Rear Spring Relocation

What will it take for me to relocate my springs underneath the rails... I am in need of a exhaust and about the relocate my pearches anyway due to the lift... what extra stuff do I need to do to relocate the spring hangers underneath the frame rails... wont this give me a bit more flex?


Is this mod even worth it?

This was talked about a lot earlier this year here.
I am thinking about it also.

This has been tried before, with little success. The additional flex comes at the price of considerably less stability, plus ground clearance is lost with the spring hanger below the frame rather than on the side of the frame.

It's just not a very desireable modification. You can get plenty of flex out of the leaf spings with a little fine tuning and a minimal loss of stability.

Everyone keeps saying that you will lose stability from this mod, but doesn't the MJ have it's springs under the framerails? No one goes around saying that mj's are unstable during off camber situations, and the only person that had actually had done the mod in that thread claimed there was no loss in stability.

The MJ does have them under the frame but is only 1" (approx) inboard from the XJ spring center to spring center. So not much lose of stability.

Sounds like a lot of work.

mark
orgs mfg

CW. said:

Everyone keeps saying that you will lose stability from this mod, but doesn't the MJ have it's springs under the framerails? No one goes around saying that mj's are unstable during off camber situations, and the only person that had actually had done the mod in that thread claimed there was no loss in stability.

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MJ leaves are much stiffer than XJ leaves, with much more arc. Hey, if you want to do it, go for it. Your quote above kind of says it, though "everybody keeps saying". It's commom sense, if you move the springs closer together, there is less resistance to sideways motion, and you will get more sway......and you will also get more flex, if you need it.

Sometimes there's a reason that everybody says something.

Personally, I don't see that anything is gained by this modification, and ground clearance is lost. There are better ways to get lift, and better ways to get enough flex. Also, ground clearance stops you in the rocks way more than a lack of flex, so to me ground clearance always takes priority.

I've seen it done first hand. The guy told me it didn't sway on him or anything on the road. He actually used stock leaves, moved them underneathe the frame rail, and got about 7" of lift. Said it rides way better than any lift springs he's seen.
BTW, he also put YJ leaves on the front.
Personally, I wouldnt mess with it, but if your fabbing skills rank up there, give it a go.

I didn't know they were only 1' offset, and I know about the greater arch, I am running mj leaves under my main leaf for about 6" with the mj shackle. This would allow you to have flatter springs, a softer ride and a 3/4 elip setup. Maybe using stock mj or chevy packs under the rails could be an option.

CStamm said:

I've seen it done first hand. The guy told me it didn't sway on him or anything on the road. He actually used stock leaves, moved them underneathe the frame rail, and got about 7" of lift. Said it rides way better than any lift springs he's seen.
BTW, he also put YJ leaves on the front.
Personally, I wouldnt mess with it, but if your fabbing skills rank up there, give it a go.

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The problem with this is that we don't know what his standard is......it's way too subjective. One guy says it sways too much, and another guy says it's just fine, and they both have the same setup. I tend to lean toward theory and common sense over testimonials, unless it's comments from someone who I know and trust. Many people say their modifications work very well because few will admit that they did something that didn't work well.

Evidence of this is in the comment. Stock leaves on a 7" lift will be too soft for most, even if the leaves are in the stock location rather than under the frames. He aludes to this by saying that it rides better than any lift springs he has seen. Riding better is from softer springs, and softer springs will lean more...period. Now, this could be balanced out because he has leaf spings in the front, which will normally add more stability than coils. So, saying the inboard leaves did not have excessive sway in a rig with leaves in the front means nothing when talking about a rig with coils in the front.

Not trying to pick apart your comment, just pointing out that it's best to look behind the comment if good info is what we're after. I've heard from someone else who I do know and trust, who said it didn't work, and he changed it soon afterwards. I also have friends with CJ's that moved the springs outboard to gain stability.

Goatman, I couldn't agree with you more. After I wrote that, I started thinking about it more and more. As you you stated, it rode good to him compared to what?
I guess you just can't deny the fact that wider is better in this case. Now that I think about it, some of this gentleman's other mods were a little suspect. So, I apologize for jumping the gun and telling you to give it a shot, Karmir. Sounds like a very compromising idea.

I am done following up on this since everyone knows it is a horrible idea

Think of it this way - did you notice a huge difference in flex or stability when running full width axles??? The tire is now 3" or 4" farther out from the spring... There was likely some difference but it was not earthshattering

The spring centers are now 4" to 5" narrower than previously - it is not going to make your jeep spontaneously roll over and play dead - if you cannot look at this mod critically and convince yourself either way - DO NOT DO IT!!!

If you cannot decide for yourself; you will nitpick it to death and find something you do not like - as it was pointed out "one guys stable rig is anothers slinky" (mine is more on the slinky side - so I'm told - but it suits me just fine)

And yes I have rolled it - wheel long enough and sooner or later you will put the paint in the dirt...

That is all I am going to say about inboarding

Matt aka wanderingwillys

Edit: Goatman - dead on about the front suspension - with my drop bracketed 5 link the rig had much more body roll than it does now with a wishbone 3 link - (changing the front made the rear behave much better- eliminating the excessive body roll)

few will admit that they did something that didn't work well.

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exactly.....

rear coil conversions come to mind.

CStamm said:

I've seen it done first hand. The guy told me it didn't sway on him or anything on the road. He actually used stock leaves, moved them underneathe the frame rail, and got about 7" of lift. Said it rides way better than any lift springs he's seen.

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WHOA! Time Out!

XJ rear leaves are basically flat when installed -- virtually zero arch. The forward spring hangers are about even with the lower edge of the frame -- just high enough to get a weld nut inside the frame rail.

There's no way JUST relocating the stock springs under the frame produced 7 inches of lift. Whoever this is did other things to get that amount of lift.

Eagle said:

WHOA! Time Out!

XJ rear leaves are basically flat when installed -- virtually zero arch. The forward spring hangers are about even with the lower edge of the frame -- just high enough to get a weld nut inside the frame rail.

There's no way JUST relocating the stock springs under the frame produced 7 inches of lift. Whoever this is did other things to get that amount of lift.

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Yeah, I would expect 3" at the most

Or he located the spring mounts about 6" below the framerail. Boy, what an anchor THAT would be...

Jared

DeadEyeJ said:

Or he located the spring mounts about 6" below the framerail. Boy, what an anchor THAT would be...

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I thought of that after I posted. Yes, he could have made tall drop boxes for the spring bolts. That would be like a rear version of the Trailmaster front control arm drop brackets, which are on my '88 MJ and get hung up on just about every rock larger than a pebble when I take it on a trail.

I know 2 guys that have done this, and both did it mainly to fit longer springs easily. they both also have much thicker packs than stock, so the springrate is greatly increased. This would make for a firmer ride when hitting something straight on, and about the same in sidehill "tippyness". They flex pretty good too. I'm pretty sure one is using MJ springs and the other is using 63" Chevys.

i did this. it let me get rid of my 1" block and it also gave me about an 1"more lift. i'm running 6" national springs and your basic cj style shackle. i just ran angle iron down the frame rail and mounted a spring hanger to that. moved the spring hanger back an 1" at the same time. fricken thing rides like a cadillac. took it for it's first run on the clean-up after the mod and it worked great. i did hit the hanger but i didn't hit the frame or rocker panels. i'm sitting around 8" plus and running 35's. i think it rides better because my shackles aren't straight up and down anymore. i did this to fix my spring hangers which were ripping through the tub/floor of my rig. $hitty spot welds.... more like driver abuse.