Cheap homebrew leaf pack

Cheap homebrew leaf pack tech writeup and pics

A long time ago I posted about using a Dodge Van leaf spring main leaf. I thought I might revisit that mod.

Initally I used S10 leaves below the stock main spring, which netted a lot of lift, but had the shackle pointing straight down or slightly forward. It looked good, but rode like crap with really poor articulation.

So, I looked through EVERY leaf spring in the Hollander database until I found this.....

Dodge Van Main leaf springs are the SAME DISTANCE from the front eye to the center pin.

Any dodge van rear leaf spring from 79-97 will work in an XJ

The distance from the center pin to front eye bushing is 23 inches, which is exactly the same as the stock cherokee. The rear half ot the dodge spring is between 30.5 and 31 inches pin to eye. (some 1 tons are 30.5 and 30.75)

the cherokee is 28 5/8 pin to eye in the rear.

the older vans use a round eye in the front, and the newer models use an oval bushing, I used oval ones and I think it may help the spring flex, but this is just my opinion.

I used mid 90s full size chevy pickup rear shackles for boomerang shackles, and notched out the bottom flange of the rear body for clearance.

I tried several combinations of S10 and stock leaves to get the right height (I can't remember the exact combo), but I think I put in the Van overloads

It ended up with a soft riding pack, slightly arched, and not much thicker than stock. I could have gone taller, but this was a DD and we only wanted to use 31s, plus then I would have to buy different front Coils. Actually it would sit taller, but the one piece skidplate/receiver pulled it down a bit.











and finally here is some of the 91(wifes) next to the 97(mine lol) for comparison. both are on Firestone Destination MT's 31/10.50s, and the 97 is a stock "Up Country" so it sits 1.5in taller than a standard stocker.

nice, i may have to try and get a longer main for mine to kick the shackle back a little. do you have a pic of your shackle angle? thanks

Ill take one tonight,

here's the pics of the shackle angle and spring, Now I remember what I put in there...

dodge van main
stock xj
s10
stock xj

used stock u bolts and plates

Just from looking at your picture your right rear wheel is off the ground. shock holdin it up?maybe rear sway? I can drive halfway up the A pillar on a accord with one front tire and still keep both my rear tires planted

if i remember right, it was the way I was sitting on the ridge, i was bottomed on the crossmember and more weight was on the front end so it was kinda teeter tottering, and forgot to unhook the front sway bar in those pics (until it broke one of the end links

and I think the shock was too short as well

joel

right on! nice work

Very nice!! I'm curious....did you do this to get more weight capacity?? Or just to help out with the sagging stock springs??

My XJ is sagging pretty badly in the rear, but I also overloaded it one day (put the rails damn near on the axle). I would like to help my sagging/almost broken stock leafs...trying to get increased weight capacity without too much extra lift. This combo looks like it might help do the trick!!

Can you get an exact lift measurement of the rear? from the center of the rear axel to the bottom of the fender flare?

In the last pic, it looks like your axle is shifted to the drivers side quite a bit. It might just be camera angle, but it looks funny.

what coils are you running up front? looks like a perfect amount of lift for a DD.

I would like to see the pics you put on here is there anyway to get them back up. I am thinking about doing this with my jeep seems how the stock leafs with add a leaf are sagging real bad and lift shackle angle is real bad.

i cant see the pics. can some one email them to me?

userbmx1315 said:

i cant see the pics. can some one email them to me?

Click to expand...

i have a build thread on here. search for it in modified. Its a work in progress tho

i've looked up that one two i think, the one that was on here the other day? if so i didnt see those pics either,

Anyone have pics of this, or the Dodge van springs?

Racer~X said:

Anyone have pics of this, or the Dodge van springs?

Click to expand...

Resurrecting this thread after completing my spring pack build. My goal was to replace the xj pack with something a bit more robust and still give me the 3.5" of lift in the back for the 33s I have on.

I snagged 3/4 ton dodge van springs from a pull a part. I used the dodge main, the next dodge leaf, a RE AAL, skipped the next dodge leaf then used the remaining leafs from the dodge pack. So five leafs in all. My xj has a lot of shit in the back of it so the spring rate is pretty nice. Using a 1/2 ton chevy shackle that has a slight bend in it the dodge main leaf is about the perfect length. Just need to trim the back shackle box a tad. A

t the flex I like the spring pack compresses to an almost flat line.

Droop



Full Compression



Contact at the back of the shackle box at full compression

Im running a five leaf pack i picked out of and eight leaf 1ton dodge van. It flexed and road great when i put them in. However they have flattened out as i do more wheeling with all my camping gear in the back. Ive had to install longer and longer shackles to maintain. Just an fyi. Im moving on to something else.