Barney Leans a Little to the Left - (not political!)

Hey guys,

Barney, my '58 CJ5 has what is, as far as I can tell from reading this site a lot, a classic "CJ Lean" IN his case it is to the left...slightly, not drastic. While I've read comments about noticing Jeeps that "lean" I have not seen a specified thread. So, I am wondering what the remedy is? I can't think of anything I can "adjust" so I am wondering what I will ultimately replace and in what order....do I start with ellipticals?

 

Can't you live with it?

 

Oh heck yeah, and once the spare gets installed it'll have some right lean counter weight!! Just curious about what is entailed....

 

Jeep had a kit to correct it. Even brand new Jeeps would lean.

Put a block between the spring plate and the spring on the high side, and extend the spring center bolt through it.

 

My leans to the right. Mounted my spare on the driverside wheelwell to try and offset. Didnt work, the block trick would work best if you can't live with it.

 

Wouldn't be the first time ive seen a jeep with a different number of leaves on the leaf springs one each side. aka left side leaf spring has 7 leaves, and right side leaf spring has 9 leaves. Have you checked for that?

 

I like the block idea! I was just wondering yesterday how I was gonna fix my CJ lean...

 

You should first determine whether the body and frame is leaning or just the body. If the body has seen much road salt and has rotted flloors, the hat channels can allow the body to sag on the frame. In the 60s and 70s it was common to use salt (NACL) on the roads. The salt would cause deeper liquid on the road shoulder than due to the crown of the road. I spent the first 27 years of my life in upstate NY, where it was common to have the passenger side fenders rot through in a couple of years, always passenger side first. So first look at your frame and body attachment points and make sure that the body is firmly supported at the mounts.

Another cause of sag is a broken leaf in a spring pack. Jeep spring packs can contain from 7 to 12 leaves. It is common to have a broken leaf in the pack which can be broken within the sping clamp around the axle, and may be difiicult to see until you clean the spring to remove the dirt. The spring clamp can hold the broke leaf with the pack.

A twisted frame can cause the frame to diamond shaped or one side to be higher than the other. This is particularly true if the jeep has been used agressively to pull stumps or stuck vehicles by attaching the chain to one side of the frame.

You should start parking the jeep on a LEVEL garage floor. If the floor isn't level, then use sections of plywood to create flat level surface to reference your measurements. Most garage floors are NOT level by design, so that the water goes towards the door. Liekwise most driveways are slated as well.

Once you have a known level surface, measure the distance from the floor to the frame at the ends of the front bumper, and at the front end of the frame near where the front bumper attaches to the frame. Measure the distance from the floor to the rear frame as well. Set a 4' level across the bumper and see if it is level. Open the hood and place the level across the radiator support rods. Use the 4'level across the rear fenders. You should be able to find what is level and what is not.

Crawl undreneath and measre the distance between the top of the axle and the bottom of the frame immediately above the axle, at the front axle and the rear axle. Comparing the spring axle to frame on the gives you an indicator if the spring is questionable.

Also the spring bushings can be worn. The through-bolts rust and they erode away the rubber.

You should carefully inspect the springs and bushings since you just put a plow on which will cause even more stress on the springs and bushings.

Good luck.

 

Floors and body are really good, garage floor is pretty darn level.. gonna count leaf springs, I am not sure I get the block thing, seems like the block would go on the side that is lower not higher? Someone educate me!

 

The block goes between the spring and axle. Since Jeeps have the springs under the axle, it will lower the Jeep on that side.

 

Ok I will take a look

 

I just corrected a similar problem with my '60. The right rear of the body was almost hitting the rear bumper. After some thorough investigating, I found that the bed had separated from the inner fenderwell. The flanged joint looked to be spot welded originally. It appears that the additional weight of the rear mount spare caused the spots to break loose. I jacked up the right rear corner of the body until it was aligned and drilled/screwed the flanged joint into position. I intend to finish the repair off with some welding this weekend.

It's something else you can check for.

 

Also one thing you could check is to see if the rubber body mounts or rubber shims separating the body from the frame have rotted away. perhaps on one side more than the other.

 

Cut 'em. Abrasive disk in a grinder or cut-off tool. You want new u-bolts anyway.

BTW they go bang when you cut through, so don't be startled.

The Jeep lowering block is only about 1/2" thick. We installed a lot of them back in the day. You will lose 1/2" of suspension travel on that side.

 

My '58 CJ5 just got totally restored. New suspension still leans slightly to the left. I can live with it though.

 

Which are you calling the "left"? If you are looking at the front of the jeep the left side (driver's side) appears on the right.

 

Mine leans DOWN on the driver's side.

 

If you are looking at the front of my Jeep, it leans ever so slightly to the right. It is more noticeable when looking at it from behind.