Note to self...

Have someone give you a hand when switching out leaf springs!! Oh my god, I am soo freakin exhausted/sore. I spent ALL day yesterday doing it myself, in front of my brother-in-law's house. Of course, one thing that made it take so long was the lack of power tools and a shop vehicle lift . And u bolt nuts that are practically impossible to take off make it quite exhausting and frustrating too!

But yeah, I got a set of RE 4.5" leaves cuz my 2 yr old rough country 4.5" leaves were sagging, and the 2" lift blocks I've had under them, one decided to break in half (at Tahuya last weekend I assume).

I reused the u bolts, so they were extra long when the block was removed, which made for even more wrenching on the pesky nuts. Fun stuff.

At first, i left out the shims, cuz my pinion had been previously pointing to the sky under acceleration. But, as my luck yesterday would have it, taking the shims out was too much, so I had to loosen both sides enough to get the leaf pack locating pin up and out of the perch enough to slide the shim back in there. So then finally, I tightened it all down, again, and put the tires back on, one side at a time of course. Drove it home last night at 1030pm, and all seems well.

K, i just wanted to share my leaf spring story, thanks for reading

Adam

Haha, funny you should post this.

I got four bolts into my leaf spring swap last night and decided to wait until next weekend when my buddy comes home. His garage has a lift and air tools. I could have done it, but it would've taken HOURS and I was getting worn out after just fighting with those four bolts. Not to mention that it was like 90 degrees and 100% humidity... I was soaked.

Ubolts are designed to streach when torqued down their for they should not be reused also they only cost around $12 a set so cut them off and go new!

adamusmc2002 said:

At first, i left out the shims, cuz my pinion had been previously pointing to the sky under acceleration. But, as my luck yesterday would have it, taking the shims out was too much, so I had to loosen both sides enough to get the leaf pack locating pin up and out of the perch enough to slide the shim back in there. So then finally, I tightened it all down, again, and put the tires back on, one side at a time of course. Drove it home last night at 1030pm, and all seems well.
Adam

Click to expand...

What degree shim did you use?

alteredxj said:

Ubolts are designed to streach when torqued down their for they should not be reused also they only cost around $12 a set so cut them off and go new!

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$12 a set? don't you mean $12 a piece X4

My local driveline shop custom bends u-bolts to your specs, and only charges $6.00 each w/new nuts and washers last time I was in there. So it would be $24 for a set. And those are good u-bolts, not the cheap crappy ones you can buy in Auto Zone. I've bought those before, and realized how crappy they were when I could spread them apart by hand :scared:.

My local shop charges almost $10 each but yeah, its worth it. The next time I take mine apart I am getting new ones. I figured I'd get everything fit and no more vibes then buy the propper length bolts, to my spec.

RCP Phx said:

What degree shim did you use?

Click to expand...

Not totally sure. Just had to replace them a couple months ago cuz the ones I had were from a cheap lift, and had broke. The thick side was about 3/8" thick, and the whole shim is about 5" long. But yeah, glad I put them in, my angle worked out perfect, and not getting any vibes... and I'm still running a slip yoke setup. The whole rearend feels a lot more solid, I think the lift blocks were a disaster waiting to happen. Glad I only had one halfway blow up on me before I got them outta there. I don't get near as much jolting out of my detroit now, when I let off the gas on the highway, then push it again.

alteredxj said:

Ubolts are designed to streach when torqued down their for they should not be reused also they only cost around $12 a set so cut them off and go new!

Click to expand...

Yeah, I learned that the hard way Boy those things seize up real tight. Cranked on them a couple times and then twisted like, 1/4 of a turn.

Anyway, thanks for the advice... If I EVER have to do leaves again, I'll take your advice. But until then, I'm really glad it's over, I'm still hurting, and it's 4 days later

Old U-bolt removal, the best method.......

Jeff

I put those same RE springs in 2 weeks ago. Took about 6 1/2 hrs by myself with no air tools and having to cut away some of the frame to remove front leaf bolt. But in the process cracked my head open with a 1/2" dr ratchet. Next time I'm definelty going to use air tools.

I did mine with OME, got lucky getting everything off, but really needed help lining things up while putting it back together. Eventually got it done, but would have been alot quicker with help!

At least you got to finish yours. I got my leafs in and they are so stiff that they wouldn't flatten out and the shakle was in line with the spring so I had to take them back out. That was with weight too. I am taking 2 leafs out and hoping they will sag/settle and after they break in I will add the 2 Leafs back in.

FYI, the shims are supposed to attach directly to the leaf spring via the center pin. They are not meant to merely "slip" in between the pack and perch.

91 Jeep Project said:

FYI, the shims are supposed to attach directly to the leaf spring via the center pin. They are not meant to merely "slip" in between the pack and perch.

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Some do,some dont(usually the aluminum ones,bad idea).That was why I asked,he also didnt mention extending the center pins to account for the shim!

RCP Phx said:

Some do,some dont(usually the aluminum ones,bad idea).That was why I asked,he also didnt mention extending the center pins to account for the shim!

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Center pins didn't need to be extended, they were plenty long enough to go through the shim and perch. (actually, when I tried it without the shims, the pins were too long, and made the whole pack stand up off of the axle just slightly.)

Sorry, my wording made it sound like I just "slid" them in there without anything holding them; They had a hole in them, that's why I had to lift the leaves high enough to get the pin completely out of the perch enough to get the thin part of the shim under it, enough that the hole would line up, and they would serve their purpose of angling the axle upward a few degrees. 2 or 3 degrees probably?

Adam