PROPOSED GROUP BUY:Add-A-Leaf Springs

[kherfurt]

THIS IS JUST A POLL TO SEE HOW IF THERE IS ENOUGH INTEREST TO A HOLD A GROUP BUY. PLEASE DO NOT ANSWER "YES" UNLESS YOU PLAN ON PARTICIPATING IN A GROUP BUY FOR THIS PRODUCT.

FOR THIS GROUP BUY TO BE HELD, WE NEED 12 OR MORE BUYERS.

We have come to terms with Wheeler's Off Road on a group buy for the Tundra and Tacoma Add-a-Leaf springs. These springs will lift your truck between 1" and 1.5". They do include center pins, diamond cut ends and anti-friction pads. They are sold in pairs. They are made to Wheeler's specs by Deaver Spring. If you buy these at Wheeler's they would normally cost $107.45 plus shipping. These AAL's are currently in stock and are ready for immediate shipping. This buy will include:
- 2 leaf springs
- 4 U-bolts w/ nuts & washers
- 2 centering pins

Subscribing Members pay $85.00 + shipping
Registered Members pay $95.00 + shipping

SHIPPING:
Shipping will be handled through UPS and will ship ground unless specified otherwise at the time of order. The leafs and U-bolts weight 20 lbs.

Examples of ground shipping rates would be:

Portland, Oregon: 11.00
San Diego, California 12.90
Denver, Colorado: 13.86
Portland, Maine: 19.56

-READ BEFORE BUYING-
Please review instructions below- there are a few very rare Tundra's AAL's don't fit.

PLEASE NOTE THIS TUNDRA LEAF KIT IS DESIGNED TO FIT UNDER YOUR EXISTING 3RD LEAF. IT IS DESIGNED TO FIT BETWEEN THE INSIDE EDGES OF YOUR EXISTING LEAF SPRING ALIGNMENT CLAMPS. ON RARE OCCASION WE SEE ODD FACTORY LEAF SPRINGS THAT HAVE THE ALIGNMENT CLAMPS MOUNTED CLOSER TO THE CENTER OF THE SPRING. THIS CAUSES AN INTERFERENCE ON THE FIT OF THE ADD A LEAF KIT. MEASURE THE DISTANCE FROM THE CENTER OF THE BUMPSTOP TO THE INSIDE EDGE OF THE FRONT ALIGNMENT CLAMP- IT CAN BE NO LESS THAN 15.75". MEASURE THE DISTANCE FROM THE CENTER OF THE BUMPSTOP TO THE INSIDE EDGE OF THE REAR ALIGNMENT CLAMP- IT CAN BE NO LESS THAN 17.75". IF YOU HAVE A SHORTER MEASUREMENT THAN ALLOWED YOU WILL NEED TO CONTACT US AND WE'LL HAVE TO FIGURE OUT ANOTHER WAY TO LIFT THE BACK OF YOUR TRUCK.

Tacoma owners will need to specify year of manufacture at the time of purchase

[bmlecuy]

Maybe interested, but the Wheeler's web site shows these as $77.50 a set. See here.

[nhparrot]

Originally Posted by bmlecuy

Maybe interested, but the Wheeler's web site shows these as $77.50 a set. See here.

The TS Group Buy includes the U-bolts Set which is not included in the web link you included..

[cubic22]

Quick question.

MEASURE THE DISTANCE FROM THE CENTER OF THE BUMPSTOP TO THE INSIDE EDGE OF THE FRONT ALIGNMENT CLAMP- IT CAN BE NO LESS THAN 15.75". MEASURE THE DISTANCE FROM THE CENTER OF THE BUMPSTOP TO THE INSIDE EDGE OF THE REAR ALIGNMENT CLAMP- IT CAN BE NO LESS THAN 17.75".

I am not exactly sure where to measure. Where is the bumpstop and the front alignment clamp.

I assume this will compliment the ride if you are running wheelers coils (which I am).

[boody]

I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade, but the guy from wheelers told me the factory U-bolts were long enough for the AAL. Is there something I don't know about that would be beneficiary to buying this package?

[kherfurt]

Boody,
As a registered member you won't save much over the Wheeler price online. Gary Wheeler indicated as Subscribing members one can purchase just the AAL springs for $65.00, registered members can purchase them for $75.00. You will have to work that one out with Gary on your own. If you were to subscribe to TS you could save almost 1/2 the subscription fee on this buy alone. The u-bolts are normally 29.95/set of four and come with high strenght nuts and washers. Wheeler's also silver zinc plate their u-bolts for corrosion resistance. The total price for the AAL's and u-bolts would normally be $107.50. As a Registered member the group buy will save you the cost of postage (about $12.50). As a Subscribing member you would save $22.50, close to the cost of membership.

I looked at my stock Toyota u-bolts and they have about 1/2" of additional thread showing. For arguments sake, if the AAL is 1/2" in thickness (purely speculative on my part), yes the stock u-bolts would still work. That would put the nut right at the end of the bolt and would probably require the use of something like lock-tite to insure that the nut will not vibrate off the u-bolt. I think the addition of the Wheeler's u-bolts, in my case anyway, would be additional insurance that prevented me from having to order u-bolts after the fact while I have the truck suspension apart.

You have to decide what is a value for you, and what is not, but this price is certainly much better than the $150.00 price that Carson Toyota origionally quoted.

[cubic22]

Originally Posted by ME

Quick question.

I am not exactly sure where to measure. Where is the bumpstop and the front alignment clamp.

I assume this will compliment the ride if you are running wheelers coils (which I am).

I am interested, but I am not going to vote until I get an answer

[anmrivera]

I take it this one is a no go?

[anmrivera]

Originally Posted by cubic22

I am interested, but I am not going to vote until I get an answer

Cubic, I measured from the center of the bump stop (lil rubber thing over the axle) to the closest edge of hte clamp that holds the springs together at both the fron and rear of hte spring assembly. I took the measurement from the closest point of the clamp to the bumperstop. Mine measured out OK I just don't know if this is a dead duck and if not can I convince my wife to spring the $?

[NetuSER]

Besides lifting the truck will this help in the payload value? I carry 100 gals of water in my DC and wanted to know if this will help the sag. If it will I'm in...

[RockyMtnRay]

Originally Posted by NetuSER

Besides lifting the truck will this help in the payload value? I carry 100 gals of water in my DC and wanted to know if this will help the sag. If it will I'm in...

There are four structural components that limit the load you can put in your truck: (1) frame, (2) suspension, (3) axle, and (4) tires. The rear axle is really the weakest of these four...it has a Gross Axle Weight Rating (GAWR) of only 3760 lbs in all Tundra models including the DC. An empty DC puts about 2700 lbs on the rear; one with a full tank of gas and some people/cargo in the cab will have nearly 3000 lbs on the rear axle. Add 100 gallons (800 lbs) of water and you're right at or slightly above the rear axle's GAWR.

The Toyota engineers designed the rear suspension so that it's just about down on the bump stops when you reach rear GAWR. Yes, you could get the truck off the bump stops with an AAL (or air suspension, overload springs, etc.) but you've still got that light duty axle...which people have snapped with too big a load.

And, if you lift the rear of the truck, you'll partially close the Brake Proportioning Valve which means your not-much-more-than-adequate front brakes will be doing most of the stopping...and that in turn means very rapid front brake pad wear and a very high likelihood you'll overheat the front brakes, which in turn means that front brake shudder and vibration are in your future.

Finally, the rear frame isn't all that strong either...I've seen pictures of a Tundra with a cracked frame on both sides of the truck that was caused by carrying too-heavy a cabover camper in the bed. The guy who had that truck tried to solve his overload problem by using overload springs/AALs and didn't realize that the suspension wasn't the only weak component.

Quite frankly you'd be much better off with Timbrens...they're not much more than really big air-bladder type bump stops...so they won't do much for the rear sag (honestly, you don't want to get rid of that because of the brake issue)....but they will keep the frame and axle somewhat better separated on rough roads.

The bottom line is the rear suspension, rear axle, and rear frame are about equally matched in strength. If you increase the strength of the rear suspension in an attempt to increase your payload, you're just making the expensive components like the axle or frame the place where a failure is going to happen.