getting a waggy and doing axle swaps on leaves....

[mississippi_xj]

just thought I would post I am getting a killer deal on a wagoneer monday... 44 front 20 rear.... going to swap to the xj and go leaves front and rear....

if anyone has any good input on steering etc i would appreciate it...

thanks...

scotty

 

[Stouttrout]

I am about to do a D44 swap on the front and rear. I am just curious why you want to go with leaf springs. I have seen that mentioned in several places during my research

 

[BrettM]

crossover or full highsteer is essential in my book, unless you're running spring under with a small lift (3" or less).

hydro-assist (or a panhard, but who wants a panhard with leafs!?) I consider to be close to essential for offroad usage with front leafs.

 

[mississippi_xj]

Brett...... Howd it do w/ just basic crossover? That is probably the way I am going to try and go.... thinking of using stock waggy leaves... I have a bunch of extra leaves sitting around to garage to tune the front pack. how much can you get w/ stock leaves? any idea? havn't got the truck yet (getting monday) does the waggy 44 come w/ the flat top passanger knuckle?

your truck is what got me started on this whole damn thing... just though I would bring that up...

ps... what kind of ram is that on your hydro setup?

 

[BrettM]

Brett...... Howd it do w/ just basic crossover? That is probably the way I am going to try and go.... thinking of using stock waggy leaves... I have a bunch of extra leaves sitting around to garage to tune the front pack. how much can you get w/ stock leaves? any idea? havn't got the truck yet (getting monday) does the waggy 44 come w/ the flat top passanger knuckle?

your truck is what got me started on this whole damn thing... just though I would bring that up...

ps... what kind of ram is that on your hydro setup?

I wheeled one summer with the leafs and no hydro assist, and it worked, but it was a serious hassle, and basically impossible to steer at all with the ARB locked. I often couldn't get even close to full turn even with the front unlocked. I can't imagine wheeling without hydro-assist after having it.

stock 7 leaf Waggy springs give about 6" of lift, though it depends a little on how/where you make your spring/shackle hangars.

older Waggys had flat-top knuckles, but the 80 and newer that are driver's side drop do not. they are interchangeable with Chevy knuckles, so find a Chevy or Waggy flattop.

here's some of my info on hydro-assist: http://www.naxja.org/forum/showthread.php?t=55711

 

[mississippi_xj]

thanks bro.

 

[XJ_ranger]

search for a thread called:

Front leaves - who is doing it and what do you know?

and search for DavidT's comanche build - he took the same step backwards...


and check to make sure that AMC20 isnt an offset rear.

IIRC - the AMC 20 has less pumpkin clearance than a lot of axles...

 

[xjaddiction]

I have leaves on the front of my MJ. I'm using Waggy 44's front and rear with YJ 4" ProComp leaves up front and the MJ rear leaves over-the-axle. I used YJ confer shackles up front (I think they are 1.5"ers), with a main eye leaf from stock YJ pack welded to steel reinforcements on front bumper. In the rear of the front lower CA mount we cut a window in the outside LCA reinforcement to get a bolt in there for the eye on the rear of the leaf pack. The MJ's have a heavily reinforced LCA. Leaf spring fits right in there. I made some shock mounts for the front out of 1/4 angle that bolt on top of the outside u-bolts on each side.

I used two XJ shackles per side in the rear, with a piece of angle welded inbetween for the second shackle to rest on. I'm not sure how much lift, I think about 8"s, enough to clear 38x14.50's on 10" rims with 3.75 B.S. I'm using adj. Ranchos, "and the ride, I said the ride, is so sweet, you must be a limmosine..." Woops, jumped into a little Prince (ess) there.

Right now I'm using the MJ trac bar, shortened and sleeved to fit the Waggy axle mount. I have a "z" bent Waggy drag link (with a ZJ TRE, and a ZJ pitman arm), and a standard Waggy tie-rod. This I'm going to change for over knuckle steering very soon. I have some flat top knuckles from a K-5 blazer D-44. I'm going to buy some high steer arms, use Chebby TRE's and some thick a** tie rod and drag links.

You will want to bump the rear axle width a bit with some spacers. I'm using 1.5" spacers per side.

My D-shafts bolted right up, I added some u-bolt style pinions. I have plenty of flex with this set-up.

Here are some pics, it's not quite finished;

 

[xjaddiction]

 

[mississippi_xj]

Right now I'm using the MJ trac bar, shortened and sleeved to fit the Waggy axle mount. I have a "z" bent Waggy drag link (with a ZJ TRE, and a ZJ pitman arm), and a standard Waggy tie-rod. This I'm going to change for over knuckle steering very soon. I have some flat top knuckles from a K-5 blazer D-44. I'm going to buy some high steer arms, use Chebby TRE's and some thick a** tie rod and drag links.

How is the steering on-road with that setup.... It would seem like their would be some pretty serious bump steer with that much of a difference of your angles (between draglink and trac bar).

Did you feel that a trac bar was an absolute necessity? I have been considering going with an inverted t setup using chevy parts like this(i am going spring over). only it would be under the knuckle and have a mild z bend to clearence under the spring pack, maybe a dropped pitman arm to?

 

[XJ_ranger]

I used two XJ shackles per side in the rear, with a piece of angle welded inbetween for the second shackle to rest on.

got a picture of that?

id like to see how that looks at static, compressed, and drooped if you have them...

-Ranger

 

[mississippi_xj]

going this afternoon to get the waggy.... I will snap some pics w/ my cameraphone when I get back.

anything wrong with just welding some 4.5 inch angle to the front of the frame rails to put the shackle hangers on? I could just bolt my bumper to that.

 

[xjaddiction]

I have some pics of the shackles, i'll get them up soon XJRANGER.

It does have some bump steer, although not that bad. I've had more trouble getting the wel loved SX's balanced. I've got the Chevy flat top knuckles in the garage, and will buy some high-steer arms soon. I'm getting rid of the "y" link steering, and running seperate TR and DL. I'm going to run Chevt TRE's instead of heims's. I like the trac-bar, as it makes the steering feel tighter. I think it would be really bad without it, with my steering set up as it is now. A friend of mine that has the same minus the "z" bent DL, says that his steering improved alot with a pass side Chevy knuckle, puting the DL in high-steer spot.

 

[XJ_ranger]

I have some pics of the shackles, i'll get them up soon XJRANGER.

id like to see them....

 

[XJ_ranger]

I have some pics of the shackles, i'll get them up soon XJRANGER.

id like to see them