Well today the main leaf on my National/custom leaf pack broke on me. It could have been much worse because it happened in my driveway, but anyway.

I need to decide weather or not to get a new set of 1.5' Rancho springs or go with the Wrangler spring conversion.

It would be a little cheaper for me to go with the rear wrangler spring conversion w/springs and keep the front springs I've got. however this brings up the subject "should I replace all springs?"

I'm looking for any kind of advice. It would be great to hear from people that have one run the before mentioned set ups. I've got the Summitoffroad 4.5 SPOA with 33's and need to keep running the 33's.

Thanks

One of the problems I can see is that if you run CJ's or wrangler springs in the rear IMO you should run rears up front to help equal the flex. So far I have been happy with my CJ's and also my 5 leaf pack of rears upfront.

Originally posted by Shawn_C
One of the problems I can see is that if you run CJ's or wrangler springs in the rear IMO you should run rears up front to help equal the flex. So far I have been happy with my CJ's and also my 5 leaf pack of rears upfront.

Ditto ! :D

yep what they said been there done that

Double ditto. My rear sami spring pack up front (w/6 leafs and missing links) flexed every bit as good as my YJ's. In the rear, the YJ's work MUCH better than the Sami rears or the CJ's did (what do expect from JC Whitney springs :D).

I used waggy springs front and back. They really flex well.
I stacked up 4 sammy stock tires up (Inflated they are about 8" wide) and set one wheel down on the stack. The other three were still on the ground. I only have a SPOA and 3" shackles.

i broke a rear main 3 weeks ago, im putting in yj's all the way round. the rear is done, starting on the front next week.

Rockzookie:
Plan on putting in a panhard. There is a lot of side to side flex in those longer springs and it is a beach to stear.

To the guys running CJ springs:

Do run any type of lifted shackles to fit 33's? I've got ones that are 2" longer than stock but will be happy to get rid of them if I switch over.

Also thanks everyone for your quick replies. I'm on some other boards that you pretty much need to beat information out of people

I had a lot of body roll when we did some spring work, not to mention we inboarded the rear springs and used XJ spings that are around 5 inches longer.

Hey Fatkid, what did you do to control that Body Roll, stiff shocks? You said before you used 3" XJ springs, what brand was that, i used to have 2 XJ's and never found any springs that i liked that well... I plan to do a similar swap on my rig, 3" Xj rears, and maybe stock XJ rears up front... I like the offset pin, so less need to lengthen the frame a whole lot... Hugh

I have always had Mlinks on the rear with my CJ's, but if I remember right you have to run Mlinks or a 6" shackle otherwise the spring shoves the shackle up parrellel to the frame.

Originally posted by AkDale
Rockzookie:
Plan on putting in a panhard. There is a lot of side to side flex in those longer springs and it is a beach to stear.

no panhard bar. its a trailer queen now, so itll never be driven fasst enough to need it!!

Speed is not the problem.
The problem that I have is that my springs have so much side to side flex that if there is any resistance against the side of the tire--Such as ruts-, I can get over a full turn on the steering wheel before the front tire even tries to climb out of the rut. When the tire finally climbs out of the rut, the zuke really turns fast. In short, you work yourself to death and there is no such thing as precision steering. And no my front end linkage is not worn out-loose-or bent- The springs are flexing to the side- the shackles are only 3" and they are only a very small part of the flex.

Originally posted by AkDale
Speed is not the problem.
The problem that I have is that my springs have so much side to side flex that if there is any resistance against the side of the tire--Such as ruts-, I can get over a full turn on the steering wheel before the front tire even tries to climb out of the rut. When the tire finally climbs out of the rut, the zuke really turns fast. In short, you work yourself to death and there is no such thing as precision steering. And no my front end linkage is not worn out-loose-or bent- The springs are flexing to the side- the shackles are only 3" and they are only a very small part of the flex.
ill drive it awhile and see what happens. im swapping axles in a month or so, so if i need it, ill do it then. i know what you mean about steering though, my stock springs were so worn out that they were inverted 2 inches at normal ride height.

Originally posted by punkskalar
Hey Fatkid, what did you do to control that Body Roll, stiff shocks? You said before you used 3" XJ springs, what brand was that, i used to have 2 XJ's and never found any springs that i liked that well... I plan to do a similar swap on my rig, 3" Xj rears, and maybe stock XJ rears up front... I like the offset pin, so less need to lengthen the frame a whole lot... Hugh

I use Bilstien coil overs with out the coils, also as part of the XJ swap we had to inboard the rear springs to make them work with the tubed rear end.

how much did you inboard the rears on yours fatkid?

Originally posted by AkDale
Rockzookie:
Plan on putting in a panhard. There is a lot of side to side flex in those longer springs and it is a beach to stear.

I'll back you up on this one. I'm running 2" CJs up front and I NEED a panhard soon!

I did YJ springs all the way around and did home made drop shckels in the rear. The front i extened the frame and use stock YJ shackles to prevent the side to side motion of the longer springs in steering. Pluse I didn't move the holes back in the rear mounting. I used the stock holes and moved every thing. So I lengthend the wheel base abotu 9in or so.

we just put a set of Wranglers in the back of my buddies zuk with the Trail Tough kit, and they are damn impressive for ride quality. Brent warned to use the polly bushings. And the brackets are nice and tight. I am most impressed with the ride quality.

As a little background, we have done the Suzuki spring options, CJs, and coils on our rigs. Nothing has been as nice as the Wranglers are for an all around rig.

I'm now planning on running them on my rig too.

-Wayne

what about waggy springs? is there much of a difference between them and YJ's?

I'm running Cj fronts on my rear with mlinks.
Took the bottom spring off and left zuk overload.
I daily drive it, so I use a stiff shock and tightened up the side to side movement of the mlink with washers.
The ride is great, didn't affect the handling that much.
Offroad, it flexes good and works good.
It flexes like crazy without the shocks, but the shocks limit it some.
It's an easy swap, the shock mounts are the only thing I had to fab, and I just copied what others sell.
I not an expert at fabricating.
My rears are going up front, after I build my war chest up enough to get my steering above the springs.

Originally posted by Destroyer Dychen
what about waggy springs? is there much of a difference between them and YJ's?

2" longer, 2" offset pin......more lift and heavier duty than a YJ spring.......Not needed with stock axles!

Originally posted by RudeZuk


2" longer, 2" offset pin......more lift and heavier duty than a YJ spring.......Not needed with stock axles!

This is true, However, I assumed that the springs were going to be too stiff---Not the case at all.

When I installed mine, I took out two leaves only to find out that it was too easy to bottom out.

I put the packs back together and all is well.

I flex about 30 " and have about 2" negative arch at full flex.

They work great for me.

i pulled my d44 out of my old 78 cherokee frame today. the front springs on the cherokee matched EXACTLY to the 5 leaf yj pack. spring pad bolts in the same place. i wish i could see what a zuki with a 62'' wms to wms would look like before i put these axles in. talk about a wide track:eek:

I have Wranglers in the rear and the stock rears (added the 2 bottom leafs from the front pack) up front. I got about 2" lift (still spring under) and a very nice ride.

The next step would be a spring over, but I am going a different direction (different sami)