Need some pics of crossmembers, gusseting and spring perch fabrication. Also springs used and what height was attained would be nice to know too.

Possible project coming up and need to get the wheels turning.

post up

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=139642

here you go, i am doing pretty much the same thing to my 2-door, with the exceptiong on the exocage and some other changes. the write up is great and filled with all necessary info...enjoy

there is progress of my swap at my webshots page (see sig), here is a picture of the same crossmember i made for a guyhttp://www.patricksnorton.com/cherokee/tech/leafsprung/hangar/IMG_0223.JPG and here is an action picture. http://www.rebelrockrunners.org/galleries/tellico/jan04/images/DSC01411.jpg

if you want full width info, ashman or jeep94xj are the guys to go to for that. they both have front 60s under their xj's....i used a wag 44 housing with all chevy outers, a YJ main leaf with a stock wagoneer pack under that and got about ~9" of lift or so, not sure on the exact amount though.

Kajeep--

You do realize those are COIL springs you have there, right??? :flipoff2: :flipoff2:

Fer real, tho...
Nice job w/ the crossmember.

What did you do on the frame side to mount the leafs?
ie - Is the uni-frame strong enough in front to replicate the rear mount?

Kilby,
The guy hasn't put the leafs in yet he is still mounting the front cross member with spring hanger that is shown.
the rear of the leaf goes at the lower control arm mount spot.
you can use the stock mount but it may need to be beefed.
I dont know what shackle he is running

Originally posted by 82YOYO
Kilby,
The guy hasn't put the leafs in yet he is still mounting the front cross member with spring hanger that is shown.

Yeah yeah... I was just kiddin'.


I'm interested in figuring out what beefing of the fake frame rail needs to be done.

well, that top pic is actually the brackets i made for a guy and he was progressively doing the swap :flipoff2: i personally didn't do anything for the frame mount, which turned out to be a huge mistake as i wallered out the holes in the LCA bracket, but i tore that rig down, next time i am going to cut out a plate and weld it to the lca mount to keep from wallerin the hole out. the mount itself held up surprisingly well to the abuse i put it thru though. here is a pic of the other guy (Patrick Norton) about 90% completed setup...
http://www.patricksnorton.com/cherokee/tech/leafsprung/install/IMG_0242.JPG

edit: well i think the easiest way to do it would be to just weld a hanger on the bumper or make a crossmember like i did. there is a really good writeup of how to do the swap in billavistas tech articles from a while back. thats where i got most of my info. oh yeah, i just used to cheapo autozone shackles for mine, not sure what kind the other guys are.

what springs are being used in that last pic? lift height?

More info here.
http://www.ilovejeeps.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8784

Here's a few.

http://www.wheelingadventures.com/Northern4x4/iB_html/uploads/post-2-24031-front60.jpg

http://www.wheelingadventures.com/Northern4x4/iB_html/uploads/post-1-83261-Bogrz2.jpg

http://www.wheelingadventures.com/Northern4x4/iB_html/uploads/post-1-82414-D60Front.jpg

Here are some pics of my XJ. Leaf sprung in the front with YJ(skyjacker) 2.5" leafs with M.O.R.E. boomerangs. This gave me 9.5" of lift in the front. I am running a 5.7 TBI, 700R4 and a Scout 300. High clearance on a Dana 44. flat pitman and stock steering brace with side support. http://www.novak-adapt.com/pub/P1010638.jpg http://www.novak-adapt.com/pub/EbayIMG_1997.jpg http://www.novak-adapt.com/pub/EbayIMG_2001.jpg http://www.novak-adapt.com/pub/P1010632.JPG http://www.novak-adapt.com/pub/P1010633.JPG http://www.novak-adapt.com/pub/P1010634.JPG http://www.novak-adapt.com/pub/P1010635.JPG http://www.novak-adapt.com/pub/p1010636.jpg

Sorry, no picture of the acutal crosmember you were asking for. They are on my other computer. I'll post them tomorrow. I lowered the front of the springs a bit to compensate for the Shackle reversal.

Hey B.A. what kind of probs did you run into with the Passenger side drop on the axle??



[QUOTE]Originally posted by B.A.85XJ
[B]Here are some pics of my XJ. Leaf sprung in the front with YJ(skyjacker) 2.5" leafs with M.O.R.E. boomerangs. This gave me 9.5" of lift in the front. I am running a 5.7 TBI, 700R4 and a Scout 300. High clearance on a Dana 44. flat pitman and stock steering brace with side support. [IMG]http://www.novak-

To be honest with you it was a pain in my arss. The only reason that I did it was because I had the case and the axle and didn't want to mess with the 207. The factory crossmember couldn't be used because of the front driveline flexing and hitting. The one I fabbed up mounted in the factory mounts, but was designed for the 300 , not the 207 drop. The floor under the passenger seat needed some healthy loving with a hammer. I had my motor and case pretty tucked up for clearance. The floor inside was modified to accept the twin sticks. The whole thing worked okay, but next time I will keep it off to the driverside with a flipped 300 or 231HD. The twin sticks came out right in front of the passenger seat. This made for a healthy reach to shift.

This helps a lot!! That is what I needed to know. I post questions about it the other day but nobody seemed to know anything thanks a ton!!




Originally posted by B.A.85XJ
To be honest with you it was a pain in my arss. The only reason that I did it was because I had the case and the axle and didn't want to mess with the 207. The factory crossmember couldn't be used because of the front driveline flexing and hitting. The one I fabbed up mounted in the factory mounts, but was designed for the 300 , not the 207 drop. The floor under the passenger seat needed some healthy loving with a hammer. I had my motor and case pretty tucked up for clearance. The floor inside was modified to accept the twin sticks. The whole thing worked okay, but next time I will keep it off to the driverside with a flipped 300 or 231HD. The twin sticks came out right in front of the passenger seat. This made for a healthy reach to shift.

Originally posted by kajeepxj

http://www.patricksnorton.com/cherokee/tech/leafsprung/install/IMG_0242.JPG



You know youare supposed to take the jack stands out of the box right? :flipoff2:

Originally posted by B.A.85XJ
Leaf sprung in the front with YJ(skyjacker) 2.5" leafs with M.O.R.E. boomerangs. This gave me 9.5" of lift in the front. http://www.novak-adapt.com/pub/P1010634.JPG

That is one ugly mount :D

If I did it again... I would not use a long 52in XJ main leafs I would use the shorter YJ or Wagoneer leafs, Id also do shackle in back.

Its easier to do shackle in front, and due to off set on the XJ leafs shackle in back would require a HUGE shim on the cast leaf perch or a really long drop down leaf hanger under the front bumper.

The shackle in back will need a longer more expensive drive shaft, I was able to reuse my stock one. The main benefit of shackle in back would be steering. I could not get full clock steering until I put a ram on my front. My toyota friends with 38s and front leafs shackle in back are still gettign by with there stock boxes.

Id also run the shackle through the frame so it is 4in wide then make 3/4in spacers for the leaf end of the shackle.. That 4in wide bushing is what will help with your steering and control.

My long leafs have sick flex but have bad axle wrap, and bad steering contorl. shorter leafs would flex well enough but have better control.

have fun.

B.A. 95XJ
what alum radiator do you have? how does it fit? what dimensions? where can i get one?

Call me @ Novak. 453-752-2342. Kind of a long story.

Keep up the posting.. this is good stuff.

Mighty ugly front driveline angle. :confused:

kajeepxj -

I am about to put a hp d44 with leaf over in the front and like the crossmember you've made for a couple of people. I was wondering if you would be able to fab one up for me with a little compensation in return. I was planning on doing a yj main with waggy pack, or just a xy lift pack. I'm going for around 10" of lift, so if you have any suggestions (shackle reversal, shackle placement, spring pack, etc...) all is appreciated.

... I was also wondering what you guys were doing about steering after the full width axles and leaf suspension

Originally posted by UnitedByDeath
... I was also wondering what you guys were doing about steering after the full width axles and leaf suspension

Hydraulic assist was need for my jeep to be wheelable at all.
I had no steering control on off camber and could not turn full clock on flat ground with the leafs moving...

now its fixed...

Ill have a better write up on Wheelingarizona in our tech section. Ill get that done in afew weeks.

PICS: DIY Hydraulic Assist, Box Modifications, Ram selection, Saginaw Rebuild kit.... (http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=20532)

I have done it like this :

www.xjusa.com

Is that thing sprung under????

Anybody mind filling me in on why you would want to go through the trouble of swapping coils for leafs? simplicity? stability? :confused:

I have to second that question. I am on my fourth jeep, first coil sprung, and there is no end to what you can do with them. But I admitt, if I was in it for simplicity of mud running I could understand, but you guys are rock crawling in some of the pics.

Uh, lotsa us rockcrawlers like leaf springs. They flex more than enough and we don't have to jack around with coils and control arms. As soon as I get a drivetrain in my new XJ project, it's going leafs in the front, too.
Dion

Originally posted by Surfzup2k3
simplicity? stability? :confused:

Yes and yes. I have not gone leafs, but I'm very seriously considering them for those reasons. You can always go right back to coils if you wish. Being a broke college kid, leafs are simple and cheap and easy to set up axle swaps, versus all the brackets needed for a linked suspension. That's just my take...

I'm right there with Economos

I swapped leafs in the front of my MJ Comanche because I'm a broke college kid and it was WAY cheaper than long-arms, coils, and setting up coil brackets on a D44. They still flex great, better than short arms on 4" ever did; I use the full 12" travel of my shocks.

I don't pretend they're the best, but they were cheap, easy, and just plain work.

Originally posted by JS-Economos


Being a broke college kid, leafs are simple and cheap and easy to set up axle swaps, versus all the brackets needed for a linked suspension. That's just my take...

You pretty much nailed it. I just finished up swapping in leafs in the front of my XJ. Extended the wheelbase a few inches too.

here is my Comanche with JCWhitney 7 leaf Waggy springs, the lift is right 6 or 7 inches, which is perfect but since over time they will probably sag an inch, I'm going to look for some 44044s and sell these.

installed:

PS, 35" MTRs are waiting for me in California ;) :D

kajeepxj: what leafs did you use? look like RE 2.5 or 3.5 YJs?

Originally posted by BrettM
kajeepxj: what leafs did you use? look like RE 2.5 or 3.5 YJs?

Looks good Brett. From talking with Ryan (kajeep), he used a stock 7 leaf waggy pack and swapped the main leafs out with YJ leafs to get the offset that tweaked his WB.

Any more pics of the hangers or from the front?

actually I was wondering what springs are on that XJ he posted above? reading it again, I realized he said it's another guy's, Patrick Norton.


here's a picture from the front of the spring (i hate Michigan, everything rusts :mad: )

oops, forgot the picture

here's the crossmember in previous form, you can see in the picture above that I added a little more metal with some more holes

It's 4x4x1/4 angle across the whole front, tied into all the bumper bolts, swaybar mount bolts, and steering box bolts.

http://pics.montypics.com/woodkrawler/2004-01-22/1074817516_leaf07.jpg

Originally posted by BrettM
oops, forgot the picture

It looks pretty flat.

Originally posted by BrettM
actually I was wondering what springs are on that XJ he posted above? reading it again, I realized he said it's another guy's, Patrick Norton.


here's a picture from the front of the spring (i hate Michigan, everything rusts :mad: )

Oops, I thought you were asking about his leafs.

Dayum those leafs are super flat. I may reuse a set of junkyad Waggy leafs and swap a leaf out for an AAL.

Originally posted by JS-Economos


Oops, I thought you were asking about his leafs.

Dayum those leafs are super flat. I may reuse a set of junkyad Waggy leafs and swap a leaf out for an AAL.

the angle is a little deceiving, but they are flatter than I thought they would be. they have about 1 inch of arch across the main leaf. I have the 4.0 up front but no battery, no winch, and my bumper isn't super-heavy.

Anyone have pictures of their lower shock mounts?

you can see mine in my picture, but that's temporary so that it works with the 11 inch travel shocks i already had. when I get some 14 inchers i will mount it down on the tube and with the bolt oriented perpendicular to how it is now