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When you’re towing a trailer or hauling tools and gear, the rear end can sag and throw off balance. The Hellwig EZ-990 Helper Springs add up to 2,000 lbs of load leveling capacity above your factory leaf springs to stop that squat before it starts. They upgrade your suspension so your rig stays level, steering feels steady, and braking stays consistent even when the bed is full or a trailer is hitched up.

Heavy loads can make a truck sway or roll more through corners. These custom helper springs work with your factory leaf springs to reduce body roll and sway so the truck feels more planted on the road. You can adjust the U-bolts to tune the spring tension for different loads, keeping handling stable whether you’re heading down a mountain grade or pulling into a campsite.
Uneven cargo doesn’t have to mean a crooked ride. Each side of the EZ-990s can be adjusted separately so you can dial in support for an off-center camper or tools stacked on one side of the bed. The springs flex with your leaf packs to smooth out bounce while keeping everything balanced and level.
These helper springs are made from durable steel with a silver vein hammer tone powder coat finish that resists corrosion. The easy bolt-on design mounts directly above your factory leaf springs using the included hardware, so you get long-lasting performance without complicated setup. It’s a simple, strong way to extend the life of your factory suspension, tires, and brakes while keeping your truck stable when it’s working hard.
Videos are provided as a guide only. Refer to manufacturer installation instructions and specs for complete information.
Hi there, I'm Michael with etrailer.com. Today we're gonna take a quick look at these Hellwig EZ-990 Above Axle Helper Springs. These are custom helper springs that will install above the factory leaf springs on your vehicle. They're gonna help to reduce your sway and body roll and prevent sagging when you're towing or hauling loads. These are designed specifically to fit your 2014 and newer Toyota Tacoma. So it is gonna be a very simple installation being that it's designed specifically for your Tacoma.
These springs will flex with your factory leaf springs to help limit bouncing while providing optimal stability. These will have a weight capacity of 2,000 pounds. Now when you hear that it's very tempting to think that means it's going to increase your vehicle's weight carrying capacity by 2,000 pounds, and that's not the case. There's no helper suspension system on the market that's gonna increase your vehicle's weight carrying capacity. So think of it less like a second set of hands that's helping you lift more weight.
Think of it more like a back brace. So it's there to help your factory suspension take some of that strain off of it, help to extend the life of your factory suspension, your tires, and your brakes. Like I said, these are gonna be very easy to get installed. It's just gonna bolt above your factory leaf springs. All the mounting hardware that you're gonna need is included.
It is important to note that you should not install these on vehicles with composite or plastic leaf springs as these durable metal springs could potentially damage the plastic springs. So when you talk about suspension enhancement most people are familiar with airbags. That's what seems to be the most popular. So if you're comparing these to airbags, airbags are gonna give you more adjustability. So if you're hauling a really heavy load, you can add air to it, give you more support.
If you unload, you've got an empty bed or very light load, you can let air out airbags and just have a a light support. These are gonna be more of a set it and forget it kind of set up. You can adjust the U-bolts to accommodate, to alter a little bit, but not nearly as much as you would get with the airbag set up. But the benefit of these is that you don't have to adjust them. So if you are the kind of person that doesn't wanna have to worry about how much pressure is in your bags, you just wanna be able to get your stuff loaded up, these are gonna be a great way to go. So like, again, a little bit less adjustability but you can adjust the driver's side and passenger side independently. So if you have an uneven load, a really heavy toolbox on one side of your Tacoma or if, you know, if you're needing to give that extra support on one side if you can't adjust one and not the other.=, so it's gonna give you more even balance overall. So very beneficial here, even though you don't get as much adjustability as you would with airbags. These are made here in the USA of a very durable steel construction, so that's gonna ensure a nice long lasting performance. These do have a silver vein hammer tone, powder coat finish. That's gonna prevent corrosion, make sure that these are lasting you a nice long time. They do come with a limited lifetime warranty. So if you we're to have any issues with them, you're more than welcome to reach out to us here at etrailer.com. We always like working with our customers to make sure you're getting good quality products and finding the right solution for your problems. But I really don't think you're gonna have any issues with these. I think they're gonna do a good job for you. Again, very simple to get installed and give you that low maintenance support that you're really looking for. So that completes our look for today. Again, I'm Michael with etrailer.com. Thanks for watching.
Customer Satisfaction Score:
94% were satisfied with this product
6% of customers were not satisfied
Ratings & Reviews
Great product. Quick shipping. Would buy here again.
Product seems good, instructions are terrible . Can't find a video with my product for install anywhere .
Easy to install, very effective and didn’t have much effect on ride quality. Mine worked on the lowest setting with a 16’ camper.
Easy to install. It should help stabilize the rear springs when I tow our boat.
The product fit well and installed would have been a breeze if it wasn’t for the hardware. The u bolts are very poor quality with burrs and poorly tolerances threads. In addition only half the hardware was the correct size. One set of nuts was too big for the u bolts. The hardware was also low quality. In my opinion it should have all been grade 8 corrosion resistant hardware and it is much lower grade. I ended up having to buy all new hardware to be able to install at an additional cost. Now that it is installed the product works fantastic. Just be aware you may need to purchase extra hardware to get it installed.
Helper springs made my Ram 1500 Conversion Van have a more comfortable ride. The springs raised the profile of the back of the van by about 1-1/2", which is not noticeable and the van still looks good. My RV Travel trailer lowered the back half of the van by about 1", before I installed the helper springs. The helper springs should enhance the ride of the van.
U bolts are to long and would not allow the prop tightening.
Hellwig customer service advices to shim with washers.
Poor recommend repair.
Easy install great fit. Readjusted for our new trailer in 10 minutes and working wonderfully.Leveled the truck and rides smooth..
I was a great addition to my RST 1500 Chevy and I transferred to my High Country 1500 Chevy and never missed a beat towing the travel trailer.
Easy to install, does not affect the ride much , worked great pulling my fish house to the lake. I showed my helper springs to one of my customers, gave him the part number for his truck and he ordered them from e-trailer today. Great product.
It worked perfectly for my needs. It helped my 2011 Silverado from sagging too much without raising the backend of the truck much (1/4 to 1/2) while empty. I can adjust this added spring to have less sag but then I raise the backend a little more. It's at a happy medium. It is easy to fine tune it if I want more or less spring support.
Loaded my tacoma with a portaboat on the ladder rack and a few hundred pounds of camping gear. The sag was gone after installing these. The ride is a little bit stiffer when empty as to be expected but not bad even on washboard dirt roads. These can be fairly easily installed and removed if desired. Hardest part is jacking up the truck to sit on the frame
Way better than expected. Huge difference in the rear suspension. It’s almost like having a sway bar.
I have worked on many cars foreign and domestic. Volvo, VW, BMW, Jeep, Toyota, Honda, Chevy, Ford. I have replaced the entire engine, replaced axels, rack & pinion, installed performance parts, Shocks, struts, brakes, timing belt, water pumps, pullies, et cetera et cetera. I have the tools and workspace. Onetime I even lent a deep socket to Toyota dealership to rotate my wheels so that my wheel paint won't get scratched (could not believe they did not had a deep socket to do the job correctly). Anyways I am serious about tools ok….
This is for 2022 Toyota Tacoma TRD sports. Now starting the actual review: The instructions are crap and so are the U-Bolts and Nuts. I think only the spring is made in USA, rest are from China cheap.
The instruction on #2 says to replace bump stop and fasten with factory Axel U-bolts and Tighten factory U-bolts to 80-90 ft-Lb. After putting the helper spring on top and factory bump stop, When you tighten the factory U-bolts to factory axel, the both ends of the helper spring raises past the gas tank on the front driver side and frame on both driver and passenger side. At this point "There is no clearance to insert the Hellwig supplied U-Bolts". I am curious to see if someone from Hellwig can tell me how to install this in sequential steps for 22 Toyota Tacoma. Oh, I did try to call the company but no one picked the phone. Alright, it was Sunday when I called and I am ok with if no one works on Lord's day. But at least have a voice mail that informs that you are on your own on Sunday's and call back like normal people starting Monday. I waited so long on the phone to hear some robo voice that I thought Lord himself was going to pick up the phone. You know this is just as awkward as extending your hand for handshake and the other person does not even see it and you are left hanging your hand and hoping no one else saw this.
The instruction on #1 also says to orient the long end of the spring towards the front but does not say " measuring from the center pin hole". This probably is common sense but it can be confusing for folks who do not do this install for living. My point is, If you are selling this to DIY's, you have to raise your instruction game to leave no doubt so that people feel good about their work. Or simply slap a sticker that fays front or back. But then…..
The Instruction on # 6 says " the clearance between the helper spring and the truck spring should be no less than 1/4 inch". My question is, what is the right point to reference in the helper spring to measure this distance from truck spring? In the helper spring at both ends, there is a "V" shape to house the U-bolts. Do you measure the bottom of the 'V' and the factory spring for 1/4 inch, do you measure the end tip of the helper spring and truck spring? If the answer is anywhere as long as both rear passenger and rear drive is measured at same spot, then just please say so . Otherwise slap a sticker or make a notch in the spring as a reference point to measure the distance for 1/4 inch. But then…
I should have said this in the very beginning "The nuts supplied are 17 millimeter or 11/16. There is no torque specified for this in the instruction as you can see in the picture under "Torque Table". If you or anyone from Hellwig is irritated by why I cannot just have wrote things in Chronological order, then you are feeling my pain which makes us brothers.
If only certified installers should do this work then please do not sell to the regular people who have sense not to call on Lords days. Anyways, this is my 2 cents. Hope there is someone at other end who collects change for living. Heck, there are people writing instructions for living or manning the phone or not. Installation Pain is real and not only the humor in this review. Rating will change when someone will address the issues mentioend.
Fast delivery. Just installed today. Work great.
U Bolts were substandard and prone to galling. I may need to replace them with better quality to get the correct tension on the springs.
So far so good. They were much easier to install on my 2020 Tacoma that I had thought - 90 minutes taking my time. My truck now sits level with the tongue of the 4500 LB travel trailer on it, and these springs eliminate that "see-saw" bouncing that occurs on some roads. Very good choice to buy these.
Poorly machined U-Bolts
All threads required full clean up with lubicant and nuts.
Helper Springs are Not Labeled FRONT for proper installation.
Front Shackle/U-Bolt installation is Not a balanced mechanucal design.
Suggest Shackle install on both Front spring attachment.
Overall a substandard product installation.
Helwug EZ990/980 provded 1.5" additipnal lift at trailer ball hitch for 2015 Toyota Tacoma 2WD PreRunner
Great service, glad they recommended a partnered shop to install. Part is exactly what I needed.
My truck sits and rides normal with my decked system and tools loaded
These springs eliminated the rear sag from adding a shell, rubber bed mat, and a little gear.
Easy to install as well, but recomend having a 7/16X20 tap/die to clean threads on supplied u-bolts.
The springs lifted my Tacoma with a cap about an inch higher. It would have been more helpful if the directions indicated that a C-Clamp would be useful to compress the spring ends to allow the u-bolts to be installed. The directions also indicated the long end of the spring should face forward. I measured the spring from the end to the hole and this was the same either way, so was confusing. I purchased longer axle u-bolts since the added thickness of this extra spring made the factory u-bolts too short IMO. I feel that should have been part of this kit. Lastly, the u-bolt on the driver's side did not need to be installed sideways per the instruction. It fit fine just as the other u-boults were installed. Maybe the instructions could be updated to be more accurate.
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Nick S.
11/3/2025
I am sorry to hear about the U-bolts. Are they wearing quicker than normal? Or not tightening or sitting correctly?