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leafs up front

F

Fletch85

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Atlanta, Ga
I really want to put leafs on the front of my 98XJ. I plan on making some sort of front crossmember with spring hangers on it. The rear of the leaf springs will bolt to the stock lower control arm mounts. I am planing on runnin a 2" to 3" lift YJ springs and a spring over kit, and I am either going to get a YJ dana30 or weld some spring perches to my dana30. Not really sure how i am going to do the streering yet. Has anyone done this and do you have any advice/ideas.
 
Fletch85 said:
I really want to put leafs on the front of my 98XJ. I plan on making some sort of front crossmember with spring hangers on it. The rear of the leaf springs will bolt to the stock lower control arm mounts. I am planing on runnin a 2" to 3" lift YJ springs and a spring over kit, and I am either going to get a YJ dana30 or weld some spring perches to my dana30. Not really sure how i am going to do the streering yet. Has anyone done this and do you have any advice/ideas.
Click to expand...

The LCA frame mounts are not parralel to the frame, so you will have some issues with the rear spring hangers.

Cutting up a '98 is ballsy. :thumbup:

CRASH
 
At least go to a front 44 if you are going to the trouble of running leaves. Otherwise run what you brung. --------Kyle
 
way to go! cut up that 98 :D

The D30 doesn't have very good steering options for high-steer or crossover, which is a MUST with leafs. Get a Waggy D44, might as well get the rear Waggy D44 while you're at it.

the LCA mounts can work with some work, but they're still thin and weak. it really isn't much more work to chop them off and make some new brackets out of 1/4" plate.

btw, i speak from experience, I have leafs on the front of my MJ. YJ main leafs with all sorts of leafs mixed in under that. Waggy D44 front (Toyota 8" rear).
 
I drilled holes in my lca mounts behind the stock lca hole, more layers of metal there than at the stock lca mount hole... Drilling my own hole I was able to make them perpendicular to the front so the leaves would be parallel. Used M.O.R.E. YJ spring over leaf spring mounts, that have 3 different holes in them so you can mount the axle in different spots to center it in the wheel well. I used 4" wrangler rear lift springs for the front.Got a few pics of my leaf spring swap here....
It can work good.
 
f9d34f1e.jpg

PS. steering started out as a temp set up that turned permanent. drove to tellico last year and did some mild trails, beat the crap out of it on the trails here, flopped it, bent the body, wore out all the spring and shackle bushings, etc. And for some strange reason I havent broken any u joints since I went to 35-36" tires, stock d-30 with new joints but still the small ones....hmmmm...
 
Leaves are better than coils in the front.........but coils are better than leaves in the rear. The Jeep engineers must have got it all wrong! :laugh: :laugh:

:D :D :D
 
you can also use CJ front leafs that are 4"lift and get 11" of lift total. have not done yet but got the leafs form a off michiganjeepers.com and they look like they will do it.
 
what about using some stock mj rear leafs in the front? Any guesses as to amount of lift this would give ya? I'm considering this very hard as an option.
 
the problem with mj leafs is the length. the yj and cj springs are shorter eye to eye.

now if you cut the mj springs and rewelded them down then you can be in like flint.
 
ok, so with the thinking on cj springs I could use a stock set and have around 7"? that would match my rear beautifully, plus if I go with a little longer shackles I could help out on flex. On the front the shackles are better off in the front and the hanger in the rear correct? Sorry to hi-jack the thread but getting about the same info
 
Well I am getting closer to figuring out how I am going to do this. My setup will be pretty much just like yellowxj's. Not sure what springs I am going to use. yellowxj, you said your spring had a few different places you could mount the axle to, with normal YJ spring that only have one place to mount the axle to will the axle sit in the right place under my XJ. Also i plane on running 2.5in lift springs and the spring over. How much lift will I have up front. I have 6.5" in the back right now. I am thinking the leafs and all up front will put me right at 7.5" and that is what I want so I only have to raise the back another inch. One more thing.
 
I plan on swapping to leafs in the front, too. (I'm an ex-YJ guy, lol)

Doesn't seem too complex. I'll just build shackle hangers into my front bumper, hopefully pushing the wheelbase out an inch or two. It just seems quite a bit simpler to me as I'm replacing axles, too. I have no experience in the multi-link coil system and don't really want to deal with it, frankly. Leaf springs are cheap, simple and very adjustable. I like that.
Dion
 
DSC01423.jpg
 
xj_punk said:
did it. not done with whole project yet though. a few others have done it as well.
it is a big can of worms to open, it requires a lot of work. i went with shackle reversal and moved the axle forward a few inches. i have pics on this site
http://community.webshots.com/user/xj_punk

check it out
Click to expand...

Id call that Shackle in front, less confusing then shackle reversal. Reversed from what?

Im shackle in front also.

I tired the XJ rear leafs on my front added a YJ 4in lift main leaf to get a flat pack. short side to the front. sounds like a good idea, the center pin to front shackle is the same as a YJ leaf but I have a longer rear section of leaf that add flex.

It flexes fantastic, but Id rather go with the not off set style leafs like the wangonee leafs or YJ leafs. Im not gonna rebuild my perches so Ill live with what I got. The shorter leafs would have better control for steering, I really need an added hydrolic ram to get full clock to clock steering without a panhard bar. Also the XJ main leafs are easy to bend, Im adding a seond XJ main leaf with the eyes cut off as my scond leaf, for the next version.

Only do a Leaf front swap if your doing a toy front, d44 or d60 with high steer options. A d30 leaf sprung, converted to SOA on a cherokee is a bad idea, no easy steering solutions, youll have alot of hight for big tires your littel d30 wont be able to handle..

sub frame
download.php


Front hanger
download.php


after leafs have sagged to flat.
download.php
 
jeepxjga: I was talking to Locked UP from jeepforum.com and he said you made his front crossmember for him. Also im am asuming you live in georgia by your name, I live near Atlanta, I want to get a front crossmember just like Locked Up has. I am thinking about building my own but it might be easier to just get one already made if thats possible.
 
heres a pic of the MORE multi position spring mounts....
constructionxjpics019.jpg

I've got 4" yj springs up front now that leave enough room to clear 36" tires with out rubbing. I was thinking about using a set of 2.5" leaves up front to lower it down a hair and run 35's IF it tried to make contact I could fix that with a little bumpstop .
 
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