over.

Yea I don,t get any droop from my single shackle....





Fawkin newbies

[SeaBass44]

Originally posted by Ratbasturd


Yea I don,t get any droop from my single shackle....





Fawkin newbies

BaHaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, damn fads, the duals are the buggies are LAME-O, I have buggies on 51" chevys, but they are chained in place and I have so much flex as it is I am going to remove them, I might install some other GAy Ass gimick deal just to see how many are impressed with it, lol