Leaf Spring ??

[Herc]

I have a question about the rear leafs, I had to replace the spring perches on the axle and had the springs reworked. Forgot about the fact that the rear axle would move forward with having the springs reworked, as a result my 2" slip became 1/2" of slip and the driveshaft clanks the t-case on a hard bump.

My question is since the new perches are setup with holes for moving the axle forward or back can I move the axle back an inch and bolt everything back up on the Comanche springs? I know you can with regular leaf springs but am unsure about these packs as they have the overload bar, will this make any difference?

Any input/suggestions appreciated.

 

Will be posting a thread with the work I've been up to soon.

[Pete M]

that's a whole lotta forward movement. :hmm: got a photo?

[Herc]

Sorry let me clarify ......... 2" of room for slip reduced to 1/2" of room for slip, so there is only 1/2" between the yoke of the slip joint and the t-case. No pics truck is at home, I'm having lunch at work

[Pete M]

I mean, I'm trying to picture how a re-arch of the leafs pushed the axle that far forward. is the tire pushed forward in the wheel well? is the axle spring over or spring under? did you get lift out of the rework of the leafs?

 

but to answer your question, the overload leaf can be considered just another leaf in the pack. if your perches have extra holes for shifting the axle forward or back, then you should be able to make use of them no problemo. :thumbsup:

[Herc]

awesome!! thanks Pete. As to your questions, yes the re-arch moved the tires forward of centre and factory spring under(rewelded the new perches at the same angle +1-2 degrees). The rework of the springs involved adding a leaf and complete re-arch.

[mkbruin]

This may sound silly.... and I don't mean to insult your intelligence....

 

Were the leafs put back on the right way? Nothing was inverted?

 

something about what you aer saying just doesn't make any sense....

[Herc]

mkbruin....don't worry about it man, all are good questions. Yup the springs went back on the same way they came off large bushing at the frame mount, small bushing to the rear shackle. The reverse of what has happened would be my result, if I had switched them around cause I would have an axle 5" further back. IIRC from front bushing to centre pin = 26" rear bushing to centre pin = 31" Stock measurements.

:cheers:

[Dirteatr717]

Are the leafs put in backwards? :dunno:

[jpnjim]

You can drill new holes in your axle perches where you need them,

sounds like you need to drill new holes, maybe an inch, or so forward of the old holes (to move the axle back).

 

Don't forget you also need new holes in the U-bolt plates, to let the back of the center pin bolt pass through.

 

 

 

BTW, how is your shackle angle now (since it sounds like re-arching the springs effectively shortened their overall length)?

[Herc]

OK, so took off the u-bolts and moved the axle back 1 1/2" to the next hole...dropped right in nice and tight! Only had to drill out a hole in the bottom spring plates to bolt it back together. Of course new u-bolts were used to reattach the axle to the springs. The cost of new u-bolts is a small price to pay for safety. No more noises and feels good and solid, also back to 2" of room t-case to slip shoulder.

[Pete M]

I'd still love to see some photos of what's all going on under there. :thumbsup:

[Herc]

Finally got a pic of the underside this is after the 1.5" rear axle shift. This last week has been insane!

Pic of ds slip now, before was 1/4 of the space @ 1/2 inch.

 

[Pete M]

I was hoping more for a shot of the leaf springs and the yoke angle of the axle.

[Herc]

So a shot more like this then? Just went out and took a few more shots.

 

 

[Pete M]

got a shot of the shackles? what's up with your load sensor arm? looks like it's at a weird angle.

[Herc]

Shackles

 

 

Load valve

 

 

I take it from your question that the valve arm is not usually in this location/orientation?

[freakjeep93]

the arm from the axel to the valve should be straight up and down

[Pete M]

 

 

Are you sure that's an original MJ main leaf? Maybe it's just the photo angle, but the forward bushing should be larger. What's its diameter?

 

MJ leafs on the left and center. Explorer on the right.

 

[Herc]

Pretty sure they are factory here is a pic of the springs before they want in

They measure to be 3 inch dia for the main spring eye @ frame mount.

They also had the same spring keepers as the MJ springs in your pic have

[Pete M]

probably just the camera angle then.

[86FUBAR]

Did you by chance swap axles at the same time , d35 to d44 , it looks like the d35 but not sure. If you did the d44 is like an 1"-1/4 to 1"1/2 longer at the pinion .

[Herc]

Nope, still a D35 so far will be wheeling next year with it, so it might end up getting replaced depending on what my plans for the truck turn into.

[HellCreek]

Hi, Herc,

 

Unless I am sadly mistaken, those are not factory MJ springs, or, if they are, someone has added one or two leaves to the spring pack. MJs did not come with 5+1 spring packs from the factory. From the appearance of the springs, it looks like a #2 and a #4 leaf have been added, and not recently. Also, the factory center bolt location of a MJ spring would be 26 inches from the center of the large eye to the center of the bolt, and 31 inches from the center of the center bolt to the center of the eye bushing at the shackle end.

 

-Tom

[Herc]

Yup the Springs have been reworked with an added leaf that I had put in as well as re-arched. They also measure 26" from front bushing and 31" from rear bushing respectively to the centre bolt. Whoever had the MJ before me might have had 1 leaf added in as they were a 4+1 pack before.

[mkbruin]

5+1 would be a pack from a J-series.... or am I wrong?