4wd MJ leafs vs. 2wd MJ leafs vs. Explorer leafs

The 4wd leafs are on the left, 2wd in the middle and Exploder on the right. It's difficult to make a direct comparison to the Explorer since there's no weight on the leafs and the Ford leafs are thicker and likely are stiffer. Eventually I'll have the truck together and then I plan to try out the Exploder leafs to see exactly what they do. Notice though, that the high-mileage rusty 4wd leafs still have more arch than the low-mileage rustfree 2wd leafs.

I didn't realize the 4wd MJ's had more arch than the 2wd MJ's. 8)

GOOD TO KNOW!!

I am beginning to look for a rear axle upgrade for my MJ and keep going back to the 8.8. Was worried about the OA legnth and contact with the leafs. I am running 3.75" of BS and 10.5" wide tars. I won't run spacers on the street, don't think I will really need to anyhow.

Just casually looking as I could get one tomarrow if needed. Hopefully patients will net me one for cheaper....SO when I do get it I'll be getting the leafs from it as well... Future projects you know... :chillin: :brows: :brows:

CW

what about ranger leafs has anyone tried those for a bastard pack

They're SOA from the factory.

Bad idea.

Pete,

(or anyone that knows offhand)

What is the spring eye-to-eye measurement on the MJ leaves? I saw a set of F150 rear leaves in the junkyard the other day that had a crazy amount of arch on them (the axle was gone....they were just hanging there on the mounts). They looked like they'd give an instant 4-5" lift to an MJ, but they measured 62" or thereabouts. I did a quick measure on my MJ in the parking lot and came up with 65" or so. I couldn't get an accurate measure, cause I was by myself with a tape measure and the darn tire was in the way.

The ford leaves were set up SUA, 4 leaf packs plus a huge flat overload at the bottom.....beefy, and like I said had hella arch :D

I finally got a set of 4WD MJ leaves to build...wondering if I couldn't use the main leaf out of that pack as an AAL (?)

Thanks,

Jeff

explorer leafs are SOA and rangers are SUA, but you could just flip the center pin, no biggy. FYI b4 you pull them out, mark the front and rear. i could be wrong, but the pin i don't think is quite in the direct center of hte leafs(plus there wouldnt be any headache i would assume). explorer 4 door leafs will definatly be stiffer then ranger leafs(i had explorer leafs and rear end in my old 92 ranger), depending on what ranger you look at(std cab, motor size etc) will determine spring rate. also towing package and 4x4.

i would look for 4x4 explorer leafs from a AWD or v8 explorer/mountaineer w/ towing package. i would assume those would be the stiffest if stiffness is what your looking for. or just feed em some viagra :D

Pete,

(or anyone that knows offhand)

 

What is the spring eye-to-eye measurement on the MJ leaves?

MJ leafs are roughly 57 inches. New spring/shackle hangars aren't hard to make if you really want to run some longer springs.

explorer leafs are SOA and rangers are SUA, but you could just flip the center pin, no biggy. FYI b4 you pull them out, mark the front and rear. i could be wrong, but the pin i don't think is quite in the direct center of hte leafs(plus there wouldnt be any headache i would assume). explorer 4 door leafs will definatly be stiffer then ranger leafs(i had explorer leafs and rear end in my old 92 ranger), depending on what ranger you look at(std cab, motor size etc) will determine spring rate. also towing package and 4x4.

 

i would look for 4x4 explorer leafs from a AWD or v8 explorer/mountaineer w/ towing package. i would assume those would be the stiffest if stiffness is what your looking for. or just feed em some viagra :D

You wrote it backwards. Explorers are SUA and Rangers are SOA. It's the opposite of the MJ (SUA) and XJ (SOA). The reasons being that the Explorer and MJ have the leafs mounted directly below the frame, while Rangers and XJs have the leafs mounted outboard of the frame. The Explorer and MJ have offcenter pins, but the front bushings in both are larger than the rear bushings. The "Code F" Explorer leaf packs are the ones you want. There are 2 different kinds of leaf packs and a mono leaf and code F is the stiffer multipack. car-part.com can help with that or the leaf code is on the drivers door sticker if you're in a j'yard.

Truck is on the ground and I measure ~18" from the hub center to the bottom of the flare. The tire seems to be ~1/2" forward of being centered in the wheel well.

From this post, http://www.comancheclub.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=551&start=0, I gathered that stock hub center to flare was approximately 20" give or take an inch. Did your truck become lowered?

oh, I'm betting it did, but the truck has been on stands since long before I got the Exp leafs so I never thought to take a "before" measurement. Next I want to try the first iteration of a bastard pack by cutting off the eyes of the explorer pack and adding an MJ main to the top. That way the tire should be centered and I'll have the extra leaf in there like I always envisioned. But I felt I needed to try out the stock Explorer crap first for a baseline.

Of course, even when everything is all said and done, I still don't know if these leafs I bought are the soft packs or the stiff packs. :(

Don't know why I didn't do it last night, but I just measured the other side and got 19". The 18" side has a couple t-case in the bed on that side. :dunce:

I also mounted up one of my other set of Exp leafs and I got the same result.

I did my first bastard pack using the entire Exp pack (with the eyes cut off) and a 4wd MJ main leaf on top. Got 20" (and undoubtedly a greater hauling capacity, though it's hard for me to determine exactly how much).

Those are some thick leaves.

The Explorer leafs measure in at ~.325" thick, stock MJ leafs are ~.300". But the Explorer leafs don't get thinner at all at the ends.

This is copied directly from my project page, so if you read that, you won't need to read this.

The Explorer leaf springs use a larger retention bolt (7/16") for the leafs and I decided to use that and drill out the MJ leafs to match. (bigger is better, right?) Of course, I didn't think about the fact that the heads of the larger socket cap bolts would not fit in the spring pad, nor will the nut pass through the shock pad. So instead of grinding down the grade 5 (strongest 7/16" I could find) socket head bolt and worrying about strength of what little would be left of the head, I grabbed some grade 8 hex heads and just nipped off the corners. Fits perfect! (I didn't even need to grab the head of the bolt when I installed it. Friction with the leaf held it just fine while I tightened the nut)

But this still didn't fix the fact that I didn't have any drill bits wider than 1/2". so instead of widening the shock pad hole, I just used a grade 8 washer and bolted the shock mount directly to the leafs.

Also, be aware that not all drill bits are capable of drilling through the tempered steel of a leaf spring. I used a regular ol' high speed steel bit (with cutting lubricant) and it went through the main leaf just fine, but it would not even make a scratch in the lower leaf (yes, I did grind away the rust first). So out came the expensive set (the ones I very rarely use, for fear of hurting them) and it handled the lower leaf without any drama. :D

Also note that I nipped the edges of the washer so that lower bolt plate thingy would fit up nice and snug.

Here are the leafs installed. Got 20.75" from bottom of flare to center of hub. The pack, as it sits now

--MJ main

--Exp main

--Exp #2

--MJ # 3

--Exp overload

What's the Difference b/w "code F" springs from the 95' - 00 explorer and the "Code U" from the pre 95 explorers . . . I was at the junkyard today and I can't find any difference b/w the two springs. I bought the "F"'s but I was just curious . . . for anyone else that might read this thread.

I don't know anything about the "U" code leafs. But I believe "F"s are the ones you want. they should be the stiffer multi-leaf packs. Theoretically, the "U"s could be the same thing, only the older code, but I don't know. I go to http://www.explorer4x4.com/ for the tricky Explorer questions.

Pete - Thanks for posting all the pics and info. This post saved me a bundle. I've been towing around a boat with saggy MJ springs. I can't wait to bolt the Exploder springs on my truck. I almost bought the entire rear axle with disc brakes, but held back until I read up on the 8.8 MJ Conversion.

Don't forget that if you don't retain the MJ main leaf, the axle will be pushed forward 1/2". It's enough to be noticeable when looking at it and it'll push the driveshaft 1/2" closer to the t-case or trans.

while you're online...

you mentioned the distance after the exploder add-ins... what was the net lift from it? i didnt see the origional distance in here.

thanks

-nick

ps. hope that made sense.

Yeah, well, um, that's because I sorta neglected to measure it ahead of time. :( Oops.

Pete,

Why did you use the MJ #3 spring in your pack? Both #3's are broke in the MJ and was thinking of using:

--MJ main

--Exp main

--Exp #2

--Exp # 3

--Exp overload

Charles

The #3 leaf has the guides attached. Feel free to experiment. With the wide range of conditions in random packs found under our trucks an in the ‘yards, it’s hard to say what will give how much lift.