Worn leafs... Sorry its long.

Just came from the local Jeep shop and came away from there with a $600 Cdn quote on my '91 XJ 2 door with 223,000 km on the clock. I started out looking for tires but when they had a look at the truck they said that the leafs springs were worn out. In fact the driver's side is all but a write off. The new parts are what I would consider reasonable at $177 Cdn a piece, but they said that the removal of the old springs ideally should take less than 3 hours, but the last two XJ's they did they practically had to cut apart the body to get the bolts out. This turned out to be an 8 hour job. Has anybody had any experience like this? I had a GMC truck before and the leafs were pretty easy to take out.

So is there anything I can do to help them along, like add liquid wrench or something spray something on them and let it work in a couple days? I can't afford 8 hours of shop time, either monetarily or having the truck out for that long. BTW the shop is a dedicated Jeep shop the only thing they do is Jeeps. So I am trusting their judgement here. What do you guys think?

Marty

I've replaced the leaf springs on both of my two old xj's(86 & 87) in the last year. The big hassle is getting the front eye bolt out if it gets rusted to the inner sleeve in the rubber bushing.I soaked them with pennitrating oil a couple of times a day for several weeks before I did the work. I used a three foot pipe on my breaker bar to get leverage on the eye bolts. When it popped I stopped and soaked it with pennitrating oil and let it sit 10 minutes or so. Then I turned it the other direction a tad. I continued to go back and forth and soaking with pennitrating oil. After 6 or 8 cycles, the bolts came out easy. I only had a hassle getting one of the front eye bolts out. If a front eye bolt is rusted to the inner bushing, here's the procedure: 1)using an air powered cut off tool, cut the leaf spring off as close as you can to the front eye bolt without damaging the mounting cage 2)with the cut off tool, cut through the outer metal sleeve of the rubber bushing and peel the outer metal bushing off 3)using a razor, cut the rubber bushing off and remove it completely 4) what remains is the inner sleeve that is rusted to the eye bolt, turn the eye bolt slightly to expose the seam in the sleeve and hammer on the sleeve seam withv a chizel and BFH, use gererous amounts of pennitrating oil through the whole process 5)after the sleeve is split, the bolt comes out easy 6)don't let anybody cut any holes in the unit body

Thanks Ron, I have decided to try this myself. I'm looking for new springs as we speak. I checked the local dealership but the quote was unreasonable at over $250 per spring. Anyway, the best I've been able to find here has been a set of Pro-Comps @ $180 per. So I'm thinking that these will do. I just dropped $250 on new pads, shoes and rotors. I've been spraying Release-All on the mounting bolts, fore and aft as well as the axle bolts. Hopefully between this and your method I can save myself a tonne of money. If you have or anybody else has any other suggestions to make this (removing/replacing leaf springs) easier, let me know.

Marty

I got two used ones out of a 94xj in a junk yard for $80.

Just remembered that there are some acces holes in the unit body that will allow you to spray pennetrating oil on the inside on the end of the front eye bolt where it comes out of the nut buryied in the unit body structure.

I bought a set of almost-new leafs from someone that had lifted their XJ. I cut the eyes off the main spring on my old set, then used the old main spring as an add-a-leaf with the new set. It goes right under the top leaf (the one with the eyes). Result: 1 3/4 inches height over OEM height, and a firmer rear suspension for towing. It still flexes OK, as measured by washboard on gravel roads. The wheels follow the road surface, not jump around. Works for me. I got the springs through the BC4x4 board (I'm in north-central BC). The point is, if you buy a used set, you can combine part of your old set if you wish. Use a new centre bolt from a spring shop, not a hardware bolt! The spring shop put wraps around my combined leaf pack for very little (so little I don't remember).

You know... a set of new leafs is not too far off from the price of a lift kit, which most likely would include the rear spring packs, or at least a full length add-a-leaf, new front springs, lower control arms in most cases, and shocks in most cases. You might also want to find out why you need new leafs. If they are broken then yah, but if they just lost their arch a little then a full length add-a-leaf is a cheap and quick alternative. The main leaf stays on the vehicle so you don't have to worry about the frame bolt breaking free. I'd research that route. There's always someone here to help if needed.

4xBob said:

I bought a set of almost-new leafs from someone that had lifted their XJ. I cut the eyes off the main spring on my old set, then used the old main spring as an add-a-leaf with the new set. It goes right under the top leaf (the one with the eyes). Result: 1 3/4 inches height over OEM height, and a firmer rear suspension for towing. It still flexes OK, as measured by washboard on gravel roads. The wheels follow the road surface, not jump around. Works for me. I got the springs through the BC4x4 board (I'm in north-central BC). The point is, if you buy a used set, you can combine part of your old set if you wish. Use a new centre bolt from a spring shop, not a hardware bolt! The spring shop put wraps around my combined leaf pack for very little (so little I don't remember).

Click to expand...

I did the same thing as $xBob on an '88 Laredo last year, except the main leaves I used were not almost new. I gained a gross lift of about 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inch, which netted less because of initial sag in the original springs. But the result was very satisfactory -- it sat about 3/4" higher than "stock" and rode very well.

My local spring shop sells the center pins for about $0.60 each and the rebound clips (the straps that wrap around the leaves) for $1.25 each. The old main leaves were cast-offs, so the whole deal cost about $10 and one evening's work.

I'll be doing the same thing on my '88 very soon.

Thanks guys for all the input. I went to another spring shop today, they had a look and said that they could recurve and add a leaf for $200. Still thinking of doin' the work myself. I think with that and a shackle lift and I'll get the height I'm looking for. Thanks again for all your help.

Marty