OME Leaf Springs for 89-95 XtraCab Trucks

[DaveInDenver]

OME offers two sets of springs:

• Medium, CS019R, 3 main + 3 overload, rated for 1.75" over zero to GVW payload
• Heavy, CS020R, 4 main + 3 overload, rated for 2.25" over 440 lbs to GVW payload

I'm in need of new springs because my old ones gave up recently and broke. They were 4 main + 1 massive overload. The overload was not an integral part of the suspension but rather a travel limiter to keep overloaded springs from overflexing. It was massive, easily the same thickness as 3 regular springs and so it probably never flexed. When fully loaded for a week-long type of trip they would basically run flat. I was at the limit of their capacity, no doubt there.

So wondering if anyone has any experience in running OME heavy springs when you are not loaded heavily. My thinking is with the WilderNest on normally that the heavy springs will ride basically fine (maybe just a little stiff), but times when it's off I'm concerned that the truck will ride really badly. OME does offer an extra leaf for the CS019R pack, but if I'm spending the time to replace my springs I don't want to have to pull them off after a couple of weeks, cut the center pin and install a new leaf. What a PITA that would be.

BTW, I already run OME heavy shocks, so it would seem heavy spring make the most sense to achieve the apparent matched ride of OME shocks and springs.

Any insight?

[DaveInDenver]

The CS046R is considered the medium duty spring for Tacos? So when you say annoying unloaded, is that with the 'Nest still on and just empty otherwise? How many leafs in the pack?

[DaveInDenver]

7 leaf. It would seem that would be the Heavy's ?

With 'Nest on, no load, I can feel every bump in the road. Tends to skip...and that is with Bilstein 5100 shocks

I carry 20 gallons of water placed rearward of the axle, to make it ride smooth for DD.

As for for being fully loaded, camping plus motorcycle gear, and pulling a trailer with 2 bikes on, it seems about perfect. It sits level.

Yeah, 7 leafs is considered heavy duty on my truck.

Wow, 20 gallons! Luckily I carry my recovery gear in ammo boxes placed behind the axles, so I can just throw all that chain, shackles and junk back in for the daily commute.

[KightOwl]

I have a 92 Toy ExtraCab. Years ago I was looking into replacing the springs on it. I talked to guy at a suspension shop in El Cajon, Ca and he recomended to keep the stock springs and just have them reworked. His reason was that Toyota springs are high quality. They have a furnice on site and were working on everthing from RV's to "Stock Cars". They could dial in the springs for any application.

I never changed the springs so I can't tell you how good or bad it is. But wanted to pass on that additional option.

[4Rescue]

OME offers two sets of springs:

• Medium, CS019R, 3 main + 3 overload, rated for 1.75" over zero to GVW payload
• Heavy, CS020R, 4 main + 3 overload, rated for 2.25" over 440 lbs to GVW payload

I'm in need of new springs because my old ones gave up recently and broke. They were 4 main + 1 massive overload. The overload was not an integral part of the suspension but rather a travel limiter to keep overloaded springs from overflexing. It was massive, easily the same thickness as 3 regular springs and so it probably never flexed. When fully loaded for a week-long type of trip they would basically run flat. I was at the limit of their capacity, no doubt there.

So wondering if anyone has any experience in running OME heavy springs when you are not loaded heavily. My thinking is with the WilderNest on normally that the heavy springs will ride basically fine (maybe just a little stiff), but times when it's off I'm concerned that the truck will ride really badly. OME does offer an extra leaf for the CS019R pack, but if I'm spending the time to replace my springs I don't want to have to pull them off after a couple of weeks, cut the center pin and install a new leaf. What a PITA that would be.

BTW, I already run OME heavy shocks, so it would seem heavy spring make the most sense to achieve the apparent matched ride of OME shocks and springs.

Any insight?

Check your P#'s, I have the HD springs on my Runner and mine are CS009R's, I can't fathom why they are diferent from your series.

Better yet, just get ahold of TRDparts4u here on the board and they'll answer all your needs. Just remember you DO NOT NEED the front spring hanger pieces, I cannot figure out what they were for, but... I LOVE MY OME SPRINGS!!!!! and Trd parts are great to deal with.

Cheers

Dave

[cruiseroutfit]

Check your P#'s, I have the HD springs on my Runner and mine are CS009R's, I can't fathom why they are diferent from your series....

His part numbers are correct. The 4Runner of that vintage uses a shorter leaf spring than that of some of the trucks (some of the trucks 84/85 used the shorter spring too). To boot, the CS009R is a medium load spring, the CS010R is considered the HD.

4Runners to 90' used CS009R and CS010R, 86-94' Trucks used the CS019R and CS020R.

My suggestion which is the same advice I offer to Land Cruiser owners. If you truly never plan to add accessories (bumpers, racks, shells, tents, drawers, winches, etc), then the light/medium is the choice for you... otherwise always get the medium/heavy option. The difference is usually less than $20 per corner up front, and you can always pull the extra leaf to essentially lighten the spring rate, ie change a CS020R to a CS019R. Then, when your loads and needs change... add it back in. Cheaper than buying an additional leaf down the road. That said, I've found many would have a hard time really telling the difference between say a CS019R and a CS020R from the drivers seat given they are both installed on the same truck. Some surely will... but many won't. Often I'll recommend customers just install the springs as delivered, if they are too rough its an hour per corner or less to pull a leaf (when new) and can be done without even removing the leaf. In many cases they have felt the ride is adequate for their needs and far better than the stock springs they had.

Springs, both coil and leaf are a double edged sword when it comes to ride height and ride quality. On one hand you want a decent, level unloaded ride when unloaded, yet you want a decent, level load when loaded for the hills too. A net change of often 500+ lbs. The science becomes choosing a spring, shock and suspension setup that lies somewhere in the middle. Assuming we all had coilovers, airbags or other adjustable suspensions, this would be easy to achieve. Whereas they often add un-needed complexity to the system I prefer find a bolt-on suspension that addresses both load criteria as best as possible.

[DaveInDenver]

That's helpful, Kurt. The guy at ARB wasn't 1/10th as helpful as you when I called them. Seriously, what good is a tech line if all you do is read the catalog back to me? :-/

OME has the D6XL leaf for the CS019R packs, which essentially turns them into CS020R springs, so again you are dead on with that.

Price difference I'm seeing is about $30 between the two packs, which is also the price for the extra leaf. There really isn't a huge price advantage either way, so if I want heavy springs the CS020R = CS019R + D6XL in both performance and price, right?

Often I'll recommend customers just install the springs as delivered, if they are too rough its an hour per corner or less to pull a leaf (when new) and can be done without even removing the leaf.

This sentence confused me. Pull a leaf but without removing it? Do you mean a spring pin? IOW, are OME packs designed to have that extra leaf installed or removed without cutting off the pin and replacing it?

My WilderNest alone (when it's not broken and sitting on my garage floor like now) is ~300 lbs. Add the rest of the junk and I'm easily at 500+ lbs of payload plus two people and a dog. I'm not too worried about the heavy springs being too stiff (my old springs were too soft I thought) when loaded, it's just when I don't have any of that stuff in the truck and I'm driving to work the other 300 days of the year, I'd like to keep my kidneys. Sounds like both sets will stiffen up quite a bit unloaded, so my thinking is the CS020R is the way to go so that I don't overwork them off highway like the last set.

BTW, Dave, 3rd gen trucks have 47" eye-to-eye springs and 2nd gen trucks have 43" spring length. The 1st gen trucks are even shorter. That's why there are different part numbers. The designs are probably pretty similar, but the springs are not interchangeable necessarily. I dunno how the 1st gen 4Runner works into the equation, if they got long springs or short, but apparently short.

As far as using stock springs, that's a no-go. With the WilderNest the stock springs ride on the overload all the time. Which is OK in so far as they work, just really saggy in the back. Stock packs have 3 leafs + overload and really I need them to be 4 leafs minimum. So I could build a set of hybrid packs with an extra leaf in a stock pack and that would probably hold about 1.5~2" of lift with the camper, but not when I add the rest of the camping stuff. Really I need 4 leafs with a higher spring rate to-boot, i.e. the OME heavy springs.

[ntsqd]

I believe Kurt meant pull the leaf without removing the spring from the truck. I have done that several times when dialing in the GM 63's on the rear of Patch. Remove the U-bolts and drop the axle down from the spring. Use 2 C-clamps pulled up tight on the spring pack *just* outside of where the leaf will go or is. Remove the center pin nut and remove or replace the leaf.

Suggest some anti-seize and a nylok nut on the center pin (or just a brass nut & hard washer if indexing on the pin's head rather than the nut) if it looks like short leaf R&R's may happen semi-frequently.

[DaveInDenver]

I believe Kurt meant pull the leaf without removing the spring from the truck. I have done that several times when dialing in the GM 63's on the rear of Patch. Remove the U-bolts and drop the axle down from the spring. Use 2 C-clamps pulled up tight on the spring pack *just* outside of where the leaf will go or is. Remove the center pin nut and remove or replace the leaf.

Suggest some anti-seize and a nylok nut on the center pin (or just a brass nut & hard washer if indexing on the pin's head rather than the nut) if it looks like short leaf R&R's may happen semi-frequently.

Duh, that he meant that didn't occur to me until just now when you said it. Done that a few times (mostly those stupid Add-A-Leafs, I've broken my fair share of those) and even got to do some of that in the field just last week building ad hoc packs to get out and home. That's what prompted the need for new springs, broken spring pack on the Rubicon.

[cruiseroutfit]

That's helpful, Kurt. The guy at ARB wasn't 1/10th as helpful as you when I called them. Seriously, what good is a tech line if all you do is read the catalog back to me? :-/

I appreciate the kind words. I've been dealing with OME products on a daily basis for ~8 years now... truthfully not too many PU's/4Runners but a couple dozen or so setups over the past few years.

OME has the D6XL leaf for the CS019R packs, which essentially turns them into CS020R springs, so again you are dead on with that.

Yes, we've even used a D6XL in a CS020R to bump it up a bit more.

Price difference I'm seeing is about $30 between the two packs, which is also the price for the extra leaf. There really isn't a huge price advantage either way, so if I want heavy springs the CS020R = CS019R + D6XL in both performance and price, right?

Correct, it is a little less defined in the PU suspensions. In the case of our Land Cruiser kits, the price changes $50 for all 4 corners to bump up to the heavier springs, so there is an obvious advantage there. Whereas the mini/4Runner is about 6's as you've noted.

This sentence confused me. Pull a leaf but without removing it? Do you mean a spring pin? IOW, are OME packs designed to have that extra leaf installed or removed without cutting off the pin and replacing it?

The OME leafs come with a center pin that is just long enough in most cases to add an additional leaf. When thats not the case, we have longer pins in stock. So an additional leaf can easily be added or removed from the pack without removing the spring from the vehicle. In some applications (SUA Land Cruisers) it is likely easier just to pull the spring... though I've had plenty of customers do it on the rig. We've done quite a few on Tacomas and such right on the rig... saves a bit of time.

EDIT: ntsqd read my mind Sorry it was late when I wrote that