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Leaf Spring ??


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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.

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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

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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:

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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.

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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:

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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)?

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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.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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

156959_126910250703784_100001544302868_154928_3150917_n.jpg

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

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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

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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.

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