Ordering Custom Springs

[alawson]

So I've decided to order custom springs from Alcan, and as much as I've read about leafs, shackles, hangers, etc. I still don't feel confident I know enough to explain everything to get a spring custom made for me.

I have a stock 1985 4Runner, and the leaf springs are sagging like hell. It will be mostly an overland truck, but I'd like it to be well rounded.

Spring: 3" lift, Alcan
Shackles: 4Crawler, greaseable
Front Spring Hanger: Low Range Off Road
Shock: Bilstein

Tires: 33x12.5... maybe 10.5

Is there a certain length I should be asking for them to make the leaf springs? Bill asked me how long I want them, and honestly I have no idea, I just figured they'd make them however long they needed to be.

I'm assuming I'll need new shackles, which I was planning on getting from 4Crawler. But what size?

I'd like to keep my 4R as low as possible, but I want to fit 33x12.5 tires without trimming anything.

Any help or insight would be much appreciated. :cheers:

 

[ev13wt]

Easy solution: buy Old Man Emu.

Correct solution: know your travel weight. Read, learn, calculate spring and dampers accordingly.

Stock locations? Measure. Google what defines a leaf spring. Length? Arch? Overload?
I will go read up on it again as well.

And don't fit fat tires please Useless unless in sand and to me it looks weird. But if you like it, it fits the truck no doubt.

 

[alawson]

Easy solution: buy Old Man Emu.

Correct solution: know your travel weight. Read, learn, calculate spring and dampers accordingly.

Stock locations? Measure. Google what defines a leaf spring. Length? Arch? Overload?
I will go read up on it again as well.

And don't fit fat tires please Useless unless in sand and to me it looks weird. But if you like it, it fits the truck no doubt.

Thanks for the response. I considered OME, but I’d really like to get 3 inches, and don’t want to go the HD route for obvious reasons - not meant for 3 inches.

I’d like to spend money on a quality long term setup. Something I can upgrade/fix and forget about it for a while. Not going to be a crawler so I hope to break less stuff by choosing quality parts off the bat.

I understand the sentiments about the wide tires haha. I’ve read that several times on the forum. I’m not 100% sold on it, I’d just like the flexibility of a setup that could handle that wide of a tire regardless if I actually get those at this time.