Chevy Spring Swap

A common modification to the Toyota pu and 4Runner is swapping to Chevy half ton springs in the rear. These springs improve articulation and will give a 3" lift over the stock springs.

Since the new springs are longer than stock a new spring hanger needed to be welded on 11" forward of the stock location. For the rear shackle mount we went with an adjustable buggy leaf allowing us to adjust axle droop and shackle angle.

Work Performed
While we were messing with the rear axle we did a u-bolt flip and laid the shocks down. Welded new spring hangers, fabbed 8" eye to eye shackles from .25" plate, welded on lower shock mounts to the axle tube, fabbed upper shock mount out of .25" plate and welded into place. Grinded off old spring hangers and rear shackle mounts.

After all was said and done we did the fork lift test and was able to lift the rear 25" before the front tire started to lift. There would have been more lift in the rear but the stiff front springs wouldn't compress enough and the skinny 1st gen rear axle was allowing the tires to hit the frame. Both of those negative aspects will be addressed in the future!

Click the below photos to enlarge them..