Rear Leaf Question

Yesterday I went to the junkyard(Theres a real good one up with road with anout 40 xj's) to get a set of leafs to replace my current sagging ones. Heres my question, I pulled them off of a 91, except these were thicker than all the rest...did they make any with thicker leafs...or were these most likely aftermarket add-a-leafs? The bottom leaf was smaller(It wasnt long enough to be clamped by the two spring clamps) but was connected by a nut and bolt.

Im just curious...anyone know?

Thanx!

I know my upcountry leafs in the 98XJ were beefier then the stock leafs, but the UC option wasn't available till 97 or so. On the other hand I do remember reading about a tow package option and I think they had a "heavier" suspension, so that might be it... or you just scored some aftermarket leafs

91xjtim said:

Yesterday I went to the junkyard(Theres a real good one up with road with anout 40 xj's) to get a set of leafs to replace my current sagging ones. Heres my question, I pulled them off of a 91, except these were thicker than all the rest...did they make any with thicker leafs...or were these most likely aftermarket add-a-leafs? The bottom leaf was smaller(It wasnt long enough to be clamped by the two spring clamps) but was connected by a nut and bolt.

Im just curious...anyone know?

Thanx!

Click to expand...

My '88 was ordered with factory heavy duty springs. I've never looked to see if the leaves are thicker than standard leaves. If they are, it isn't anything that really leaps out at me.

I do NOT have a short overload leaf that's not retained by the rebound clips. Never saw that on a Cherokee, only on a Comanche.

Thanx guys...I had been rear ended and needed a new bumper/hitch...I figured I would go ahead and replace the leafs and tailpipe/muffler assembly while I was up underthere. Do any of you guys have a factory hitch?

Id found one yesterday...a real honker...looked like a class IV hitch...with 8 bolts, four on each side of the frame. However, in the center right behind the reciever was a piece of flat steel that protruded verticle in behind and between and above the hitch and the back of the gas tank. It was held on by three torx 50 bolts. The thing is the bolts faced in with about 3/4" room to work with and the nuts were welded to another sheet of flat steel...sorta looked like a bracing bracket. I never could get them torx bolts out...as there was no way to get a ratchet on the back of my bit(I did try using a small wrench to slip over the bit itself and try to turn that wrnch but the bit just slipped in the bolt and I knew I was gonna round it off.

ANYWAY...didnt mean to be so longwinded...my queation is...does this sounds like a factory or aftermarket hitch. No namebrand was on it.

Another thing that sorta made me laugh is when I pulled the leafs I sorta let the rear end just fall...and since the front end had already been pulled out when I pulled my jacks out the whole thing just sorta layed on its belly. The next morning when I came back, Id left about 5pm, they had pulled that jeep out to get that rear and and had sold it already. Guess they just didnt wanna have to pull it and I did it for them. Slackers

Thanx!!

91xjtim said:

I found one yesterday...a real honker...looked like a class IV hitch...with 8 bolts, four on each side of the frame. However, in the center right behind the reciever was a piece of flat steel that protruded verticle in behind and between and above the hitch and the back of the gas tank. It was held on by three torx 50 bolts. The thing is the bolts faced in with about 3/4" room to work with and the nuts were welded to another sheet of flat steel...sorta looked like a bracing bracket. I never could get them torx bolts out...as there was no way to get a ratchet on the back of my bit(I did try using a small wrench to slip over the bit itself and try to turn that wrnch but the bit just slipped in the bolt and I knew I was gonna round it off.

ANYWAY...didnt mean to be so longwinded...my queation is...does this sounds like a factory or aftermarket hitch. No namebrand was on it.

Click to expand...

That's a factory Class III hitch. I've gotten those torx bolts out by using a pipe wrench on them. They're not in great condition to reuse afterwards, but there's just enough room to get a pipe wrench in there and get a grip on the suckers.

If you get the hitch, don't forget the nut plates. Those 4 bolts on each of the hitch mounting arms go into nuts welded to a steel strap that's inserted into the ends of the frame rails. With the bumper removed, the nut strips come right out the pen end of the rails.