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Detailed Instructions on Removing Leaf Springs

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 12:55 pm
by unbreakable
The rear of my 95 hilux has 7 pack leaf set on it and is bumpy as a teenagers face! I want to remove 1 or 2 leafs.

Does anyone have or know of any links detailing the removal of leaf springs from the rear of a hilux? I know I could take it down to the local suspension place but he wanted $200 to do it!.

Any help would be a great help.

Cheers

Skye

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:07 pm
by grimbo
undo the bolts take the leaves out and tighten the bolts back up

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:16 pm
by unbreakable
Is that undoing the u bolts only?

Is it as easy as that? Isn't there a king pin of sorts that runs up the centre of the leaf pack to hold them all together.

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:25 pm
by Nat84
unbreakable wrote:Is that undoing the u bolts only?

Is it as easy as that? Isn't there a king pin of sorts that runs up the centre of the leaf pack to hold them all together.
undo the the U-bolts to drop the diff down and then undo the bolts that hold the spring pack together and remove 1 or 2 leaves put bolts back in and put diff back up and put U-bolts back in

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:37 pm
by unbreakable
Any idea which ones are ok to remove?

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:44 pm
by Goatse.AJ
It's a REALLY straightforward thing to do.

Jack the vehicle up and put stands under your chassis rails.

Undo U-Bolts attaching springs to axle.

Undo rear bolts attaching springs to shackles.

Undo front bolts attaching springs to spring hanger.

Undo centre bolt which goes through leaves somewhere in the middle.

You may have to open up clamp(s) near the ends of the springs a little if your vehicle has these.

Remove some of the shorter leaves, keeping in mind that the more of these you remove, the more likely you are to suffer some sag.

Repeat above instructions in reverse to put it all back together.


If you don't feel confident tackling it with those instructions, then maybe best to pay the 200 bucks for somebody to do it.

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 1:46 pm
by chops_Drover
Do you carry any weight in the back of the tray?

If not, you can normally take out the 2 bottom leaves as they are generally designed to help when carrying heavy loads.

Shouldn't make to much of a difference in ride height either.

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 2:34 pm
by unbreakable
thankyou gentlemen, you have been most helpful.

Cheers

Skye

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 3:19 pm
by shorty_f0rty
when you go to undo the center bolt of the spring pack it might be an idea to clamp the pack as they will most likely be under tension.. (a simple G-clamp would suffice)

you will need to clamp them to reassemble if you remove the center bolt completely.

if you undo your ubolts you should really replace them as they tend to stretch making the 2nd time you use them difficult to tighten completely/to spec.

you should also re-tighten your ubolts after doing them back up after 500km's or so..

leaf springs

Posted: Tue Jan 22, 2008 5:11 pm
by teambullet
What i used to do on my lux, take back tyre off 4or 5 inch grinder and cut the spring in line with the perch.
The offcut acts as a bit of a lift bloke, worked for me the 10years i owned a lux.
Denny