leaf packs

[jeepaholic]

My rear leafs on my 4x4 are really soft...Gonna cost me 350-375 bones to get them rearched at the spring shop..I was thinkin of just addin another leaf into the pack instead..Anybody got a suggestion?

[TNT]

My rear leafs on my 4x4 are really soft...Gonna cost me 350-375 bones to get them rearched at the spring shop..I was thinkin of just addin another leaf into the pack instead..Anybody got a suggestion?

 

Rearching them won't change the stiffness. IMO I would cut the eyes off of the main leaf from a set of MJ 4x4 springs and add that leaf below your main leaf. You could also use a main leaf from another truck if it has 2.5" wide springs about the same free arch and is long enough to span from eye to eye.

[FxRacing282]

i wouldnt do that. id find a place that does leaf springs and get a new set made up. the only reason to add another leaf would be for hauling. if you don't haul that much then its not worth it. adding another leaf as you probably already know will just make for a stiff ride, plus you loose flex on the trails

[Twisty]

i wouldnt do that. id find a place that does leaf springs and get a new set made up. the only reason to add another leaf would be for hauling. if you don't haul that much then its not worth it. adding another leaf as you probably already know will just make for a stiff ride, plus you loose flex on the trails

 

Actually, adding another main leaf won't make it that much stiffer at all. What makes an AAL stiff is when the AAL has a higher spring rate than the rest of the pack. If you use an MJ main as an AAL, it has the same spring rate and will be rather soft. I have done it, and noticed a 1"-2" lift in the rear with no adverse effects to the ride quality.

[TNT]

i wouldnt do that. id find a place that does leaf springs and get a new set made up. the only reason to add another leaf would be for hauling. if you don't haul that much then its not worth it. adding another leaf as you probably already know will just make for a stiff ride, plus you loose flex on the trails

 

Actually, adding another main leaf won't make it that much stiffer at all. What makes an AAL stiff is when the AAL has a higher spring rate than the rest of the pack. If you use an MJ main as an AAL, it has the same spring rate and will be rather soft. I have done it, and noticed a 1"-2" lift in the rear with no adverse effects to the ride quality.

 

Others on this site have done this and were happy with the results. Loss of flex wasn't an issue. The spring rate won't change that much, I'm sure the metric ton rate is definately higher.

[FxRacing282]

if your going to get new leafs then why pay extra for another leaf when you could just got some with more arch?

[TNT]

if your going to get new leafs then why pay extra for another leaf when you could just got some with more arch?

 

He was going to have his springs rearched not replaced and was also complaining they were too soft.

 

He is wondering if he could add a leaf to his current springs to stiffen them up.

[Eagle]

Others on this site have done this and were happy with the results. Loss of flex wasn't an issue. The spring rate won't change that much, I'm sure the metric ton rate is definately higher.

Adding another leaf DOES increase the spring rate significantly, but that doesn't make it harsh. One of the 4x4 magazines ran an article some years ago on how to calculate spring rates. I don't have the article any more but, basically, if you add one leaf of equal thickness to a pack that was 4 leaves, you increase the rate 25%. Add one leaf to a pack that started out as 3 leaves, and the rate increases 33%.

 

I've done multiple XJs using cut-off XJ main leaves as an AAL and they generally provide about 1-1/4" of lift. One guy in NAXJA had an almost new 2000 and used main leaves from an almost new '99 and he got 1-1/2" of lift. The ride is not harsh -- in fact, IMHO it's better than stock. Keep in mind that those numbers are GROSS lift. If the original springs have sagged, the net is obviously less. The XJ I did for an ex-GF was already sagged about 1/2" to 3/4" so even though the AAL grossed 1-1/4", the net was only about 5/8" higher than stock. I had expected to need 3/4" coil spacers in front to level it out, but the net result looked good with just the rear AAL so I didn't bother.

 

For an MJ, if the original springs have sagged a lot, then using cut-off MJ main leaves as AALs would be a good way to go. I picked up an '89 LWB that hasn't sagged too much, but I want a bit more carrying capacity without a lift, so I'm going to use XJ main leaves. The concept is that they'll add capacity without adding as much lift as MJ main leaves.