MJ leaf prices

[gearwhine]

I am in search of a set up MJ leafs. I did a junkyard dog parts request and found 2 sets for 140 and 150 shipped which seems very steep for 10+ year old leaf springs, but they are "guaranteed to be in good shape" . I am going to go junkyard hunting next week, what is a decent price for leaf springs from a pick and pull yard? And, does anyone have a pair they are looking to get rid of, save me the trouble of hunting. Thanks _nicko_

 

[Eagle]

Check with CHW -- don't think he has any, but a yard near him currently has 3 or 4 MJs and very low prices.

 

[gearwhine]

Thanks, hopefully he chimes in by tomorrow, as I'm headed in that direction. Throw me a phone number or address when you see this Chris, thanks.

 

[Lynn]

Call the guys at All American Jeep in Tamaqua. They recently had an MJ they were parting out, and they've modified so many MJ's they might have springs laying around. 570 668-1320. Tamaqua is just south of paragon.

 

[sidriptide]

saw an ad for an 87 MJ 4x4 in my neck of the woods for 150 bucks.... thought i might call it this weekend just to check it out..

 

[gearwhine]

Thanks lynn, I'll give them a call tomorrow, and see what they ahve lying around.

150 bucks is great. If my parents wouldn't mind another vehicle in our driveway, I would snatch it in a second.

 

[STROKER]

at the one local u-pull-it yard you can get a set of springs for about $100.00

 

[gearwhine]

The places from Junkyard dog also wanted 100 which was fine with me (other than me not checking them out myself), but they wanted 40 - 50 bucks for shipping, which was not fine with me. So for a u-pull it yard, i'm expecting a bit under 100, since the online ones are taken out for me.

 

[Andy in Pa.]

The local yard I just pulled the Gr Cherokee rear discs out of has an MJ that I also pulled the rear bumper off of. I *think* the rear springs are in good shape. The Jeep is still sitting high in the rear. I can check with him tomorrow and see what he wants for the set. It is not a u-pull-it though, they pull the parts and you pick them up. I bet I can get the springs for cheap though (less than $100). You still need them?

A.

 

[gearwhine]

Hey andy, plese do get them if they are nice and cheap. I went to joe's EZ pull and save today where they are 10 bucks per leaf spring. Got to the MJ, got the leaf springs unbolted, but couldn't get the u-bolts off. I found the torch guy that drives around..asked him to cut them off, he said, sure, be right back. he didn't come back, and then it was closing time. I came back with the shackles though, I'm gonna give a double shackle set-up a try. Try and get them for as cheap as possible...~40 bucks or less for the 2 I'm thinking is my limit, haggle down, grab the shackles also if they come with them, I'll give you a small finders fee as well. Don't worry about dry rotted bushings...I will replace them, but use them as an advantage to go lower Thanks a lot. _nicko_

 

[CHW]

Nick, check your PM's

 

[Andy in Pa.]

OK, I'll bite, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?? Lower?? On the XJ??

A.

 

[Eagle]

OK, I'll bite, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?? Lower?? On the XJ??

A.

I think he meant he wants you to try for a lower price

Dang it's a good thing we all speak English. Can you imagine the problems we'd have if we couldn't understand each other? :jester:

 

[gearwhine]

OK, I'm interested in Swapping to the MJ leafs. I'm unimpressed with my RE's, they don't give the droop I need for my future tires, and my front end does all the work, as with most XJ's I've seen. I want it to be balance front and rear. (samurai on pebbles made me want this a whole lot) I figured if I could grab a set for a few bucks, it's worth seeing how I can get them to work well, and what kind of lift I will be getting from them. I'm looking for the same lift I have now, but with a longer, flatter spring. If not, I guess I could just get rid of the main leafs for someone that wants an inch or two of lift for an XJ. So right now it's a bit of a gamble. Hopefully it all works out.

 

[gearwhine]

OK scratch the MJ Leafs for now. I found a guy over on pirate...he's here also..Whiplash. He put MJ leafs on his jeep, and from the measurement he gave me, 11.5" from axle centerline to stock bumpstop attach point, he's only getting around 2-3" of lift from them WITH the shackle moved below the stock shackle box. I'm at ~5.5" of lift, and that same measurement is around 14" on mine. So from what I see now, I would be lowering my jeep as andy was questioning.

What would you think about removing a leaf from the RE pack and adding a traction bar. Seems a but sketchy to me though. I can see a lower spring rate (which I want), more axle wrap...but none with a traction bar, and probably premature sagging. I'm going out to start a new crossmember now(2 pieces of 3/16" 2x2 welded with 1/4" bolt plates for mounting), so a traction bar should be very easy to add on to it once it's done.

 

[Andy in Pa.]

I was thinking along those lines too. I am tempted to pull a leaf out of my BigOffroad springs. Possibly a little more flex, and the BO springs have that military wrap over the front eye that will prevent too much spring wrap. Do you have poly bushings or regular rubber bushings in the RE springs? One thing I found when I got my BO springs is the poly bushings that came with them seemed very stiff. I switched the rear eyes to the factory rubber bushings. I would have done this with the front too, but the BO springs front eyes do not match the factory front eyes.

A.

 

[gearwhine]

My RE's are rubber on both ends. I was thinking of just trying to remove the smallest leaf, and see what happens and how I like it, maybe the 2nd smallest leaf, but the difference in sizes between those leafs would scare me a bit. This will be after I get a nice traction bar set up just out of precautions. I started my crossmember today, but didn't start cutting away yet, kept changing my mind. My final design of it will hang 1" below the frame rail, and the tranny will be in the same location as with the stock crossmember. Seems like it will work well.

 

[Andy in Pa.]

Sounds good, I just used a piece of 2 x 6 x 1/4" thick wall rectangular tube for my crossmember when I bent the snot out of the factory one on Cherokee Ridge, the day we opened that trail.

On automatics, there is 1/4" of difference between the mounting surface at the frame rails, and the mounting surface of the tranny onto the crossmember. I just spaced the crossmember down 1/4" at the frame rails, and that put everything back to factory specs. Now Chris is running that crossmember on his XJ, and it is holding up very well. I suspect that if you dropped the Jeep from a height of 3 feet onto that crossmember, it would bend the frame rails before the crossmember would give.

It sounds like you are scheming something up though. Are you incorporating the traction bar mount into the crossmember? Just make sure you put the traction bar up out of the way.

A.

 

[gearwhine]

Yeah, The only reason I'm building the crossmember is to have a solid attachment point for a traction bar. I looked at using 2x6, but I like have that extra "rib" in the middle, to me I think it'll make it twice at strong, plus it's what I had lying in my garage. I also have the control arm drop bracket braces which will distribute the load if I do indeed drop my cherokee off a 3 foot cliff and miraculously land on the crossmember.

I will be building the traction bar out of the same material as the crossmember with 1/4" plate in the middle triangle, an inverted MJ shackle modded to fit a currie JJ, unless it's the same size already. I think I will be using avalanche boulder bushings on the axle end also so I can get a little adjustablity incase I go a bit higher or lower and what not. 1/4" plate is great..my brother and I got a 4x8 sheet from a metal scrap yard for 40 bucks, 200 freaking lbs. It's just a PITA to cut up. I'm still deciding if I want the traction bar above the driveshaft, or a little below it to help protect it. Well, now that I gave you my story, any ideas, or something that should be changed? _nicko_