Hello everybody! Our gasser Honda final gave up the timing chain and we went out and somewhat impulsively bought an 88 Mazda diesel B2200. I'm not new to diesels but to the truck. It had a sort of homemade muffler on it (replaced) and had been lowered by the previous owner but the price was sweet and the diesel runs really strong, perfect cold starts after sitting for weeks (7am on a 0C day), no smoke, good power and passed the local DEQ test with no problems. No leaks so far and sips diesel compared to the 18mpg I get now with the diesel Suburban.

The rear suspension looked basically familiar to me and I have replaced the rear shocks. There was a weird helper spring on one side that I've removed for now, since the original spring looks fine and the helper left a big gap between the axle and the springs. The read didn't appear to be lowered or perhaps someone removed a lower kit and badly slapped it back together.

My question is about the front suspension. The front appears to have no springs at all. This is what concerns me the most. I'm not familiar with this style of front suspension, the burb has front leaf springs, but it looks like what I seen on 2wd chevy's, a control arm that's sprung on a coil spring to the frame. Right now my front control arms are riding right on the frame bumper with no travel at all, and I see no coil spring in sight. So... I need a couple right? Is this something I can get at a parts store or a junker?

Thanks again! Hope there are some other dieslers in this board like me!

 

I am notfamiliar so much w/the trucks myself, but could it be that they are a torsion bar suspension and don't use coils?

 

yup torsion bar fronts. nice and easy to lower too, but as for the bump stops, if you want to keep it low. cutting the bump stops off will give the front suspension more room to move and make the ride smoother

 

kl