Flat Leaf Springs

I’m new to this forum, and this may have been answered before but I’m still learning how to navigate through the posts.

I have a 2017 tacoma that I bought in July. I started to notice the rear was sagging then saw that my leaf springs are pretty much flat. I called Toyota and they said my warranty is void because I installed a 1” block on the rear. Has anyone experienced this with with their Gen 3? Thanks.

 

damn that was quick. The block probably didn’t help, but do you haul a lot of weight?

 

Remove the spacer and take it to another dealer. Tacoma leaf springs are inherently weak, personally I would ditch the spacer and upgrade to a set of dakars.

 

Got a 2016 stock off-road my leafs are completely flat! Never towed anything or carried any weight but a kayak about few times! Dealership said warranty does not cover leaf springs!

 

Mine are actually inverted a bit....never carried any significant weight nor towed anything with it.....2017 5K miles....yep, Toyota leaf springs suck.

 

My 18 springs are that way at 200 miles. It just the way the springs are. The block didn't cause it. The block is the same size as axle spring perch.

 

same here man. all stock with a cap. i have a free aal and a 1" block in my garage and im really going back and forth between those and dakar. free or $400

 

Mine appeared to have a slight positive arch at purchase but by 1000 miles a negative arch before I really hauled anything. Dealer said that's normal. Wondering if Toyota intended a negative arch for a supposed better ride?

 

Flat springs are normal. If you want to push the warranty denial you have rights under consumer protection laws to get the reason in writing describing exactly why it was denied, but it may also go on your “permanent Toyota record” for your truck, so you may be better off taking the block out as mentioned and trying somewhere else. A single AAL will help out- I really like mine and have a heavy RTT, Cap, rack and sliders on the truck, plus tow a 3500 lb trailer with it occasionally. @HeadStrong Off-Road can help out and answer questions- call them.

 

Dakars ​

 

I'm thinking the flat springs are normal. All the stock springs I have seen appear to be as such. Notice the overload spring doesn't engage until they have a significant negative arch.

 

As has been said, AAL or airbags are best for additional load carrying capacity and to keep your rear end from sagging.

I don’t want additional lift in the rear causing greater rake of the truck while unloaded.

I tried helper springs many years ago but removed them after a while in that they weren’t helping with the need to lift and carry additional weight for cargo and towing along with providing clearance for large aftermarket tires.

Air shocks did the trick for lift, clearance, capacity and a smooth ride on that vehicle.

These cheap aftermarket helper springs worked perfectly on my Tacoma to bring back some arch in the springs as mine were also lying flat on the overload leaf.

I initially had them installed with the included pins in the holes past the clamp for the highest load setting but I think that changed the pinion angle and I noticed a slight vibration while driving because of too much arch at only the front of the springs.

I removed the pins and reinstalled them at the lowest load setting and they are functioning well to bring just a bit of arch to the leaf pack so that the overload is not touching while unloaded.
The ride is great.

I notched out the Teflon pad at the front of the helper spring with a Dremel tool so that the helper spring Teflon pad surrounds the stock spring leaf keeper pin.
Another modification on the helper was to cut the flat metal piece of the clamp shorter at the outer side to clear the passenger side shock.

These springs could be positioned forward a bit to ride at the center of the helper pad if you wanted.

These helpers wouldn’t fit at the rear of the stock leaf pack because of a lack of clearance at the driver side shock.

This company sells a shorter helper that could possibly be installed farther back at the rear of the leaf pack if also desired.

I believe Helwig sells pairs of leaf spring helpers that are to be used at both ends at the same time.

For now, this seems to be working great for a cheap and easy fix alleviating the negative arch to bring back height, without creating additional lift.

 

I have a 2018 TRD OR and I just passed 1000 miles. I finally did some light off-roading today, just some trails and some mud, and when I got out to admire, I took a good look at my leaf springs and they looked the exact same. Based on where they are attached on the truck, it looks like they're meant to be that way but it still concerned me a little bit. I have a bedrack on my truck and that's all, I'm about to add a RTT so we will see how it goes...

 

I ended up ditching the crappy stock leaf springs and went with an Old Man Emu upgrade. My truck sits perfectly level because I have 3” on the front and took off the 1” block when I added my OME springs. Now I can load up the bed and no sag. I don’t notice anything different in my ride. I’d recommend OME to anyone.

 

I hold about 300lbs of stuff in the back at all times. Mine sags a little. Got a set of OME medium duty Dakers sitting in the living room next to my 6112s and 5160s. Need to get tires.. This is what it looks like with 500lbs or so in the bed.

 

Flatter springs ride smoother
More arch carries more weight.
It's a trade off between the two and with the relatively low cargo capacity of our trucks Toyota probably went with the former over the latter to make the truck appealing to a larger market. reality is majority are just grocery getters and a very very small fraction of users actually haul any kind of significant weight.

 

I installed a RC 6 inch Vertex lift on my 2017 Tacoma and it appears that the front sits a little higher than the rear. I looked under the rear and I noticed the leaf springs were flat, it looks exactly like your photo.
I 'd prefer to have it level instead of the Cali lean look.
I don't carry a load or plan to ....anyone has suggestions to the flat rear leaf springs ?

 

I don't have anything to add to this thread other than saying. Thank you. Reading through all the posts helped me better understand the way my leafs should look and whether or not I need to do anything about my current leafs situation, i.e., there have been on the flat side. This forum is really awesome.

 

Noticed my leafs were flat a couple weeks ago after I did the spacer lift. Was only meant to be temporary until I could put a real suspension upgrade/lift on there but noticing my leafs flattening definitely sped up my decision to purchase. Going to put 6112's and 5160's on my truck with an Icon AAL. I know this thread is old but I'll post an update on what happens with the leafs since it's sure to happen to someone else.

 

Stock leafs are meant to be flat/flatish, helps with better ride that 90% of the tacoma buyers use these trucks as, aka grocery getters.
I have OME HD springs now.