Re-arching springs- Many Q's

[Bones]

After my little incident in Moab last Oct (yes, Beezil was involved ) my XJ sets about .75-1" lower on the right side. I know I tweaked my Nat’l spring pack when the fit hit the shan.
I am presently running an RE sold 10 leaf Nat'l pack with a long leaf out of an old OldManEmu set of leafs thrown in. I have the packs on what is approx. equal to a 1.5" lift shackle and a 2" tapered block for a lift height of a measured 6.5" at the driver side "frame" and about 6" at the passenger side "frame" (thus about .75-1" lower at the fender flare). The drop is front and rear on the passenger side and is not related to any passenger weight (said for the wife's benefit ).
I will be switching my present crapola front springs for a set of RE ZJ 4.5" springs, but I do not want to trash this set of leafs.
I don't mind the added leaf or even the block that much as long as flex and ride are good however I want to regain the height I should have. The packs are an advertised @ 4.5" but RE can't tell me the spring rate and said that I should call Nat'l, and Nat'l said they didn't make springs for RE. It's the typical runaround scenario.

Anyway, what is involved in re-arching and how do I re-arch without knowing the original arch and spring rate?
Is it something any shop can do or do I need to find someone at Nat'l that actually knows something and have them do it?
Does anyone know the spring rate and free arch of the RE Nat'ls?


Thanks,
Bones :skull1:
#6

 

[TOZOVR]

I've had leaf packs re-set at a semi local place, Donovan Spring. It was only $4 a leaf, so costwise, it almost seemed inexpensive enought to pull the leaf packs out once a year and drop them off for 6 hours, I mean hell, for $25 a spring, it's good preventive maint if you wheel often!

I had lost about an inch and a half on my pass side, this brought it back to spec. I was initially leary about them sagging quicker after that (dunno why, just was) but even after wailing on them it turned out just fine.

RJ

 

[Eagle]

Bones, to get them evened out I think you can just take both springs to a spring shop. Tell them which one is the model and which is the "victim." They should be able to take both apart and set the arch of each leaf in the "victim" pack to match that of the corresponding leaf in the model pack. That oughta do 'er.

 

[Jump This]

Not to mention that National Spring are the bomb when it comes to taking care of your leaf packs!!!

 

[Goatman]

Bones, I'm in the middle of re-working my rear springs. I had switched to an MJ main leaf, which someone had re-arched, and they bent on me. I had heard previously that re-arched springs wouldn't last as long as the original leaves, but other than these main leaves I have no experince with that. I only changed the main leaf, and the re-arching was done by a kid who never ended up using the leaves. Plus, the whole thing is down a little in the back.

I discussed it in length with a local spring shop, they re-arch leaves all the time. He said that because of the way that we bend our springs backwards, there is little chance that they won't sag after awhile, and they should just be re-arched periodically to bring them back.

I had a problem with the right side sagging, and at the time I didn't want to re-arch, and the spring shop said there was no problem running an extra leaf to bring it back up. I've done this twice, added another leaf, so now my right side pack is 10 leaves and the left is 8 leaves. The rig sits level, it flexes evenly, and the ride seems to be same on both sides.......no evidence that one side is thicker than the other. In the same situation, next time I think I'd try the re-arching, just to see.

I pulled my springs off yesterday. I have a full set of MJ leaf packs and a set of Chevy 1/2 ton leaves, and I'll combine leaves from each to get what I want. My old, many times re-worked and added to, leaf springs are finally going to the junk pile.

 

[Rufies97XJ]

So is Re-Arching stock springs bad? Cheap way to get a lift...but is it safe/good/advisable?

 

[Eagle]

Since my "contribution" to this thread, I've been to my local spring shop a couple of times, for u-bolts and spring wrap clips. On one of those trips I got chatting with the counter guy, and one of the things I asked him was whether re-arching worked.

He didn't seem to feel there was any downside to doing it from a durability perspective, but he questioned the cost. I'd say TOZOVR has the deal of the millenium compared to the shop here in New Haven. The guy told me they start with a flat fee of $55 to take the spring apart. Then they charge $75/hour for whatever work they do on it. He said a typical re-arch will run around $175 per spring, and he had one set on an exotic foreign car that ran $300 per spring. By contrast, he sells new springs for $130 each.

For a custom spring pack, though, I don't see any alternative. I don't think it's necessary to know the rate, because the arch doesn't change that. If one side is where you want it, tell them to just use that as the template and arch the other side to match it.

 

[TOZOVR]

Damn that is $$!

Donovan spring is super cheap!!

 

[Rufies97XJ]

local spring shop here will do it $10 an inch.
Is it good to do stock springs to get a say 3-4 lift?

 

[Ralph]

I re-arched my springs by taking them apart and laying the leaves across two 2x4s and beating the hell out of them with a BFH. Set the 2x4s about 12 to 14" apart and slide the leaf back and forth between whacks.

RR3

 

[XJguy]

I had the Warriors springsde-arched. Here in NY it cost me $70 that included an extra leaf to repoalce one of my broken pieces. But I did give him the springs completely disassembled. They do one leaf at a time not the whole pack. I cant say if rearching is good or bad. It is a fox, at least temporary. All springs will loose their arch eventually. My guess is that if you do rerarch they will hold for at least one season. You can also just add another helper (overload) spring. This will raise you to the height you want and stiffen your pack a bit to prevent further sagging. Yes you may lose a little bit of your softness, but in exchange your springs wont lose their arch at such a fast rate.

I had homebuilt spring packs in the rear up until last week and even after loading up the XJ with a few hundred pounds of steel tubing AND towing a 2000 lb trailer with another XJ on it, my height was unchanged. Secret was: I was sporting double stock packs and double overload leaves, not very compliant but man are they tough, no sag with these bad boys.

XJguy

XJguy

 

[family XJ]

AAL

This is kind of irrelavent but there is a place in Zanesville, Ohio that makes 4" AAl for $22.00 each. They can probably build what ever you want relatively cheap. The place is called blacks spings or 4WD, I am not real sure on the name since I don't live there anymore. FWIW IHTH