Offroad-Express

Ok, so this is the 1st truck I've had with leaves at the front. Now I'm just wondering, as they look non factory, but behind the shackles are some hefty (about 6mm plate, maybe 8mm) brackets all gusset weldedand bolted onto the chassis rails that appear to be to stop the spring moving back too far. Are these normal? It doesnt appear that the springs have ever contracted them and to me it looks like the shackle pin would touch the chassis rail before the spring tail hit it anyway.
Reason I ask is that I just got some bullbars with sidebars that came off a hilux, and these plates are in the way of the end mounts for the side rails which bolt onto the front gearbox x-member bolts. Can I take them off?

Sounds like they are anti-inversion plates, do you have any pics?

That was kindof my train of thought too. But if they where anti inversion plates wouldnt they be infront of the shackle not behind it? There is a flat plate at the front that is parallel to the end of the spring. So i presume I can take them off? They dont look like they do anything useful unless someone can inform me otherwise. I doubt those massive heavy duty leaf packs would flex that far anway lol. But standard springs curve upwards with the weight of the winch.

Probably some form of protection so the weight of the truck doesnt crush the spring eye if somehow you managed to drop off something that would do that, if they are in the way for your bar id take them off

if they were shackle stops for anti inversion they would be on the other side of the shackle? Dunno what they are for?

Good to see everyone else is at as much of a loss as I am lol. I'd Imagine in the event that you did drop that much weight onto the spring, shoving it into a solid bit of steel would probably be as much good if not worse than pressing it against the chassis. I guess it might be useful if the leaf pack were much softer. But like I say it looks as tho the spring would touch the chassis first anyway, the angle of that pic doesnt really show the gap between the spring and the plate. I'll take them off and put them in the 'scrap bits of metal that might be usefull when welding something up' pile Might be handy to put near the back and use for welding some steps onto

funny enough i had the exact same things on an old hilux i had same cut out etc so i assume someone was selling them. With standard shackels nothing can ever hit them, my only guess was that they were for extended shackels to stop the shackel swinging backwards to far and therefore the tyre hitting the rear of the guard? Mine got chucked in the scrap pile.

Ive got he exact same thing on my lux and no one has ever been able to tell me what they are for very strange lol

I thought so too rangimotors.. But again looking at them if the shackle was probably not even an inch longer then the middle of the shackle would hit the bottom of the plate, making them useful for bending the shackles lol. Who knows..maybe someone who brought them new at the time might shed light on their purpose. Haha. In the junk pile they go

yeh these are on my 85 lux,ive always been at a loss aswell

mine had them. I think they are factory but maybe only particular models or years or something.
think the plan was to protect the shackel and therefore the spring from being bent when reversing off an obstical such as a tree log or rock etc

if the shackle broke wouldn't it stop the leaf moving back and completly flattening out . which would cause the front of the truck to be on a massive lean and or put the rear of the wheel on the guard.?

MK1TNA wrote:Probably some form of protection so the weight of the truck doesnt crush the spring eye if somehow you managed to drop off something that would do that, if they are in the way for your bar id take them off

yep bash bars to take the weight and lift the truck when grinding over rocks and logs etc

Ok that makes the most sense out of anything so far lol. If only they'd made all the bash plates that beefy I dont think any of the rest of mine are straight