Sagging leaf springs

[jeepdeez]

I know this has been talked about over and over but....I just need the most economical (cheapest) way to fix this. I'm willing to buy the parts and do the labor myself but I was wondering what you guys thought. I just want to pick my Jeep back up in the back, maybe even add an inch or two. With that said would I need to add some spacers to the front also. This is my daily driver and I'm a foreman for a heavy highway construction company so it'll be in the mud but I won't be offroading with it. What are your suggestions. I would jsut do the bastard pack but I'm afraid I won't be able to get the original pack off or better yet break the bolt off in the frame. I definitely won't drive the wife's grocery getter to my job.

[wacho4]

quadratec stock heavy duty replacement springs wer the best price when I replaced mine a couple years ago. No problems yet with a lift shackle. It's as much a farm truck as a daily driver so It probally gets used about the same as yours.

[Tim_MN]

An Add A Leaf you purchase, or a junkyard bastard pack leaf, both can be installed without removing the original main leaf. That way you don't have to deal with rusted or broken off spring eye bolts.

[OverTheHillsATTW]

my 2.5 RE Full add a leaf were 80$ and picked the rear up a bit. I always have weight back there and sagging really has not been a problem. I'd say do that and throw and extra coil isolator in the front.

[Matthew Currie]

If you just want to restore height to a sagged unit, the easiest and cheapest way is to get a couple of junkyard leaves and add them. You need not remove the main leaf, and the U-bolts have enough space for one more leaf. You will need only to replace the center bolt and the spring clips.

One suggestion is to take a main leaf and cut the ends off it, putting it between the main leaf and #2.

If you look at the spring, though, you'll see that there is a very big step in length between leaves # 2 and #3. That gap appears to contribute to the tendency of these springs to sag and go into a reverse curve. On my sagging 95, I took a former #2 leaf, and cut it to fall midway in that gap. It hardly looks added at all, and it brought the rear end back up to a respectable stock height without a perceptible change in ride.

If you know someone who works on Volkswagens, talk them out of a couple of the hex bolts used on VW axle universal joints. The socket heads are easy to mangle, and they get tossed. They make perfect replacement center bolts for a single leaf addition. The heads fit, and the length and even the threads are right.

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p.s. you can see a trace of the cheapskate "swamp yankee" approach here as well, if you look: home-bent u-bolt style spring clips.

[wacho4]

while we're on the subject, take a look at your spring bushings too. Might as well do that while your under there too if needed. That's why I choose to replace mine all together, the bushings were shot as well. And a friend gave me a pair for free, so I only had to order them for one side.

Hey Matt C., are those u bolt clips just some bent all thread and a piece of steel strap? Was thinking of doing the same thing but wasn't sure if I should put a piece of rubber or something in between the "u-bolt" and spring. Any thoughts?

[Matthew Currie]

Originally Posted by wacho4

while we're on the subject, take a look at your spring bushings too. Might as well do that while your under there too if needed. That's why I choose to replace mine all together, the bushings were shot as well. And a friend gave me a pair for free, so I only had to order them for one side.

Hey Matt C., are those u bolt clips just some bent all thread and a piece of steel strap? Was thinking of doing the same thing but wasn't sure if I should put a piece of rubber or something in between the "u-bolt" and spring. Any thoughts?

No rubber on mine, but they actually started out as some kind of U-bolts, similar to muffler clamps. I don't even know what they were for originally, but I rebent them square. Threaded rod ought to work too. Rubber might be a good touch, but I wasn't sure how to keep it from coming out. The rubber pads on the factory clips have a valley to hold them in place. I didn't worry too much about the ones I did, whose function is more to keep the springs from shifting sideways than to hold them together when they sag.

I don't know what's out there at the auto parts stores. Back when every American car had leaf springs and every red blooded American boy was trying to get a lift on them, you used to be able to buy adjustable spring clips, some with stiff coil springs under the nuts, so they'd give a little under sag without breaking or coming loose.