replaceing front leaf springs with rears

[mudbug]

hey team, im in the middle of a suspension upgrade for my ln65 hilux chassis and iv come across the idea of people using the rear leaf springs in place of the front leaf springs to get better articulation.

iv dummied up the springs and i see the pin in the middle of the lead pack is about 100mm forward of the original so im just wondering what people do to bring this back to sit where it would normally sits to try save myself some work trying to match everything else. will i have to re drill and move the pin, can i just mount my diff further back on the spring to where it would normally be or will that not work so well when the spring starts to work away like they do.

cheers

heres a couple of pics to help you see what im upto (how do i post pics??).

[mudbug]

figured out how to upload pics

[mudbug]

lets try this again.....

[3VILC]

Take those bottom 2 overload leaves out, you dont want those in the front. Turn the rear spring around the other way, how does the pin alignment look then? You want to push the axle further forwards definately not backwards or your wheel will hit the firewall at full lock. I dont recall for the hilux, but I THINK so dont quote me that you do need to redrill the pin hole to put rears up front. If you do move the diff forwards slightly (100mm would be way too much) you need to allow for this change by making the torque rod longer I think it is, as well as the drag link if you want the steering box to be properlly centered.
Bound to be plenty of info around on RUF for hilux

[mudbug]

I had a look just now the pin ends up about 60mm too far back. when you say the diff needs to be forward a bit because it will hit the fire wall how will it be different to when it is the same position as it was originally or dose the new amount of movement hit the inside or the guard so it needs to be a tad further forward to stop it hitting at full flex? Cheers

[3VILC]

If you were to put the pin in the same place it is on the existing springs, it will be fine of course, same as before. Usually we like to push it forwards slightly as you will find on a leaf hilux even with 31s they often hit that seam at the back of the gaurd. Common practice is to beat it flat with a hammer otherwise it puts nice cuts all over the lugs of your mud tyres. But the best solution of course is to move the diff forwards so the tyres rub there at all

[tuff lux]

definitely move it forward you will regreat it later if you don't, if well when u want bigger tyres etc etc

[J_Dub]

When you have read people putting the rears up front it is because you gain more flex while also being able to move the diff forward, 2 birds 1 stone.
Its a lot more work than just slapping the springs in, but well worth the effort.

[mudbug]

so would i be looking at 50mm forward? will this change the pinion angle too much by it being a but further around the arch? or am i over thinking

[J_Dub]

So what happens is you need to lengthen the shackles so the spring clears the chassis. You will notice when fiited with standard shackles the spring is also pressed up against chassis. Lengthen shackles. Then as you mentioned the pinion angle is out so you weld a new front cross member in (50mm) which fixes pinion angle.
All this gives about a 4" lift.
So you then have to raise the rear
Also as the steering needs to be modified ( you can modify existing) people just fit high steer which costs $$$ but worth it and if you want the flex to work for you and the truck to drive nice its worth it

[mudbug]

Ok cool iv made extra long shackles to make up for the extra length. The rear is going to have 4 link so I can set that up to match the height easy enough. How much would a histeer cost?