super doody
Senior Member
Since buying my used Eagle shell, my 2003 Tacoma was in badly need of some sort of suspension upgrade. After reading almost every post on air bags vs. leaf spring, I decided to go with the rear leaf spring rebuilt route for safety reasons. My main goal is to make my truck and camper Baja worth for surf trips 
About 6 years ago, I went with a complete suspension upgrade with with extended travel Donahoe Racing coilovers (now know as Icon Vehicle Dynamic ), Camburg uniball upper control arms and 7 leaf, military wrapped leaf pack. The 7 leafs were the first production Deaver leaf spring pack built for Tacomas. They performed really well offroad with a tremendous flex and handled great on road ride but with significantly reduced load carrying capacity. In fact soon after Deavers changed the production leaf pack to a 8 leaf setup for first 1 gen Tacomas.
I called Jeff at Deavers to have my leafs be rebuilt. My request was to handle at least 1,000 lbs (I was concerned about my truck riding too rough without the FWC because I still use my snugtop shell from time to time) with about 1.5'' lift, and about .5 inch more left on the driver side to account for the driver side lean. I gave Jeff a heads up to let him know that I sent in my leaf springs and he said we would call me as soon as he received them to go over my request and to see if this was feasible. About 10 days later I didn't hear back from Jeff so I gave him a call. I was surprised to hear that leaf springs were already rebuilt. Jeff told me because I was going from 7 to 10 leaf pack to handle a significantly larger load, the options were some what constraint. I wish he would've told me this before I sent in my springs. I would've sold my 7 leaf and bought a new 10 leaf pack. The longest top 2 leaf are from my original leaf pack the rest are thicker new leafs with 2 "loose" overload leafs with a total of 10 leaf. Typically, Deavers don't use overload leafs.
removing old springs:
remember to support the drive line. Without the leaf springs to hold the drive line in my place, my drive shaft almost fell out:
My truck was going to be out of commission for a while anyways, i decided to send my coilovers to Icon to be rebuilt as well.
New rear springs from Deavers. 10 pack hybrid. 2 overloads on the bottom:
New stance:
Flex test:
She's back!:
Sorry for the tease. I didn't get a chance to take a final picture without the jacks but I will soon. The ride is firm but not too harsh. The best part is better handling and ride height. Right now the with an empty camper, the rear is about 1/4 inch taller in the rear. I expect the rear to settle more with time. Air bags maybe inevitable but we'll see how this goes first.
Jim
About 6 years ago, I went with a complete suspension upgrade with with extended travel Donahoe Racing coilovers (now know as Icon Vehicle Dynamic ), Camburg uniball upper control arms and 7 leaf, military wrapped leaf pack. The 7 leafs were the first production Deaver leaf spring pack built for Tacomas. They performed really well offroad with a tremendous flex and handled great on road ride but with significantly reduced load carrying capacity. In fact soon after Deavers changed the production leaf pack to a 8 leaf setup for first 1 gen Tacomas.
I called Jeff at Deavers to have my leafs be rebuilt. My request was to handle at least 1,000 lbs (I was concerned about my truck riding too rough without the FWC because I still use my snugtop shell from time to time) with about 1.5'' lift, and about .5 inch more left on the driver side to account for the driver side lean. I gave Jeff a heads up to let him know that I sent in my leaf springs and he said we would call me as soon as he received them to go over my request and to see if this was feasible. About 10 days later I didn't hear back from Jeff so I gave him a call. I was surprised to hear that leaf springs were already rebuilt. Jeff told me because I was going from 7 to 10 leaf pack to handle a significantly larger load, the options were some what constraint. I wish he would've told me this before I sent in my springs. I would've sold my 7 leaf and bought a new 10 leaf pack. The longest top 2 leaf are from my original leaf pack the rest are thicker new leafs with 2 "loose" overload leafs with a total of 10 leaf. Typically, Deavers don't use overload leafs.
removing old springs:
remember to support the drive line. Without the leaf springs to hold the drive line in my place, my drive shaft almost fell out:
My truck was going to be out of commission for a while anyways, i decided to send my coilovers to Icon to be rebuilt as well.
New rear springs from Deavers. 10 pack hybrid. 2 overloads on the bottom:
New stance:
Flex test:
She's back!:
Sorry for the tease. I didn't get a chance to take a final picture without the jacks but I will soon. The ride is firm but not too harsh. The best part is better handling and ride height. Right now the with an empty camper, the rear is about 1/4 inch taller in the rear. I expect the rear to settle more with time. Air bags maybe inevitable but we'll see how this goes first.
Jim
