Bent hilux Diff spring perches

Joined: 15 Apr 2004 Location: Out and about

I searched back to page 15, i think im safe.... Very Happy

Lux is riding low at the nose, and spent the day at ARB today for them to look at whats going on. They've found my passenger spring perch has a 3mm bend in it either side from centre!

Before they are willing to fiddle with leaf packs to try and get it to somewhere around 2" of lift again, they want me to fix that and get it back to a dead flat surface.

Their suggestion was welding a 10mm thick steel plate over both perches to reinforce them.

Now what i want to know, is has anyone encountered this issue before? If so, how did you fix it, did it work, would you do it differently?

Thanks in advance all! Very Happy

Joined: 16 Aug 2008 Location: brisbane

ive twisted and mangled a rear but not a front and i cant really see how you could have done it. if your in brissy i might have a spare front housing you could have

Joined: 05 May 2008 Location: MACKAY

I think (im not sure) that u can get wedges that are thicker at either end and thinner in the middle. Its a pretty common problem with the hiluxs.

Joined: 05 May 2008 Location: MACKAY

stock 4runner wrote:

ive twisted and mangled a rear but not a front and i cant really see how you could have done it. if your in brissy i might have a spare front housing you could have

Is usually from overtightening the u bolts

Joined: 15 May 2007 Location: bundaberg

Its common to bend them in the front. i got a new springs fitted at arb and they bashed the perch flat then welded some flat bar from the spring perch to the diff housing. works well and looks easy enough to do.

Joined: 15 Apr 2004 Location: Out and about

gutlux44 wrote:

Its common to bend them in the front. i got a new springs fitted at arb and they bashed the perch flat then welded some flat bar from the spring perch to the diff housing. works well and looks easy enough to do.

Yeah- brace the leading edges down to the diff.

I'll probably end up bashing it flat, welding a 10mm plate onto it (free 10mm lift!) and then bracing the leading and trailing edges.

Joined: 02 Jun 2004 Location: Melbourne

ARB welded those braces on my hilux when the suspension was fitted, new, in 1993. At the time the car was also brand new, so at one stage, they did it for prevention.

Steve.

Joined: 25 Jan 2006 Location: Stuck in Adelaide

Ferrit,

So your telling me that arb fitted the springs, but didnt fit the perch braces??

They tried to blame the sagged springs I had on bent perches, but when I fitted them myself, they were fine, only after they had fitted new springs to it, which sagged, and swaped them side to side, did I then find the perches were bent.
I had to straighten them, and buy their gusset kit, and fit it myself.
arb said that they always fit the "fitting kit" with springs................... Confused

Of interest, on a flat floor, measure the height from the floor to the spring perch.
Looks like toyota made the pax side a good 10mm lower to allow for drivers side sag.

Like ive said before, arb dakkar springs have a quality control issue, looks like your in the middle of it too.
once I went to EFS springs (terrain tamer) no more problems with sag, or a poorly driving vehicle. Service was great, and I am more than happy with them.

arb only do one set for the diesel hilux, their heavy duty springs, for steel bbar, and dual batts.
yet they dont hold the weight.
I bet when they measure free camber, it will be within spec.
problem is that the spring setting in the steel is no good to start with and it dosent hold weight.

Trains

Joined: 15 Apr 2004 Location: Out and about

No, i fitted the springs, but they never mentioned the perch braces Rolling Eyes

Im trying to work out how the springs were fine for 15,000kms, then AFTER i put a LIGHTER motor into the truck, they dropped 2" in 2 days!

I'll try what they ask with the reinforcing and flattening of the spring perches and then throw it back at them, but i'll bet it doesnt do squat- Considering the wave the passenger spring has in it already.

I recon when i fit the HD springs into the rear of the truck (the MD cant carry loads properly- 10 haybales causes so much drop the 33" spare hits the rear axle!) they will be EFS.

But Definately fitting bilstiens next time the shocks are done.

Joined: 21 Jun 2006

Lol
had same problem with said brand springs, fixing your perchs will help, but the real problem lies with the spring as much as said company want agree to it.

Joined: 25 Jan 2006 Location: Stuck in Adelaide

Mate, I would be double checking all the work they do on your rig.
my front driveshaft came back to me misaligned after they did the front spring swap on mine. Damage to the vehicle with scratches, and black greasy hand prints on the roof.

I would not reccomend putting a spacer plate on the spring perch, i think that you may come into issues with roadworthy doing that. Even fitting spring packers is something I would only consider doing to the rear.

I realise your busy, but best option is just to go for a new EFS setup front and rear, my only regrets is not doing it sooner, and giving them time and time again another opportunity to fix the problem, and the further problems they created.
It only lead to much of my time wasted, were talking days here, 100s of kms to and fro, and little to no care shown towards the vehicle, high frustration at their attitude and approach, and eventual inability to find and fix the problem.

Trains

Joined: 15 Apr 2004 Location: Out and about

bloody hell- you must have had a completely different experience to me!

I dropped it off, with rubbish in it (old maccas baggie) and that was gone when i got it back, no marks at all, nothing!

I think the differnce between a spacer plate and what i want to do is that a spacer plate isnt welded fully.

And im not going to bother with changing spring brands at this stage, going to keep the OME stuff for a few years, then buy a bundera chasiss and a MIG welder and do a full coil conversion on the old girl. Stuff leaf springs! Laughing