leaf springs

My brother has a '99 with some shot leaf springs. We tried looking for some replacements, but all we could find were for '96 and older. Why is that? Aren't they all similar? Other than that, he has talked to local spring shops, to get them rearched it's around $300 along with an add a leaf, including labor. Also, is there a difference between an add a leaf and an overload leaf. My understanding is the overload leaf is the shortest one in the pack. Right or wrong?
Another option I thought of was to take a leaf out of my stock pack and add it to his. I've put a lift on mine and have no use for the stock pack. Is this a feasible option?

If we can't use a leaf from my stock pack, does anyone know a good place to find a set of leaf springs, or should he get them reacrched with an add a leaf? Oh, by the way, he tows a small fishing boat, around 2000 lbs.

Thanks

cherokee springs EXCEPT for possible spring rate, haven't changed since their inception in 1984. Just get a good, preferable low milage pair and have at it.

Try Brothers Auto Salvage in Indianapolis. It looks like they have some for $50.00 ea. If they don't they can turn you on to someone locally.

Just give him your old stock packs complete. You don't need them and he does. Done deal.

Here's a band-aid fix: Autozone has generic long AALs for $30 (includes both sides). I put these in my '95 XJ to keep it up until I put an RE lift in next year. (No sense buying new packs for a year.) They're a piece of cake to put in and have worked great for me.

thanks guys

Don't mean to hijack thread, but I have a related question.

In the Quadratec catalog(also in 4WD hardware's) there are leaf springs and HD leaf springs listed. Does anybody know how much heavier duty these springs are?
The stock springs on my 99 were sagging a little bit before I installed my teraflex 1.5" lift shackles. Now they seen worse(rear lift only seems to be 3/4-1 inch), and they have a slight negative arch Starting about at the rearmost 1/4 of the length of the spring.
Would the heavy duty replacements help fight the added leverage of the longer shackles under hard abuse? I probally won't buy them because I plan to add skyjacker's 2.5" lift rear soft-ride springs in a year or so anyway.Unless they break, but I'll probally just get junkyard ones to hold me over if they do. I just wanted to know mostly out of my own curiosity.

if i had saggy springs (which i do, but just the coils) i would make it a justifiable reason to spend the money and get it lifted.

and a stiff suspension for cheap is the tuff country lift from schwab tires, 1100 installed. its got the lca and a track bar relocation bracket. and i think its got AAL's and a shackle in the rear (i think)

all in all, the tuff country is about 3 inches of lift, and with fender flares, 33's will fit nicely and not rub, but 33's will fit in a stock fender too, but tends to touch when you get all flexy with it.

I wouldn't spend $1100 for a 3" lift.

I'd take a leaf from your old pack and put it in his, probably the main leaf with the eyes cut off. Or put his old main leaf in your old pack with the eyes cut off it. Or just repalce the whole packs with your old ones. Though adding an extra leaf would probably fight further sagging with him towing alot.

A specific overload leaf is short, but it isn't configured the same as the other leaves, so you can't just put in another short leaf and have it do the job. If you have saggy springs, the cheapest way to gain some life seems to be to add a leaf from another Jeep set. Different people on the forum have had luck with different versions of this. One way to do it is to take a top leaf and cut the eyes off, and add this below the top leaf of your present pack. Eagle has done this I think, and reports good results. Another is to take the second from the top, and cut that so that it is midway in length between the present second and third leaves. If you look at the stock leaf pack, you'll see that the gap between leaf # 2 and #3 is pretty large, and a new leaf fits nicely in there. That's what I did, and it restored my height nicely, without affecting ride. A single leaf is more effective than you might think.

Use an abrasive cutoff wheel for the job, so that you don't destroy the temper of the springs. The advantage of either of these additions is that the present u-bolts are long enough for a single leaf addition, and you don't need to undo the bolts and shackles on the top leaf. All you'll need is a new center bolt and new clips.

Don't forget that this change will severely affect your headlight aim.