Leaf spring and caster angle question.

First off, I was wondering if there were any cons to placing the shackle at the short side of the leaf spring and attach the long side to the frame. Also, I think I screwed up and pointed my pinion just a wee bit too high. Now granted, my new trans and tcase will site about 6 inches further back, but as it sites now, its pointing about 1/4" higher then a straight line...if that makes any sence. Shims?

 

If you are talking about a shackle reversal, I have it done on the front of my 74 cj5. It was done to make it ride better on the street. I can't really say that I notice a differance, but I have a 2 1/2" lift with an add-a-leaf in the front to help level it.

 

In some cases it causes the front end to "Dive" under braking. Remember, the jeep engineers designed it that way for a reason

 

I had a guy at a performance off road shop explain this to me once.
He said that the rear pinion go's up-ward under exceleration, in four wheel drive, the rear go's up ward and the front go's downward. shift into reverse, the action is reversed. So with your pinion slightly raised, I would thing it would be fine under exceleration. In reverse it may be ok? or it may bind alittle. geuss it depends on how much pedel you give it. As far as the shims go, I wouldn't do it on the front axle.
your axle ubolts could loosen and the shim come out. I would just drive it and see how it does. good luck

 

A lot of ECJ5s came stock with shackle reversed as well as most all M38A1s. If driving on the road most of the time it is one of the best upgrades you can do to get a much improved ride.

 

And there was a reason they switched to front shackles, and brake dive is one of the side effects along with a few other things. Ride vs. more predictable handling i would go with more predictable handling and so did the jeep engineers. This is important on a short wheel base vehicle like a cj5. If you drive your jeep on the street you need to understand how the changes effect its handling, get in an accident with your "modified" suspension and you have a real big problem.

 

Thanks for the input. However I was refering to the actual leaf spring itself. I am keeping my shackles in the front of the jeep but was wondering if it matters which was I have the leaf spring. My toyota springs are 21" on one end and 27 on the other end. They arn't split 50/50. So i was wondering if it mattered which end of the leaf spring I put towards my shackle. Long end on frame and short end on shackle or visa versa. Sorry if I aint explaining it right.

 

Since you're using springs with an axle mounting position that is so greatly offset, I would think the biggest consideration would be axle positioning and tire clearance, steering hookup, etc.

Edit: In putting more thought into what you're doing, it looks like you could do something like the Holbrook long leaf springs. Those springs keep the axle in the stock position with the longer side of the spring going toward the rear. As far as ride being affected by the shackle position, in your case, you should have a pretty decent ride to start with using those long springs.

 

Well I already got my springs. They are rear toyota leaf springs and have the same cp to eye on the short side as the stock cj springs. The long side is a few inches longer though and I wasn't sure if I could put the longer end on the shackle instead of frame mount. I got the front mocked and tacked in place today and as it sits, the axle will be about 4 inchs or so further forward then what it used to be (according to front drive shaft and where my pinion is now). The steering should be just fine since the axle is a few inchs behind the gear box bracket as of now. Tomorrow I will get the spring mounts finished, in place, and axle bolted up and sitting on some jack stands and will have a better idea of how everything will be.