Suspension - Leaf Springs

I have a flat drivers side rear leaf pack - about 1" lower than the passenger side as it sites.

I am curious if anyone has gone the re-arching route? I dont know if its worth it to just replace both rear leafs or try and re-arch the bad side. I dont want to only fix it half way, but if I can save a few bucks, I can use them for other fixes...

Thanks,

Matt

 

Re: Suspenion - Leaf Springs

My experience with re-arching is that it doesn't last too long. Springs went flat again pretty quickly.

 

Re: Suspenion - Leaf Springs

2x. Waste of time and money.

 

Re: Suspenion - Leaf Springs

I appreciate the responses. That is my concern. A full set of front and rear leafs for $500 at kaiserwillys isnt too painful, especially if they last another 60 years also....

 

Re: Suspenion - Leaf Springs

x2 on BDS. "re-arching" total waste of time and money.

 

Re: Suspenion - Leaf Springs

I am starting the aftermarket search today. I dont have "all original" concerns. I want a comfortable ride and durability... I have had skyjacker leaf spring products in the past and was fairly happy with them, so I'll cruise by there as well.

Matt

 

Re: Suspenion - Leaf Springs

Check out OME, Old man Emu. I don't know if they make springs for ECJ. They've been the smoothest I've ridden. When I get to the point of springs in my rebuild it's where I'll look first

 

Re: Suspenion - Leaf Springs

Your options for original 1.75" width springs are very limited. BDS seems to be the most popular option, though you could also look at Rancho or Skyjacker, and Omix-Ada sells replacement springs. Maybe there's another that I'm forgetting, but I'm sure OME is not among them.

You can also have custom springs made, if you want. The Holbrooks are in this class, IMO. No personal experience with them, but I observe they are made longer with new frame brackets, to improve the ride while retaining most or all of the original spring rate.

The original standard springs from '72-75 ride pretty nice, IMO. These are 7 leaf front and 5 leaf rear. Completely unsuitable with a hard top, but they ride nice with an open body Jeep. Your custom spring manufacturers could duplicate these (ie Deaver - I'm sure there are others), if requested.

It is also possible to replace your existing springs with wider Wrangler springs, if you can weld on new brackets. This expands your options quite a lot.

Realize that if you go for a softer ride, you will necessarily have a lot more body roll. The CJ springs are mounted way inboard, and body roll is controlled by having stiff springs. IMO that's the main reason why the frame of a CJ is so flexible - to have adequate articulation with a very high spring rate. So there really isn't any way to keep the on-road stability and have a softer ride without major re-engineering of the suspension. That's also the central reason why I don't want a steel Meyer cab - the body roll equation is bad enough already without a bunch of steel up high on the body. BTDT.

 

Re: Suspenion - Leaf Springs

I had the same problem on my 55 with the same spring, I thought the spring had gone flat as the jeep had a bad lean. I replaced both rear springs and was disappointed when I realized nothing had changed, the bad lean was still there.


After staring at it for awhile I realized that the arch in both springs looked the same. I noticed that the rear u shackles when viewed from the side were not parallel with each other, the drivers side shackle where its attached to the spring was farther towards the rear giving the impression of a fully loaded or flat spring on the drivers side. after some measuring I discovered that the front spring mount on the rear spring was positioned nearly 1 inch farther towards the rear than the one on the passenger side.


I don't know if it was an assembly line bobo or what but I relocated the front mount to be in the same location as the one on the other side. the rear u shackles were now parallel and the jeep was nearly level. there was nothing wrong with the old spring.


Before buying springs it may pay to take a few quick measurements to make sure the front rear spring mounts are both in the same location.

I had to weld an extension to the rear of the mount to re-drill the holes in the mount and not the frame.

Moving the bracket forward to the same position as the passenger side pulled the u shackle into a more vertical position parallel with the other side raising the drivers side an amount equivalent to the difference in shackle position as measured on its swing arc.

Moving the bracket will also throw off tracking just a little, I had to readjust the tie rods to re-center the steering wheel, it was not off much.

 

Re: Suspenion - Leaf Springs

That's very interesting..... I have not measured the shackle variance, and wouldn't have without this comment!! I am having trouble finding aftermarket springs that don't have any lift to them, and I would like to avoid spring replacement if possible.

I'll go measure it up and see how it shakes out!

Thanks,

Matt

 

Re: Suspenion - Leaf Springs

Hit the nail on the head! A softer ride would be nice, but you are asking for loads of body roll.

Honestly, this will see mostly light street use and 1-2 rated trails so stock articulation is adequate, not great but will do, and the ride isn't punishing for short ventures.

BDS, Skyjacker etc. all have an inherent 2"-2.5" lift which I would like to avoid. I am hoping to run a tire in the 30-31" range, and I don't need the extra clearance for off road so this rules out a lot of aftermarket springs. Plus replacements from Kaiser willy's are still cheaper...

 

I noticed right away but don't know how to change it!! Posting on my phone is grammatically painful...

 

That would be very helpful! Do you have a preference between the BDS / Skyjacker? And because the original springs are pretty tired, any new spring will be a little "lift". If I can stick with 31's, that would be ideal.

 

if i had youre problem where all i was fixing is side to side level I would take a leaf out of the high side then check and add it to the low side if it needed it. no big deal some jeeps came like that from the factory

 

Read some of the older posts about "Jeep lean" - it's a common problem. Sometimes the cure (or lack of cure despite all medicine) is very surprising.

If your springs are flat, that's enough reason to change them without worrying about any lean.