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Question about rear leafs

S

samger2

NAXJA Forum User
Location
Blacklick, Ohio
2000 XJ, 3 inch lift with new leaf springs in the rear. I've been hearing some awful racket when turning left...so I looked underneath and noticed that the very bottom, short leaf was touching my rear tailpipe...k, no biggie. But what really concerns me is how the bottom flat spring doesn't "follow" the direction of the other springs. In other words, the bottom spring goes inward slightly whereas the other springs are in line. Here are some pics to help explain. Is this normal? The springs had holes in them for the pin on the axle to go through...I lined those up, so that shouldn't be the issue. Any thoughts?

Spring1.jpg


Spring1.jpg


Spring3.jpg
 
2 questions then....

I don't understand how the leaves are going to pound straight...they haven't shifted, they're still sitting on the guide pins...the springs have looked like this since the day I installed them, so I don't see how pounding them is going to make a difference, like I said, they're sitting on the guide pins and the base of the bottom spring is perfectly lined up with the other springs AT THE SPRING PERCH...am I missing something? Maybe I'll take some better pictures later this morning.

second...won't I need to replace my u-bolts after loosening them up and retightening?
 
Those pics are all from behind the axle. How's it look in front of the axle?
My guess is it is as far off in front to the other side as it is in the back.
Pound it back into alignment, and then clamp that sucker to avoid it spinning in the future.
I would just reuse the u-bolts, they look pretty new.
 
The 5th and 8th pictures are from the front, so as you can see it looks like that on both the front and the rear. Yes, it's a fairly new lift that I installed less than a year ago...probably 7 months or so.
 
If the wedges are the aluminum ones they will smash as you drive or go off road. I had this problem on an off road only XJ. I just got ride of the wedges. Maybe you can find some steel wedges to adjust your pinion angle. Good luck.:patriot:
 
Mine were looking similar to that and last weekend I took it apart and the center pin was bent real bad and other one was broken, I just got my new pins in the mail and some ruff stuff 5/8 u bolts. Those things are beef!
I was running a 6* shim and that I believe was the cause of the bent/broke center pin. I cut off the stock perches and welded new ones rotated 6* and will be putting it all back togather tomorrow.
 
Oh FWIW you can make your own (stronger) center pins. I go to tractor supply and get some grade 8, 3/8"-24x2.5" bolts. Then carefully grind the he into a circle and boom. Better stronger and cheaper center pins. Get a grade 8 nut to boot.

New ones on the left, stock in the middle, and cheapass chiwanese autozone ones on the right.
photo-32.jpg
 
Last edited:
Maybe it's just the way they look in the pics, but to me the U-bolts don't look like you got them squared up. If this is the case and they aren't parallel to each other and perpendicular to (at a right angle to) the axle then they aren't tight. That would allow the springs to shift as they cycle. Loosen them up a little and rap them in place with your favorite hammer, do the same for the springs, tighten the U-bolts and check them again after you work the suspension a bit.

I've had a 3" lift on my 2000 Limited with new springs for a couple of years now but I didn't use any wedges. Don't think I ever will use them as I've heard too many horror stories about them shooting out, though I've never witnessed it. No driveline vibrations (which is amazing all by itself), but I did drop the t-case an inch.

And I second what Lurch says, loose the rear sway bar, you won't miss it.
 
Maybe your rear shocks are blown.. causing your rear to bounce which would cause your springs to fan out over time, take em out put new center pins in them or get new leafs.
 
I loosened all the u bolts yesterday...you are correct ogrebonz they weren't square. I squared them up, smacked my bottom leaf into place, tightened them all down and torqued them to 85ftlbs each in a criss cross pattern.
 
that leaf isnt clamped, so it may tend to fan if your ubolts arent completely tight. double check the ubolts after you drive a while. that is normal for an unclamped leaf with ubolts not absolutly tight.
 
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