Adding a leaf - results

My 95 developed quite a sag in the rear, so I decided to add a leaf. I had the springs from another pretty well-worn 89. Rather than cut the main leaves, I decided to cut the second leaf down, and insert it between the second and third. The sedcond leaf is almost as long as the main, but the length difference between springs 2 and 3 is quite large, with plenty of room for an intermediate leaf.

Anyway, I did it, and it seems to have worked very well. Restored about an inch and a half of height without perceptible change in ride. Parked on my usual uneven driveway I couldn't do a careful measurement, but it certainly changed my headlight aim.

For any other ridiculously frugal mechanic who saves everything and works on holidays, I should also mention that the allen-head universal-joint bolts from VW's (Rabbit, Jetta, or even old microbus) are EXACTLY the right size to replace the center bolts with an exra leaf - right thread, right length, right head, and hardened too!

Matthew:

I did a similar thing to my 98 just a few weeks ago - I had a local shop add a leaf because of sag and bottoming out on bumps with even small loads. My ride height is up about the same as yours but I've been having driveline vibes since I drove off the shop's parking lot - under hard acceleration and whenever I hit exactly 110kms on the highway. The stealer replaced my ring and pinion under warranty - still got vibes. I just changed out both ujoints on the rear shaft - still got vibes. I beginiing to think that I may have to drop my TC just slightly as I can see no other reason for the vibes other than a slight change in driveline angles!

Judging by your post, this did not happen to you?

Sean

seand said:

Matthew:

I did a similar thing to my 98 just a few weeks ago - I had a local shop add a leaf because of sag and bottoming out on bumps with even small loads. My ride height is up about the same as yours but I've been having driveline vibes since I drove off the shop's parking lot - under hard acceleration and whenever I hit exactly 110kms on the highway. The stealer replaced my ring and pinion under warranty - still got vibes. I just changed out both ujoints on the rear shaft - still got vibes. I beginiing to think that I may have to drop my TC just slightly as I can see no other reason for the vibes other than a slight change in driveline angles!

Judging by your post, this did not happen to you?

Sean

Click to expand...

No vibes here, at least no new ones. My rear end has always howled, and there's always been a kind of metallic rattle from the tranny area when I lug it in 5th gear, but that's something else, and actually I think it might be a tiny bit better. Anyway, this rig has almost 220 thousand miles on it, so I make a little allowance. I wouldn't expect any issues from restoring the height to what it started out as, but I think 97-up models have more issues with the vibration from the slip yoke. Depending on how the leaf was added to yours, I think I'd do a very careful investigation to make sure the springs are correctly pinned and centered, etc., so as not to affect the alignment, but otherwise I'd look carefully at the slip yoke on the transfer case, and if that doesn't look bad, go ahead and try dropping the angle a bit.

The shop simply cut a new leaf, sandwiched it in between the existing ones. It looks fine to me. The vibrations I am feeling are heard more than felt and seem to be coming from further back than the slip yoke. Dropping the TC seems to be the best/easiest experiment for me right now - famous last words, right??

Sean

I just finished this on my '99 XJ Sport (4.0/231/AW4-105K miles). My existing spring pack were so fatigued that they had no arch to them, they looked like a 'W' from the side. I was at 15 1/2" (from center of rear axle to bottom of the fender flair), stock is somewhere around 17 - 17 1/2".

A friend of mine had replaced his stock springs ('99 w/ 8K) with a OME setup, so he gave them to me. Another friend spring packs for a '96 (with 60K) lying around so I ended up combining the two leaf packs together (with exception of the '96 main leaf) and ended up with a 7 leaf spring pack.

Assembled this together, and greased the leaves to help with stiction. Used new rebound clips, longer center pins (of course) and 8" long, 1/2" diameter, 3" ID U-Bolts (8.25" axle) from NAPA.

Rear height is now 20" even. The ride is great. Slightly firmer than stock, but in no way harsh. No vibes either. I am adding 2" poly spacers (with the almost new stock front coils from my buddys '99) to the front this weekend, since it sits very, very tail high. This should raise the front to around 19".

I did make my own bar-pin eliminators for the rear shocks, and made them so they repositioned the upper shock eyelet 2" lower, so I would not damage the shocks by over-extending them . I have stock length Sensa-Tracks on it (almost new freebies) so I did not want to replace them just yet with longer shocks. I am putting on a longer rear brake hose from a '94 Wrangler (3" longer - $19 from NAPA).