reinforcing rear leaf spring perches

[mark91xjbeef]

mine perches have seen better days. they are not cracked or coming off but have a little warpage to them. i was thinking of adding some flat steel plate to box them in but wanted to see what you guys say first. any pics would be nice.:cool:

[mark91xjbeef]

i know some of you guys have done this. i just need to see some pics of other peoples ideas.

[Matt]

I rounded off my OEM's and then just built my own...

http://home.off-road.com/~wanderingwillys/xjpics/rear1.jpg

http://home.off-road.com/~wanderingwillys/xjpics/perch2.JPG

Now get crackin! ;)

Matt

[mark91xjbeef]

what about the actual frame mounts for the leaf spring eyes. i like the idea of no u bolts on the axle mount.

[Matt]

You can plate them easily enough - if you have plans for a cage (and you should) tie the cage into the suspension mounts and life will be much better- aka I can open and shut my rear hatch while posting a 960 on a 30 degree ramp ;)

Mine are a little different as I moved the springs under the frame - but there is no reason you cannot reinforce the OEM mounts (my shackle mounts were in dime sized pieces on the floor!)

http://home.off-road.com/~wanderingwillys/xjpics/Crossmember/anti_wrap_bar1.JPG

You can see they are made from 1 piece of 4" angle iron and then a plate forms the side you cannot see (it ties into the old welded nut in the frame rail with a very short bolt :D )

Matt

[mark91xjbeef]

good stuff matt thanks a lot for the pics.

[mark91xjbeef]

i have plans for making a cage this summer since i am not going to school. i will be posting questions on that soon enough.

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

How about this?:
http://photomail.photoworks.com/sharing/album.asp?Key=1~FQQ4aBru.cLaih/ApqxL25fHaNJE.9/0rrBEQr6mHFcynwuM8f3Ksy0pKKwfO8xA

Jeff

[FernXJ]

Jeff 98XJ WI, how did you go about setting rails for the height change. Did you just cut and reweld? TIA, Rensing

[Jeff 98XJ WI]

I'm not quite sure what you mean here? My old xj had a problem with the front of the spring mount getting pushed up into the floor, so I wanted to do something about this on the new rig. The frame rails on the old rig also got beat up pretty bad, so I wanted to do something about that too. Finally, I have been through many different rear springs with various amounts of success. They always wanted to sag. So the pics are of what I did to combat these problems. I took a piece of 4x6x1/4 box steel and ripped it in half lengthwise to form two 3x4 U channels that I massaged to fit over the stock frame. Then I picked up a cheap set of Dodge 1500 leaf springs which are about 7" longer than stock xj leaves and use thicker leaves. I trial mounted them using the stock rear spring hanger, extended shackles, the springs installed backwards, and the center pin relocated "forward" 1 inch. I then shifted the front mount back and forth till the wheel ended up where I wanted it in the wheel well (slightly offset to the rear) and the shackle was angled back a bit. I then marked the location of the spring bolt in relation to the frame in a forward/backward plane. I drilled holes in the stock frame and the U-channel as low as possible to position the spring as low as possible for increased height and clearance with the floor. I opened up the holes in the frame using a hole saw and welded in some sleeves. Then the frame reinforcement slides over the stock frame and sleeve and a bolt can now slide all the way through the frame and be tightened down on the sleeve and frame reinforcement. Finally, I took another piece of the U-channel and welded it to the side of the frame reinforcement facing down to be used for the front spring mount double shear. I had to add a small spacer on the inside and outside of the spring to fit the 3.5" space, but it works quite well. I also ended up adding a 2" block to the springs to give enough lift to match the front RE ZJ 4.5" springs with 2" coil raise built into the axle spring mount. I did have trouble coming up with a 9/16 bolt long enough to go through the spring and frame. I ended up using a U-bolt from a spring shop that was NOT bent into a U. It was long enough and had threads on both ends. Seems to work just fine. :) The frame reinforcement is held on with three through the frame 5/8" bolts with sleeves installed in the frame. The sleeves are welded on one side and sandwich the frame sheet metal on the other. I had four bolts holding them on, but the rear bolt was interfering with the spring clamps, so I pulled it out. There are also three 7/16 grade 8 bolts threaded into the weld nuts in the frame that hold the stock crossmember. I drilled and tapped the weld nuts for the larger bolts. I hope this small book answers your question. :) Jeff