has anyone heard of tapering your leaf springs? in other words the measurment from the left spring to the right on the front is further apart than the rear......42 1/2" on the front and 40 1/4" on the rear....springs are 60" long
CK5
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Leaf spring taper
- Thread starter MJB774X
- Start date
can be donw with custom hangers. but prob for offraod use only basicly.
i tryed 1 time not knowing yet that true 1ton frame used diffrent hangers than 1/2 and 3/4 ton. i couldnt get the spring in and or even a bolt in the hole and i was swapin in 64" springs.
this was stock gm hangers and 88-up springs.
so you would have to make custom mount/hangers for them to take the angle .
i tryed 1 time not knowing yet that true 1ton frame used diffrent hangers than 1/2 and 3/4 ton. i couldnt get the spring in and or even a bolt in the hole and i was swapin in 64" springs.
this was stock gm hangers and 88-up springs. so you would have to make custom mount/hangers for them to take the angle .
y5mgisi
1 ton status
The new toyota tundras do that from the factory. I forget why but they had a good reason.
I'd like to say I did it on purpose but some how I F'd up and made the shackle hangars too close to the frame...with the springs hanging the side to side at the front hangers measures 42 1/2" and the side to side at the rear (where the shackles are) measures 40 1/2" so I was remembering seeing somewhere that people do this on purpose... but I was thinking if you hit a bump on one side on the highway it would make the rear kinda move or turn for the lack of a better explanation to one side or "fishtail". so I am wondering if I should leave it or if I could make offset shackles or if I should scrap the whole thing...I kinda have a lot of labor and time into these and cutting them up is not an option
y5mgisi
1 ton status
The axle will still travel straight up and down. You could make offset shackles, they just are going to be a sacrifice in strength unless you really over engineer them. If it were me, i would probably do the offset shackles. What do you use the truck for? Can you post any pics?
y5mgisi
1 ton status
Crappy pic, but here is the toyota setup. As you can see, they designed it to have the rear of the springs further inboard.
If the leaf springs aren't parallel to each other it will be impossible to have the u-bolt clamp the axle to the spring since the axle housing would not be perpendicular to the leaf springs. 
Not really wanting to get into this all that much since I can't imagine ever doing it, but if the spring perches were welded onto the axle tubes at an angle and the spring plates were made a lot wider, wouldn't they clamp OK?If the leaf springs aren't parallel to each other it will be impossible to have the u-bolt clamp the axle to the spring since the axle housing would not be perpendicular to the leaf springs.
my camera took a ****..I can probably take some with my phone and get them up.. I am building a k5 all around on and off road use, I got some springs off a 97 burb..which I thought were 64's but after closer measuring they look to be 60". when people put the longer springs they just move the front hangar forward...on a k5 the body mount is directly in fron of it so I made my own front hangers
last k5 I did a flip I thought the rear was to mushy for road driving but nice off road, so I figured I'd make a hanger with multiple holes to fine tune shackle angle for what I would be using it for..here is a pic of some parts of what I made just not a final product but you should get the idea
I can build beefy offset shackles but after seeing the toyota and how much of a "toe out" those springs have I might just run it and see, crappy thing is, is if it doesn't work I'll have to blow off the pads on the axle and re do them if I end up running the offsets later. I wonder how the pads on the tundra are, seems like if the axle compresses the center to center pin would move in as the spring travels back....am I over analyzing this or looking at it wrong? I'll be the first to admit I'm not the smartest guy whata you think?
last k5 I did a flip I thought the rear was to mushy for road driving but nice off road, so I figured I'd make a hanger with multiple holes to fine tune shackle angle for what I would be using it for..here is a pic of some parts of what I made just not a final product but you should get the idea
I can build beefy offset shackles but after seeing the toyota and how much of a "toe out" those springs have I might just run it and see, crappy thing is, is if it doesn't work I'll have to blow off the pads on the axle and re do them if I end up running the offsets later. I wonder how the pads on the tundra are, seems like if the axle compresses the center to center pin would move in as the spring travels back....am I over analyzing this or looking at it wrong? I'll be the first to admit I'm not the smartest guy whata you think?
y5mgisi
1 ton status
Personally, i think it will be fine either way. having the front to back portion off only an inch means that in the middle where the center pins are it will only be about a 1/2" in. I bet that you can even get the u bolts and top plates to work just like normal and have it not be scary. I just dont think thats enough to worry about, but thats just my bet. I dont build chassis for a living or claim to know what im talking about as a fabricator. Just the way it seems to me. On the other hand, if it dont work out or you just dont like it for what ever reason, just do the offset shackle thing.
I have an article on leaf spring suspensions that I saved from somewhere. It says having the front of the springs closer together will make a suspension feel tighter to the driver.
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I seen that too..I think it was on early camaro's, the front of the springs are closer though, this is a debate over why though...after engineering the chassis they wanted to run a bigger fuel tank so the pushed the back of the springs out, this is said to result in a tighter feel not sure if they would have done it if they designed the chassis with the bigger tank in the first place.
I just found an article on the tundra stating "Toyota engineers also mounted the leaf springs in a "trapezoidal" pattern, meaning the front mounting points are wider than the rear shackles. This "towed out" design is very effective at reducing lateral axle movement and helps improve tracking when towing."
I think I'll just see how it works...might be better with the flip?
y5mgisi
1 ton status
All i can tell ya is those mounts are sweet!
Go measure the rear spring mounts on an '88-98 Chevy 
I don't remember exactly how much but they are different by 4-5"
I don't remember exactly how much but they are different by 4-5"
gunna check that on my 94 right nowGo measure the rear spring mounts on an '88-98 Chevy
I don't remember exactly how much but they are different by 4-5"
y5mgisi
1 ton status
Go measure the rear spring mounts on an '88-98 Chevy
I don't remember exactly how much but they are different by 4-5"
Seriously? THats crazy! Like we are talking about here? The front spring mount to mount width is different from the rears by 4-5"?
The front of the springs are 4-5" farther apart than the tail of the rear springs, if you look from above the springs are angled.
going to have to do it later...need a plumb bob, can't run the tape truck is stock 2wd with drop shackles
makes me feel better about the 2" over all difference spread over 60"
