[Miguel]

Hey all,

The back-left of my truck is about 2 inches lower that the back-right of the truck. I have a feeling that the aal has either cracked, snapped, or has past the elastic bending threshold and has gone into plastic deformation. When I look at the aal from under my truck it looks fine but then again there is a large portion that is hidden by the leaf pack and the overload leaf. The suspension setup is a 3" coil spacer lift.

If it is damaged in any way Ide have to blame my Explorer Pro Comp shocks. They are SOOO stiff and really don't give too much while going over speed bumps or out on the trail, taking my leaf pack for a teeth chattering ride.

Where would you recommend getting some new aal? Ide prefer to stay away from 4 Wheel Parts if at all possible. Downey wants $85 + shipping for new ones!!! I am REEEEAAAALLLY pressed for money so I can't afford going to shackles (college student) although I would love to. If anyone's got some for sale that are brand new that would also be an option.

Thanks so much you guys,

~Miguel

 

[Skitz]

Thanks so much you guys,

Your welcome...

 

[atwinda]

I haven't checked prices or anything, but wheelers off road is another online source for the aals. What AAL was it? Downey long AAL? those have been known to break quite a bit. I doubt it was the shocks- I broke an overload by over compressing it. It hasn't made my truck sit any lower though.

 

[renzo626]

Thinking that the aal has passed the proportional limit and has entered into plastic deformation wouldn't be my first guess. Can't you take off the tire and see if it's broken?

 

[rojodiablo]

Put up an ad in the wanted section, troll the for sale section. Some insane deals show up there, and this board has a pretty good reputation of clean deals.

 

[hytenor]

Hey all,

The back-left of my truck is about 2 inches lower that the back-right of the truck. I have a feeling that the aal has either cracked, snapped, or has past the elastic bending threshold and has gone into plastic deformation. When I look at the aal from under my truck it looks fine but then again there is a large portion that is hidden by the leaf pack and the overload leaf. The suspension setup is a 3" coil spacer lift.

If it is damaged in any way Ide have to blame my Explorer Pro Comp shocks. They are SOOO stiff and really don't give too much while going over speed bumps or out on the trail, taking my leaf pack for a teeth chattering ride.

Where would you recommend getting some new aal? Ide prefer to stay away from 4 Wheel Parts if at all possible. Downey wants $85 + shipping for new ones!!! I am REEEEAAAALLLY pressed for money so I can't afford going to shackles (college student) although I would love to. If anyone's got some for sale that are brand new that would also be an option.

Thanks so much you guys,

~Miguel

AALs break, a sad fact but it happens. usually because they are added to worn springs and are not taking the brunt of the stress trying to maintain an arch.

best thing to do is find a spring shop that can re-arch your springs and add a 4th leaf made from OE material. There's a place in Concord that does this for under $300. You can have them arched to whatever you want up to 3" over stock.

 

[toyguy]

has past the elastic bending threshold and has gone into plastic deformation.

What does plastic deformation mean??? Never heard that term before.

 

[hornito]

AALs break, a sad fact but it happens. usually because they are added to worn springs and are not taking the brunt of the stress trying to maintain an arch.

best thing to do is find a spring shop that can re-arch your springs and add a 4th leaf made from OE material. There's a place in Concord that does this for under $300. You can have them arched to whatever you want up to 3" over stock.

Hytenor

Don't you think he'd be better off saving up $100 and buying a new pack, bushings and bolts? Better performance, brand new springs, lift. Won't rearched springs eventually return to sag? Just my 2 pesos.

Hornito

 

[hytenor]

Hytenor

Don't you think he'd be better off saving up $100 and buying a new pack, bushings and bolts? Better performance, brand new springs, lift. Won't rearched springs eventually return to sag? Just my 2 pesos.

Hornito

\

not necessarily. the OE springs actually have pretty good flex especially with the type of overloads they have and adding a 4th leaf and re-arching the whole pk will last a long time. Any springs will sag over time when abused...which is what we all tend to do to them

new Deavers will run around $600, twice the price. Since he has a shell the extra leave will really help.

 

[GOT COPE?]

I got my aal from performance products for $40 + Shipping. You can get a 2" or 3" for that price, but I think its $42 now. Ive had mine 6 mths no problems, Im also running Pro Comp ES 3000 shocks, I agree its stiff but no probs so far.

www.performanceproducts.com

 

[Miguel]

What does plastic deformation mean??? Never heard that term before.

Toyguy,

Plastic deformation means that the object does not return to its original shape when bent or stressed. Elastic deformation means that the object returns to its unstressed state when the load is removed. Basically, a rubber band vs. a piece of taffy. If you pass the linear portion of a stress vs. strain diagram, the object will not return to its original shape. Here is a diagram:

http://garnero.asu.edu/research/gallery/full/seis101_stress_vs_strain.gif

~Miguel

 

[jhorn_007]

Hey all,

The back-left of my truck is about 2 inches lower that the back-right of the truck. I have a feeling that the aal has either cracked, snapped, or has past the elastic bending threshold and has gone into plastic deformation. When I look at the aal from under my truck it looks fine but then again there is a large portion that is hidden by the leaf pack and the overload leaf. The suspension setup is a 3" coil spacer lift.

If it is damaged in any way Ide have to blame my Explorer Pro Comp shocks. They are SOOO stiff and really don't give too much while going over speed bumps or out on the trail, taking my leaf pack for a teeth chattering ride.

Where would you recommend getting some new aal? Ide prefer to stay away from 4 Wheel Parts if at all possible. Downey wants $85 + shipping for new ones!!! I am REEEEAAAALLLY pressed for money so I can't afford going to shackles (college student) although I would love to. If anyone's got some for sale that are brand new that would also be an option.

Thanks so much you guys,

~Miguel

i need to make sure that it is not broke... i had a trailmaster aal break and it fell out. which let that one side of my axle walk, so where do u think it walked? right into my bedside... scarring my tire and the bed forcing me to park it and get a trailer and let my buddy haul it home with a CHEBY...
anyway, since i was down for the count a lil while i called summit racing and ordered a rancho 3.5" aal and they got it to me faster than anyone else said they could... it was around like 40 bucks and they rode a lot better than the trailmasters did, and i didnt have any trouble out of them...