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Pics and comments on imboarding leafs

Prerunner

Prerunner

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Bay City, MI
Ok so i was going to flip my rear leafs springs around to stretch my wheelbase. My bushings are still like new and i doubt they will come out easy so since i am doing an axle swap anyways i was thinking of moving the springs under the unirails and attaching the shackle to the bumper. I know this will help the flex and thats why i am thinking of doing it. The front currently does all the work. From the little i can find its 50/50 on weather or not it was worth doing. I was running 36's with about 7" of lift with a 100" wheelbase sitting 79" wide. Plan is to be at 108" same width on 37's maybe 38's
 
my limited knowledge... I would think there are easier ways to get some flex, stertch and lift if thats what your after.
For flex, I would think a proper shackle angle will certainly help. I flexed my rig out last week to measure for shocks, and the rear flexed very well with a 3.5" pack and a 1.5" boomerang shackle.
if you want lift, build a bastard pack, which you could also than customize to get better flex.
depending how much you want to stretch, you can flip the leaves, but you'd want a traction bar to combat the spring wrap. or you could grab a new set of leaf mounts (RuffStuff sells a nice set) which will allow you to move the leaf pack back about an 1" as I recall. The new mounts are also 8" long to aid against spring wrap, and add a touch of lift I think.

Others will chime in, but personally I wouldn't go through all the time and effort to inboard the leafs, building new mounts and all just to stretch your wheel base.
 
Last edited:
beakie said:
...
Others will chime in, but personally I wouldn't go through all the time and effort to inboard the leafs, building new mounts and all just to stretch your wheel base.
Click to expand...

Beakie, extending the wheelbase is a whole different beast. I wouldn't mind extending my wheelbase and may do it one of these days.

Prerunner - this is really an advanced fab topic.
Check out the Advanced Forum
http://www.naxja.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=123

Also, I would NOT mount the shackles to the bumper.

E
 
beakie said:
my limited knowledge... I would think there are easier ways to get some flex, stertch and lift if thats what your after.
For flex, I would think a proper shackle angle will certainly help. I flexed my rig out last week to measure for shocks, and the rear flexed very well with a 3.5" pack and a 1.5" boomerang shackle.
if you want lift, build a bastard pack, which you could also than customize to get better flex.
depending how much you want to stretch, you can flip the leaves, but you'd want a traction bar to combat the spring wrap. or you could grab a new set of leaf mounts (RuffStuff sells a nice set) which will allow you to move the leaf pack back about an 1" as I recall. The new mounts are also 8" long to aid against spring wrap, and add a touch of lift I think.

Others will chime in, but personally I wouldn't go through all the time and effort to inboard the leafs, building new mounts and all just to stretch your wheel base.
Click to expand...

I think you missed i don't need any more lift, and don't need to change anything at all but i have some down time and looking at some ways to improve my xj's already respectable performance.

Here are some pics from this spring
2008springfling4wheeling037.jpg

2008springfling4wheeling039.jpg


Elias said:
Prerunner - this is really an advanced fab topic.
Check out the Advanced Forum
http://www.naxja.org/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=123

Also, I would NOT mount the shackles to the bumper.

E
Click to expand...

Well not just to the bumper but the reciever, it has to be the best attached piece on the jeep. Also tying the reciever into the bumper for added strength.

Maybe a mod could me this.
 
You don't want to reverse your leaf springs nor do you want to mount them inboard. Both have been done unsuccessfully.

The front half of a leaf spring acts as a control arm to locate the axle, and it also works as a traction bar to control axle wrap. This is mostly why the front half of a leaf spring is thicker than the back half.......the leaves below the main leaf run further forward with shorter gaps in the ends of each leaf. When you reverse the leaf spring, now the weaker back half is in front and the springs won't last very long because they will fatigue and bend.

Moving the springs inboard under the frame reduces the stability. The challenge in any rig is to get adequte flex while maintaining good stability. Inboarding the springs has proven to decrease stability too much, so performance is decreased rather than increased. Most of us have learned that we'll choose stability over flex any day, as good stability is important to both trail and road performance, and excess flex is useless. It's not that difficult to get good enough flex out of the XJ leaves, which is another subject.
 
builder said:
Move the front mouting point forward and use longer leafs. you dont want to inboard your leaf springs.
Click to expand...


Yes, I used an MJ main leaf, which is 5" longer than the XJ leaf, then a junkyard 1/2 ton Chevy pack under that (minus the main leaf). I moved the front mount forward 3" and used a boomerang shackle in the rear for the other 2".

A longer and yet stiffer pack is the best way to get decent flex and yet maintain load carry capacity and good stability and handling. Keeping friction between the leaves at a minimum is the key to having a strong spring pack and yet have a good ride and good flex. You must have the friction pads at the ends of the leaves, and you can add full length plastic liners or a short section of plastic liner in the middle of the pack, between each leaf under the spring plates. This keeps the leaves away from each other and reduces friction.
 
About how much lift are you guys getting with the chevy springs? I'm trying to stay in the 7" range. I am putting a isuzu d44 in and it is pretty narrow between the brakes. I'm not even sure it would work with stock spring placement, but i didn't check either.

Everything is just tacked in place right now, so knocking it out and starting over isn't a problem. Here are a couple pics to give you an idea what i'm working with. I might just be trying to get a little too much flex, the rig did very very well before and is was very stable. It was also 80" wide too.

Maybe i should just link the rear, i have stock front coils lying around.

IMG_1035.jpg

IMG_1030.jpg

IMG_1031.jpg

IMG_1027.jpg
 
whoa.

well I think you'll get some comments on those shackles, the fab of them and the angle they sit at. you'll want them angled back more which will help flex quite a bit.

looks like your going to be doing some trimming in the future too, and lots of it.

other than that, it looks ok, nice mounting at the front. I take it the rear is much the same, the frame rails sandwiched between plates?
 
Goatman said:
Most of us have learned that we'll choose stability over flex any day, as good stability is important to both trail and road performance, and excess flex is useless.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I'm running RE 5.5" HD springs with their boomerang shackle and hate it. Great flex but zero stability. The slightest acceleration and the whole jeep shifts to the right. Not to mention I can't get the front to flex as much as I want because of this.
 
yup the shackles are some booty fab mock up ones i had lying around. I also wasn't happy with the angle on them either. The leafs are skyjacker 6" very well broken in.

I'm going to start on the front axle tonight untill i get some more opinions. thanks all
 
well i took another look and with the isuzu d44 i wouldn't be able to run stock width springs anyways..... decisions. For now i fill just get the front axle put in and then let the jeep rest on all 4 tires and see what i should do from there.
 
So i've still been thinking about this and do you guys really think it would be any worse then say a triangulated 4 link, 3 or 4 link with pan-hard bar? Or a ZJ?
 
Those tires are Grand Prix RVT's. Where did you get those? I put those on my brand new 1980 F-250,,, well back in 1980

Prerunner said:
About how much lift are you guys getting with the chevy springs? I'm trying to stay in the 7" range. I am putting a isuzu d44 in and it is pretty narrow between the brakes. I'm not even sure it would work with stock spring placement, but i didn't check either.

Everything is just tacked in place right now, so knocking it out and starting over isn't a problem. Here are a couple pics to give you an idea what i'm working with. I might just be trying to get a little too much flex, the rig did very very well before and is was very stable. It was also 80" wide too.

Maybe i should just link the rear, i have stock front coils lying around.

IMG_1035.jpg

IMG_1030.jpg

IMG_1031.jpg

IMG_1027.jpg
Click to expand...
 
What's with the shackle angle? I don't see anything supporting the axle so I am going to assume it as at full droop....therefore the shackles won't be at the correct ride angle.

I'm talking about the pic where it shows a side corner view of the rear...not the pic with the jack under the axle and the tire sitting beside the rotor.
 
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