SAS Tacoma Chevy Spring Swap

Swapping a set of Chevy 63" leaf springs into my 2003 Tacoma.

[@fgialcgorge7392]

You deserve more subs brother. I'm not Chevy fan or much of a Toyota guy but respect both like any off-roader worth his salt. And for a tinkerer, mechanic, fab guy, these nice long videos seeing other people's projects come together is like primetime TV. Keep it up man. Much respect.

[@michaelkhair5846]

Great looking welds man! They look very professional!

[@hv4285]

hey man your skills dont lie! I like how you review what you're doing and the intent behind them, double thumbs up for proper engineering/mechanical lingual and taking your time to record all this to tease our eyes 🤣🤙

[@deweywesley6262]

Damn...sweet setup! Great vid👍😎👍

[@str8burbn]

Nice build and really good information I’ll use on my build.

[@crawdad7305]

Great work man! Thanks!

[@SquareOneForge]

Thanks Travis, good video

[@4570levergun]

Looks good!

[@jerryvue2075]

this is an awesome vid

[@ken85225]

Nice job!

[@Trav74r]

Thank you for taking the time to watch.

[@greym6436]

1stgentundra guy just Sub'd!🤙🏽

[@4runner4wd79]

Very nice upgrade

[@Trav74r]

Thanks 👍

[@phantomwalker8251]

@@Trav74r heres belated suggestion for the shocks,,longer the better,,,,put the bar ontop of chassis,strap it,,,ditch the tub, jack it up for now , then build a tray top.. more room,more clearence.. canvas or tin top,,watch ausie vids..

[@phantomwalker8251]

@@Trav74r cut the flare,dont move the diff.

[@levsheppard2859]

good job

[@mustardman5366]

I love the truck, but I wouldn't have put the tag on the tailgate.

[@brycewood4109]

I know the video has been out for a while but just a heads up for whoever sees this. All u joints need to have a minimum of 3° of angle at ride height or else the needle bearings will not spin within the joint abs this will cause bernelling abs slop to occur within that bearing very quickly. Instead of the pinion pointed directly at the transmission output shaft, angle is down 3-5 degrees to prevent excessive u joint wear

[@phantomwalker8251]

yes..

[@ConnorLee]

I did the 63 swap on my 98' ext cab and Im having an issue where the back of the truck sits about 2" taller than the front. Is there a way to get the back of the truck to sit lower besides adding a ton of weight? Also, I have some driveline vibration. Did you experience this? Cheers man, informative video!

[@SOLDADITO76]

I’ve got a 84’ chassis and drive train set up with the 63” springs that I’m going the do a cab and bed swap to a 1st gen Tacoma. Should look similar to yours when finished. Noticed you have a 1” body lift, if your going to use the stock spare location you may want to raise the carrier that same amount. That will actually increase you clearance underneath, and will have a stock look when done. That rear shackle angle is not going to carry heavy loads. Toyota rear spring hangers are offset inwards and I believe same with the fronts, you could have kept the stock perches with the Chevy springs on the axle to help with alignment of the hangers. Then with stock weight setup pinion angle.

[@Trav74r]

Within the last month I moved my front hanger forward about an inch to help with the rear sag and load carrying. Good comment about the spare tire carrier and the body lift. you are right about the clearance and the stock appearance if I lift the tire carrier. In the long run I have the intentions of removing the body lift. I'm not a fan of the body lift and only installed that years ago to add the slightest extra bit of clearance when I couldn't keep the 33" tires from rubbing.

[@SOLDADITO76]

To be honest I didn’t even know how to weld before I bought my pickup, never even owned a Toyota vehicle let alone ever set up a lifted vehicle. Just dove right in you might say, but have learned a lot. Some with advice from others and research, and some having to redo something a couple of times. What I know about Tacoma’s 2nd gen and newer they will rub in the front because of the cab mount angle of the mount by your feet. If you remove them and swap them side to side and re weld them that will help. Found that out doing a search and I don’t even have a Tacoma, but good to know. Now for the rear, most Toyota trucks are mostly the same, 95’ cab will bolt to a 84’ frame no problem. Only thing to look for is if it’s a extended cab, I do believe this is also correct about the 1st gen Tacoma’s. Ultimately for 63” springs your driveline and your wheel well will tell you where your front mounts will be located. And definitely measure your “stock” pinion angle before cutting anything off, I found this out the hard way. Once you have the fronts hangers were they need to go the rear hangers will follow on there own. It’s the angle of the shackle that gives your weight carrying before sag and can adjust pinion angle. So a rear shackle angle of 90 degrees will carry max weight but offer less droop. The smaller the angle will give you more equal articulation but less weight capacity capabilities. I set mine up at about a 45 degree running a set of 1500 springs the first time, and switched to HD 2500 springs latter to carry more weight. Chevy springs don’t really lift the rear much, with a 3” lift in the rear my truck was level when done. Lifting the front more will require getting the Chevy springs re-arched, I wouldn’t add block unless the are part of the spring. Not the ones that get sandwiched between the axle and spring, seen those get tossed out from axle wrap or load twist of the axle.

[@Mtothec23]

With this much fab, was coil spring conversation on the table?

[@imemovengeance]

So what did your shackle angle turn out to be on the front rear?

[@Oliver-yt2bc]

Nice vid, couldn't help noticing that lug nut on rear right was missing and you dont have rear bump stops?

[@phantomwalker8251]

never ever,ever,ever,ever,,gone hit the stops.. id be more worried about defect from no abs..

[@TheNeckasaurus]

Isnt ruff stuffs kit a french in on the front?

[@123devinzz1]

bilstein makes 7100s in a short body version. they have the most travel to body length ratio ive seen. I run 12" 5125s on the outside of frame with a hoop setup which works good. need wheel spacers to keep the tires from rubbing them though

[@Trav74r]

I didn't know that they made a short body version. I will definitely look into those. I highly considered putting the shock outboard of the frame, up into the fenders. The space above the wheel wells inst particularly important. I am already running 1.5" spacers on the rear to help match the front. Even with those spacers, I still wasn't seeing the room for the shocks without making tire contact. If i ever switch to 1 tons I'm sure i will go outside the frame with them. Great info on the shock version. Thanks for the comment.

[@123devinzz1]

@@Trav74r i run 2" spacer and 4.3bs wheels. 35s just barely clear at full stuff running a skyjacker leaf setup. previously had 10" ones mounted inboard in the 255 valving. switching to the 170 valving setup outboard was a major improvement in higher speed handling. actually soaks up washboard now.

[@jordainian8]

How do you like that battery powered angle grinder? Battery life? Thinkin about getting one. Mint job bub.

[@Trav74r]

Thanks. Man I love the DeWalt battery grinder. If you know you are gonna be grinding stuff all day long, within close proximity just use a wired one. But for quick jobs or away from home it is awesome.

[@Олег-х8р]

Пластины для стермянки вы сами изготавливали или покупали?

[@terrellcraddock2276]

How much lift with the 5” shackle?

[@russmurphy612]

Bigger tires coming soon?

[@ConnorLee]

what extended rear brake line was that? Id love to scoop one up

[@Trav74r]

I can't really remember well, but I believe it was an extended stainless line from Trail Gear. It's been great and never given me any problems.

[@nuffinpersonal]

Never ever cool your welds with water, when you do you change the molecular structure of the the metal and it will make your welds weaker and more likely to fail.

[@3.0colorado21]

Nice taco man

[@vancrawford4064]

I've got to replace the ones on the rear of my 03 Tacoma whats the advantage of going with the Chevrolet springs???

[@Trav74r]

Far more axle/wheel travel, good for off-road. I think it helps the truck to ride a bit softer, due to the longer length. The longer length can get caught on rocks and logs more easily though. It can also provide a little lift over stock if you need it.

[@vancrawford4064]

@@Trav74r Yea my truck has got the factory heavy duty four leafs on it thats what I'm going back with. Thanks a lot.

[@vancrawford4064]

Hey man do you still have the take off springs and want to sell them???

[@Trav74r]

No I do not have the original springs anymore, sorry.

[@albertbrucker136]

What’s your thoughts on a 2017 Tacoma sas with a divorced atlas t case and the same setup upfront as yours?

[@Trav74r]

That all sounds doable. Especially considering you have a longer wheelbase. With a divorced transfer case you will have and additional driveshaft, adding to the overall drivetrain length. Also if you bought the 4rd gen for ride quality, you will probably not be very happy with a leaf spring setup. The leaf springs do not ride as nice as coils.

[@albertbrucker136]

@@Trav74r do you work on your vehicle only or do you do other projects by chance?

[@Trav74r]

@@albertbrucker136 I work on many different projects. But, my hobby focuses on my truck. I work on my friends and family cars and trucks as well.

[@phantomwalker8251]

@@Trav74r if you were a legend,,which your pretty close to,welder grinder,change the world.. i would of also got the upside down shackles off the truck,put the front hanger out board on a plate,brace. you get more travel and they dont invert,which toyotas renoun for. early ones that is..or,if you want a sht load of travel,fit them in board. bit unstable but hell travel. you dont need sway bars with leafs. or front coils rear leafs. info from ausie.. 4 u.s trucks,1 challenger.. good job,,good info..next problem,,disc rear with hydro boost..

[@phantomwalker8251]

@@Trav74r angle ing,the diff,i weld it in situ ,with u bolts loosish, tilt the diff up,as far as it will stand,so theres more clearence under it. 1/2 " is 1/2". shulda pushed diff back 2", seeing your higher now, less rear o/h..more ramp.

[@phantomwalker8251]

bugger me,,toyota finally woke up,& put the axle under,,,,the springs... damn,only took 50 yrs..

[@cmac956]

Hi , what year Chevy truck did the springs come from ?

[@Trav74r]

If I recall correctly, I pulled them from a 1998 Silverado.

[@cmac956]

@@Trav74r thanks

[@devanolear3121]

Did you move front axle forward

[@Trav74r]

Yes, when I did the solid axle swap on the front I moved the axle forward close to 2".

[@Toyotamudbogs85toyotapickup]

@@Trav74r how did you move it forward?

[@Trav74r]

@@Toyotamudbogs85toyotapickup The springs that I used from Skys Offroad have the axle pin moved forward from the center a little bit. I also tried to mount the front spring hanger as far forward as I could and still have all the steering components clear.

[@Toyotamudbogs85toyotapickup]

Ok . I think I'll do the ruf and move it that way. Right now my tires bind up when turned. So i need to move forward. I'm new to all this Toyota pickup. Trying to get my front end done right. The previous owners took the leaf springs in the front I think and flipped them upside down so now it's a very hard riding front end

[@chrishenry5945]

How does it ride?

[@Trav74r]

I think the rear rides better than the stock springs. I find that they feel smoother probably due to the longer length.

[@shootermcgavin2819]

dead channel?

[@Trav74r]

Not a dead channel. Just life gets in the way of making videos. Hoping to make some new videos soon.

[@shootermcgavin2819]

@@Trav74r hows the 89 chevy?

[@Trav74r]

@@shootermcgavin2819 Its doing fine. I moved from Florida to Tennessee so I don't see it anymore. But it belongs to my Brother-in-law, and last I heard it was doing well. Before this video ever got made, we swapped a 6.0 LS and a 4L80 into that Chevy. Still runs great. Its starting to have some front axle problems, mostly due to poor setup from the previous owner. He would like to swap a Dana 60 in at some point.

[@shootermcgavin2819]

@@Trav74r another ls swapped truck huh. Bummer. I hoped to see a healthy big block chevy in that truck. Im glad to hear its cared for. In a rust free state too

[@theneanderthal6854]

disc brakes

[@Trav74r]

I would like the swap the rear to disc brakes eventually. One day I will get around to it.