Chevy Spring Swap on a ’93 Toyota Pickup

This write-up is provided solely for reference purposes.  Any modification or maintenance that you do to your vehicle is not the responsibility of All-Terrain Armor.  Work done to your vehicle is done AT YOUR OWN RISK!

 

 

Getting a few inches of lift out of the rear of a Toyota 4x4 can be a very simple process depending on the method. These trucks come with leaf sprung rears which can easily be added to or swapped for better off-road performance and tire clearance. The Chevy spring swap is a popular one due to the easy and affordable availability of these springs and their soft ride/long travel. These springs come from ˝ ton Chevy pickups and are 63” long. Just which springs are the right ones? Check out this FAQ on Pirate4x4 for all your answers on finding the springs you need. http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20665   

 

The swap is not hard, but you do need access to a welder and some sort of cutting tool whether it be a grinder, sawzall, or torch. These springs are very long so they require welding on new spring mounts after cutting off the factory hangers. It usually takes about 4-8 hours to complete the swap depending on how diligently you work.

 

  1. Unless you don’t need to rely on the vehicle being worked on, make sure you have everything you need before you start cutting. This includes springs complete with sleeves and bushings, new spring hangers, shackles, and all necessary hardware, as well as new u-bolts, longer shocks, and extended brake lines to take advantage of the gained height and travel. To make life a little easier, I ordered a Chevy spring swap kit from Sky Manufacturing (www.sky-manufacturing.com) which includes many of the components needed for the swap.

 

 

  1. Place the truck on jack stands around 12” in front of the rear factory spring hangers so that there is room for the new hangers. Then disconnect u-bolts and shocks, and lower the axle down. Be careful not to overstretch the brake lines if you haven’t already addressed that issue. Now unbolt the factory springs (or cut the bolts if need be) and remove the factory springs.

 

Here is a comparison of the springs being swapped. On top is the 51” factory Toyota spring and below it is the 63” Chevy Spring.

 

 

  1. Next, I made a jig out of a piece of scrap wood and a couple bolts to make sure that I moved the spring hangers forward the same distance on each side of the truck. The link from Pirate4x4 posted in the introduction above includes the distance to move the hangers for particular trucks. For my truck, the recommended distance is 9-9.5” to keep the axle centered in the wheel well. However, I will be making many more modifications to my truck in the near future and wanted to move the axle forward a bit so I moved the spring hangers 10.5” forward.

 

 

 

  1. After grinding down to bare metal, the new spring hangers were tack welded to the frame. Only tack weld for now so that you can easily adjust the hangers if need be. I also torched off the factory shackle hangers and tack welded the new shackle hangers. The new ones were installed in the same location as the factory ones, however I decided to use the new ones because the widths are slightly different and I already had the new hangers ready to go.

 

 

 

  1. With all the new components securely tack welded to the frame, I lifted the axle up to the springs and removed the jack stands so I could set the truck on the ground and view the final ride height/inspect the placement of the axle and hangers. With everything looking good, I placed the truck back on the jack stands,  lowered the axle, and removed the springs/bushings for final welding. On the passenger side spring hanger, the gas tank gets in the way of welding the forth inside edge of the part. I simply welded the front, back, and outside edges which will be sufficiently strong, however pulling the gas tank and getting the last edge is not a bad idea.

 

 

 

  1. Once the weld cools, paint your new shiny metal parts to help protect them from the elements, then bolt everything back together. Reassemble the connection to the axle with new u-bolts, install your new longer shocks, and make sure that your brake lines are not overstretched at full droop. Depending on your particular truck model and the age of the springs that you get, you should expect somewhere between 3-4 inches of lift. If you don’t plan to lift the front of your truck, expect it to sit ass high. I will be performing front suspension work in the future but in the mean time, the front will remain at factory height.

 

 

 

These 63” Chevy springs are probably the most common spring swap found in off-roading for compact trucks. They offer an excellent ride and plenty of travel when tackling the toughest terrain without getting involved in a complicated, expensive linked suspension. Like always, take your time when doing custom suspension work. Measure twice, cut once, and don’t cut corners because your life is riding on it!

 

 

See you on the trails,

Eric Amato

ATArmor.com

 

 

This write-up is provided solely for reference purposes.  Any modification or maintenance that you do to your vehicle is not the responsibility of All-Terrain Armor.  Work done to your vehicle is done AT YOUR OWN RISK!