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Merideth: Hey, guys, so today we're checking out the Old Man Emu Dakar Heavy Load Rear Leaf Spring for 2.75 Inches of Lift, fitting all 2005 and newer Toyota Tacomas. These rear leaf springs are gonna be for the Tacoma owner who is looking for a more heavy-duty spring for the rear that will aid the truck in towing and provide a more heavy-duty lifespan in comparison to the stock spring. Now, I would like to call out that these are going to add different lifts heights for different generations. So, if you have a 2005 to 2015 model, you'll be looking at 2.75 inches of lift, as it says in the name, but for the 2016 and newer models, you're gonna be looking at about 2 inches of lift in the rear. Nonetheless, they're gonna be a great addition to a leveling kit or any lift kit that you've added in the front, doing a good job of leveling out the rear while also having a heavy-duty build. Again, these are especially great for anybody who's doing a lot of towing with their Tacoma, and who's going to have a lot of loaded weight in the bed. So, if you're doing a lot of overlanding with your truck or have a lot of gear in the back, or you're just towing a camper or a dolly, these springs are gonna get the job done while also providing really good ride quality.Now, these are designed for a heavy constant 660-pound load and willl have draw tapered and diamond-cut leaves to ensure that the load is evenly distributed over a larger surface area which is going to reduce the high stress. These will also have a military wrap for added safety and it's gonna have the inner leaf anti-friction pad, and that's gonna reduce any friction where the load is the greatest increasing the spring life over time. Now, not to mention this will also have a flat axle seat which is going to allow a safe mounting point on the axle and reduce any stress, again, just one more thing that's going to add some life to your springs. Now, I would like to mention that these are going to be sold individually, so you also will need to purchase a separate spring or a second spring should I say and you also are gonna need some supporting mods in order to install these on your truck. As you can see, the spring that I have here is obviously just going to come by itself sitting on the table but you will need bushings to install in either side of the leaf, and you're also gonna need some longer U-bolts considering that this is going to be stacked a little bit higher.Now, Old Man Emu does offer those separately and they are quite affordable. So, I would just keep that in mind when you're taking a look at this choice in particular. Now, with that being said, this choice is going to come in at right around $350. Now, again, if you are going to purchase two, which you most likely will since this does come with only one, you will be looking at about $600 for 2 roughly. However, again, I think that that's definitely worth the price for what you're going to get out of these leaf springs. These are going to be a heavy-duty version of the Old Man Emu Dakar springs. So, if you don't necessarily need all the extra load capacity for the leaf spring like this option, those are going to be a great choice, we do offer those in the same specification in a non-heavy duty version. Then there are other choices on the page that will offer an added leaf option that will add some height but not necessarily beef up the leaf spring. So, in my personal opinion, I think if you're looking for a full leaf spring replacement, if your factory leaf springs are just not holding up, or you're looking for a substantial upgrade in the load capacity and longevity of the leaf spring, then these are gonna be a great choice for your Tacoma.Now, when it comes to install, this is going to get a two out of three wrenches on the difficulty meter, and I am gonna give it a little bit of a stronger two out of three wrenches, taking you about two hours to get the job done if you know what you're doing when it comes to replacing your leaf springs. Now, you'll need some basic hand tools including a basic socket set ranging from 10-millimeters all the way up to 22-millimeters, a standard wrench set, a ratchet or an impact wrench, a dead blow and a torque wrench to make sure that everything is torqued down to spec at the end, as well as a breaker bar for a little bit of elbow grease. Now, speaking of the install, one of our customers here at ExtremeTerrain has completed this on his Tacoma and he's going to walk you right through all of the steps you need to get done in order to get these onto your truck. So, enough from me, let's go ahead and hop into the install.Man: All right, here is the list of tools that we used. So, different socket wrenches, we have a size 13-millimeter for the emergency brake line supports, 17-millimeter for the shock mounting bolt, the lower one, and then a 14-millimeter for the top bolt, also needs an adjustable wrench or something else but that's what we used, it worked pretty well. The U-bolts, we used the 22-millimeter socket. We also kind of did some makeshift stuff with the tools that we had but I recommend a long 22-millimeter socket to get at those bolts. There's a dead blow hammer, which was useful to use a punch or just to knock out the pins for the shackles. Oh, and then on the bottom of the shock, the shock bolt, there is a torque wrench to tighten up things. So, for the shackles it was 87 foot-pounds, the lower shock mount was 45 foot-pounds. Then there were just a couple of little accessories to go along with the sockets and then the breaker bar to help with the U-bolts.All right, well, I am going to install these new springs. So, I've already taken the tire and wheels off of the Tacoma and jacked it up, took off the spare so I had a little bit more room underneath the truck. So, first I'm going to disconnect the emergency brake line bracket to give a little bit more wiggle room and I'm using a 13-millimeter socket. This one does have an extension on it, the bracket does for when I had blocks installed for my first leaf. All right, there is that, now I'm gonna move over to the shocks. So, 17-millimeter, and I'm using a ratcheted wrench, I'm not sure what else it's called. All right, getting that out. Great. And I'm going to use the dead blow hammer. Do you see this okay? Came out a whole lot easier than I was anticipating. It's also nice to have a punch to knock the pin out. I had to do that for the other side. And then you need to get something like an adjustable wrench to hold it on top here. Can you see this okay? Loosen that up.All right. And actually as part of this job today I'm going to be replacing these shocks with something a little bit longer. I'm using the Old Man Emu longer shocks to accompany the new springs. Now the shocks should pop out. And the new shocks come with new bushings so we can just add these to the side.All right, so the shocks are disconnected and now I need to take out the U-bolts. Notice that there I did have a block in here for a little bit of a lift and I recommend strongly against it. It was very rough ride and the new U-bolts that came with the block were longer than the Tacoma's originals. And I'm not sure exactly how to best go about getting the bolts out because the bolts are quite long. So, I have kind of been using this catalytic converter, 7/8 thing, I'm not even sure what it's called. But I think that this is a 22-millimeter or the equivalent, needs to be something really extended to get over these bolts. And when we're reinstalling these, we wanna kind of go in an alternating order so they're adjusted symmetrically. Now, this one. [inaudible] more of the same. And nice having the other side loosened up now. Bolts out [inaudible] Pull off these U-bolts and the bump stop can also come out. Ours was modified because we also have these airbags up here. Anyway, that was just part of the installation process. So, I think that the next part will be unbolting the leaf springs [inaudible].All right, 19-millimeter ratcheting socket wrench or whatever this is called. This one is a little bit tricky because of the gas reservoir. So, both off the other side of this side of the shackle mount. It is going to be a challenge to try to figure out how to get that bolt out because of the limited space because of the gas can. We'll move to the back shackle mount. My experience is that while it's in place, we want to loosen up both the top and bottom one, but mostly we want to make sure we remove the bottom part. I'm gonna leave that there while I loosen the top right here. All right, and this one is out. All right, and then punch which you can also use when you're taking out the shock. I put these jacks on here in case of a drop-down but I guess that's not the way it would be since all these things are under tension. And actually, now to step a little bit so you wanna be careful I guess where you put your hands so they don't get pinched when this bounces back up. You can see that the other side of this bolt is super close to the gas can. So, you know, I would use a deadbolt or something on that side and I'm not quite sure what to do. But I think I just discovered what I can do. So, I'm gonna use a handy bar, a flat bar to try to pop this side of it. There we go. Looks like we got [inaudible]All right, now the spring is released. Still under a lot of tension and bound up over on this side. So, I think we're gonna have to drop the axle a little bit. That might work. There we go, okay. Spring is released. All right, and...just now we're gonna remove the rest of the shackle here. You just have to remember which way is loosening. There we go. All right, so you need to apply some grease to the bushings which you do need to order separately from Old Man Emu. And you can definitely see the difference between the stock leaf springs and the Old Man Emu. Just gonna put the shackle back on, and I should have paid closer attention but just had to compare it to the other side of how this goes back together. And we can bolt it. Washer. [inaudible 00:17:28.044] these get torqued to 87-pounds. And when it clicks like that, it's done. This is definitely the part where you need an extra hand muscling larger leaf spring into place. This has got to go up my side. So the first one was pointing in to match the other side, this bolt is coming out this way. Snug it up and just gonna leave it at that, and then go do the same for from the front. And then snug and not tight, we're gonna come back through and torque it to weight, back on tires and this goes to 83 foot-pounds.[Inaudible 00:20:31.258] bolts, holding in the bump stop. And then go back to everyone, tighten up real tight. So now I am putting this new shock in, Old Man Emu Nitric Charger Sport was what was recommended for these new leaf springs. So, just go in there. All right, looks quite good. And bolt goes...off. All right, 17-millimeter. So, we're just gonna snug it down and then it needs to be underweight to be tightened down to the right dimension. When your torque wrench clicks like that, that means you're at your correct torque. And that one is done. All right, now that the springs and everything is underweight, I'm going to head in and tighten this thing down.Merideth: So that is going to wrap it up for my review and install of the Old Man Emu Dakar Heavy Load Rear Leaf Spring for 2.75 Inches of Lift, fitting all 2005 and newer 6 Lug Toyota Tacomas. Now, make sure to like and subscribe for more product videos and install videos just like this. And make sure to always keep it right here at extremeterrain.com.
Fits 2005-2023 Editions of the 6-Lug Toyota Tacoma
Brand
Old Man Emu
Leaf Springs Style
Lifted Leaf Spring
Description
Improves Handling and Increases Load Capacity. With this Old Man Emu Dakar Heavy Load Rear Leaf Spring for 2.75-Inch Lift, you’ll get more than just an increase in ground clearance. You’ll also experience improvements in both on- and off-road handling, especially in terms of precision. In addition, this rear leaf spring adds to your truck’s load-bearing capacity so you can tow loads without worrying about damaging the suspension.
Constructed From Quality Materials. For guaranteed strength and toughness, ARB used only the best quality of materials for this rear leaf spring. It is draw-tapered and diamond-cut, which helps with the proper distribution of weight along with the entire leaf. It’s also scragged, which allows the spring to “set” and prevents sagging. This rear leaf spring also features re-greasable anti-friction pads between each leaf to help minimize wear. Finally, for a big boost in corrosion resistance and durability, ARB used a durable and long-lasting black coat.
Direct-Fit Installation. As long as you have the right tools and accessories, you can DIY the installation of this rear leaf spring. It will take about a couple of hours, depending on your prior experience. Afterward, get an alignment from a qualified auto shop to make sure you get the best performance. You will need U-Bolt and bushings that are sold separately.
Supported by a 2-Year Warranty. This rear leaf spring is covered by ARB’s 2-year warranty against workmanship and material defects. For more information or questions about the warranty coverage and policies, please don’t hesitate to contact customer support.
Application. This Old Man Emu Dakar Heavy Load Rear Leaf Spring for 2.75-Inch Lift is compatible with 2005-2023 editions of the 6-Lug Toyota Tacoma.
Extended Warranty. ExtremeTerrain/Turn5 Inc. is proud to offer an optional 12 month extended limited warranty to our customers that purchase an eligible product. The program administrator will replace the cost of the covered part of a period of 12 months after the manufacturers warranty elapses, or from the date of purchase if the manufacturer does not offer a warranty.
Coverage. A Covered Part has failed when it can no longer perform the function for which it was originally designed solely because of its condition and not because of the action or inaction of any non-covered parts. The benefits available under this Limited Warranty are strictly provided to you for the replacement of the Covered Part(s) which fails due to a defect.
Notification Sent Via Email. You will receive notification of your enrollment in the extended product warranty program via email within 24 hours of placing your order. Please save this email for possible future reference.
No Deductibles Required. There are no deductibles required for use of this extended product warranty. If your covered part fails within the extended warranty time frame, simply call the program administrator at 1-844-870-4881 for instructions before any repairs or replacements have begun. Additional contact details and instructions will be included in your confirmation email.
WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm - 
