negative arched springs

[90eliminator]

so....my xj has some major spring problems.... negative arch, with no bumpstops left...so bad that the axle is hitting the frame causing the drivers side brake line to get crushed.... ha...this is a new one.......

But here is my question...can I put a bottle jack and try to push the spring back to positive arch, will the get to a point and pop back in place...?? or just replace them.....

[Automan2164]

How did they get to have a neg arch? Just sag? Or were you messing around with it?

 

Rob L.

[DirtyComanche]

Probably sag, the rears on XJs are bad for that.

 

 

They'll need replacing or professional re-arching (replacing would be better, IMHO). Otherwise they'll just pop back...

[90eliminator]

these are the worst I have ever seen... I have no idea how they got this bad...this jeep has 172 on the clock, but still has intact leather seats...and nice interior...so obviously they kept it clean .... oh well...prob. just replace them....and ad a budget 2" at the same time.... ;)

[Eagle]

Before you do ANYTHING -- (1) look at some other XJs; (2) measure from the center of the axle/hub/hubcap up to the bottom edge of the flare and post the measurement; (3) take a picture of your springs and post the picture.

 

ALL XJ springs have essentially negative arch. It's a spring-over-axle suspension. Although nominally the spring isflat, in fact the forward part has a VERY slight positive arch and the rear part has a distinct negative arch. More than likely your problem is just the missing bump stops. If in fact the springs have sagged significantly, you cannot re-arch them in the vehicle. A spring shop could do it, but you'd be better off using that money to buy a set of rear springs from a junkyard, disassemble them, cut the eyes off the main leaves and use them as add-a-leaves.

[jaekl]

At about 60,000 I added some J C Whitney helper coil springs to my XJ because I got tried of bottoming out on most bumps even unloaded. A trailer was just brought it down too much. Hearing that XJ srings are known to sag, I'm really glad I added them.