leave springs over axle

I was wondering if I put my leave springs over my axle's, put some 35's on, if I would have to do anyother modifications to keep everything insinc ?
thanks for the help,
Dave

 

Umm, Yup.

At least thats the short answer.

New brake lines, d-shafts, and steering will be needed so it drives safely and reasonably well. Then you will need to relocate and reengineer the shock mounts. On top of all that you might want to regear the axles to off set the larger tires, but that depends on what you allready got for gears. I'm sure I've missed something.

Spring overs ain't cheap or easy. Worth it though if you wheel hard trails.

Kevo

 

One of the less intelligent people I know in my area did that to a 65.. spring over with bent 3/8 all thread for U -bolts, umm he lowered the steering bell crank by drilling out the rivets and welding 3 pieces of pipe about 3 inches long where the rivets were between the cross member and the bell crank and then mounting 35 x 14.5 SS boggers on 10" rims with about a 4 inch backspace.. needless to say the tires were like an inch and a half from the frame. He acted shocked when he got to the end of the street and tried to turn the right front wheel locked up ( the big lugs dug into the frame) and threw the jeep into the ditch (it also ripped the knuckle off the axle). The really bad part is I told him that would happen, It was obvious to even the most simple person.. So I guess my point is yes it can be done but think it through and do it right....

BUBBA

 

Well I don't have the bucks to venture into all the changes. I think I'll just go to a 33 inch tire with 1 1/2" spacers. Most of all by driving is just in the backwoods...... not to much of the rock climbing thing.
thanks for the replys
Dave

 

Shackle lift and add a leaf would be the cheapest method for what you need...you can get 3 inches of lift for less then $350...more if you want very extended shackles.

 

I used 3" Black Diamond springs and 1-1/2" body lift (homemade from steel tubing) to run my 33s. Maybe I over did, but it looks right on the front and a little tall in the rear. Still not road worthy so MMMV.

 

QUOTE:
Spacers???

You can't just do spacers on leaf springs like you can on a coil sprung TJ.

So I'm curious as to what you really mean by spacers. Body lift?






I'm thinking of wheel spacers that bolt on your existing wheel lugs and extends your tire's out from the vehicle, allowing less tire rub with a big tire.
Hopefully I can do this ? because my 32's rub now on articulation.
Dave

 

i would not recommend wheel spacers to gain more tire offset, i work at discount tire and have herd horror stories about wheel spacers, if you want some extra clearance you can buy wheels that wil give you the clearance you need

 

yup stay away from the wheel spacers. By doing so your giving the wheel and tire much more leverage against the axle, knuckles, etc. Anotherwords things will break much easier!

33" are not that big. Your only gaining 1/2" ground clearance under the axles over your 32" tires Save up and get a 4" spring lift. They can be had for about $450. Then it will be done right and safe!

 

Remember any type of lift over about 2 inches (spring over conversion or lift springs) will require you to modify your drive shafts, possibly replace brake lines etc. So you need to factor that cost into the equation. A large lift will also require a dropped pitman arm or other steering modification to correct handling issues.

I do not have a problem with wheel spacers. But I am talking the aircraft grade machined aluminum ones. NOT the cheap cast spacer you find at Autozone. I am running a widetrack dana 30 front axle and narrow track 44 rear with 2.5" spacers on each side to bring it to wide track width. I bought them from performance wheel and tire. They are aircraft grade billet aluminum machined to match the wheel pattern. They work very well. I have checked the torque on the lug nuts twice now and they have not loosened at all. I personally would not put spacers on a steering axle. I just don't like the geometry of that set up.

A large offset wheel will put just as much leverage as a spacer on the axle components. The whole problem is you are moving the center line of the wheel out from the mounting point. So it does not matter if you are using spacers or the off-set wheel.

 

I did a spring over on my jeep. I used the existing brake lines, just re routed the brake lines under, and made new brackets. As for shocks, I used the origional shock mounts on the rear just swapped sides so the shocks are straight. The front shocks have a little angle to them, but nothing bad. The only modification other than actually flipping the axles, was driveshaft lengthing/shortening, but I had to do it anyway with the motor and transmission swap. i recommend it

 

I'm running a SOA as well and I'm happy with it except I wish I had gone with YJ springs originally so I wouldn't be tearing it back apart now. I'm also running 2" wheel spacers and so far no problems.

 

what advantages do you get from yj springs?

 

Smoother ride and better stability.