What to do about rear leafs???

[my95yj]

The new Kennesaw Mtn rear tire carrier/bumper combo is beefy, ie rear end is saggin something fierce now!
Present set up, OME 3" HD leafs, 1/2" block, 1.5" tera shackles....
should I just put a 2" block and keep the nice riding OMEs' or put the RE 4.5" leafs in there???
Just wondering what the crowd thought.......

 

[Eagle]

One of the guys at NACFest had BOTH of his 2" blocks shatter on the trails at Paragon. They had to tow him back to the staging area.

Blocks = bad

I don't know how much arch there is in the OME springs, but Rusty's 3" AAL might have enough arch to get you back where you want to be, or you might find a do it yourself AAL by disassembling a set of springs with comparable arch out of something like a full-size PU. Wrangler YJ leaves have a decent arch to them, maybe something out of a Wrangler would do the job for you.

 

[my95yj]

yeah, there is no arch left to the OME's now, look like my wrangler springs before I lifted her back in the day.....
I guess what I am asking from somebody is how much the RE springs will sag over time, I have heard these leafs come netting around 6" of lift at first.....and then settle to 5" or so......I think with the added weight back there, they might be the right direction to head, just want some soft riding 4.5" springs if that is possible......

 

[fire325]

i've heard a lot about the dakota springs.might try slapping in a spring on each side.:idea:

 

[Ted Z]

if you can swing it.... ALCAN's

 

[my95yj]

Yeah those would be nice, but at this point I am not even sure what size leafs I would need (lift size)....with the added weight of the bumper/tire carrier and all....I was just guessing on the 4.5" RE ones because I guessed they would settle down to 4.5" or less.....

 

[Ted Z]

you tell them how much lift you want after all the weight......

when i ordered mine he wanted to know everything about my jeep and then how much lift i wanted......

 

[my95yj]

OK, not sure how much it weighed, I guess I could email Kennesaw and see what they say about the weight....I probably need to post some pics of her and get some suggestions from folks on what amount of lift I would need????

 

[Goatman]

Since you have a good set of springs already, I'd just add another leaf to the pack. You need more lift, plus you need a little stiffer spring rate to deal with the additional weight. If you get a taller spring that doesn't have a stiffer rate, you'll end up with sagging springs again. Adding one leaf to the pack will do what you need, a little height and a little more spring rate.

You can still use a block to fine tune the height. A couple of places make 1/2" and 3/4" blocks just for that purpose. A solid steel block won't come apart, so no worries there. The negative of blocks over about 1.5" is the increased spring wrap that comes with it, which further contributes to weakening the springs and sagging. I use blocks in mine because I want the spring to be relatively flat, but then I run a traction bar to control the wrap.

 

[bgcntry72]

Use a JCXL. This is an Old Man Emu add a leaf and I have seen what it can do in an OME pack. It should give you 1.5 inches over the pack as it was. These can be had from Glen at Rocky Road. Personally, I will never go away from Old Man Emu, there is nothing like them.

 

[my95yj]

I agree totally BigCountry! OME already on my YJ and soon to be on the ZJ....
Cool, I didnt' realize they sold an add a leaf for the XJ pack, I jumped on those for my YJ back in the day, when the inchitis was strong in my family , but thanks for the suggestion will definately head in that direction!


got a ballpark figure for those add a leafs before i start shopping around for them????

 

[MirthScout]

I've got a 97 XJ with the OME HD rear springs too. I added the Custom4x4 rear bumper, tire carier and Hi-Lift jack mount. Sagged exactly as you describe. I was thinking of adding a 1.5" shackle. I didn't know about the OME add-a-leaf. Hmmmm... now I'm going to have to seriously concider that.

 

[Eagle]

Just to pick nits a little ... it seems like both you guys are mis-applying the term "sag." Springs are made to deflect when you add load. That's what they do. "Sag" is when the same spring settles down and rides lower with no change in weight. If you add a couple hundred pounds to the weight of the vehicle and the rear goes down, that's not "sag" -- that's "deflection" and it's normal unless the ride height doesn't return to where it was if you remove the extra weight.

An AAL is still the best solution to your problem, but let's keep terminology accurate.

 

[bgcntry72]

http://www.industryfigure.com/berkeley/Jeep/lift_aal-blocks.htm
Good luck, chief.

 

[Eagle]

http://www.industryfigure.com/berkeley/Jeep/lift_aal-blocks.htm
Good luck, chief.

And your point is ...?

from link:
The rear leafs have settled an inch and the extra weight we're carrying now makes it worse

The link you provided is to a page written by a self-admitted novice. Not really a very authoritative source for correct terminology.

The "settled an inch" part would be sag -- the "the extra weight we're carrying now makes it worse" part is not sag.

Back in 1995 I carried a load of computer equipment across the country to a school in NM. The rear of the XJ was down so far I was literally riding on the bump stops all the way. However, once the weight was removed the ride height returned to what it had been. Ergo -- no "sag," just normal deflection.

 

[my95yj]

OK then, well I've got a MEAN case of "DEFLECTION"

 

[bgcntry72]

MY bad?

For the love of Pete. He asked about the add a leaf, so I gave him the link where I learned about it. I am very sorry if I violated some 'code of disclosure'. The guy likes OME, as do I, and he needs an add a leaf and wanted to know where to go. I provided a link that I happened upon awhile back which helped my decision. Not only is the guy criticized for his terminology regarding his problem, but I am hit for providing a solution that may not be deemed adequate. Nothing but a polite version of the treatment one can expect at a POR forum.

 

[my95yj]

bgcntry,
Come on man, I started the thread and I don't care about the screwed up terms or if I was wrong! :doh: its all good, thanks for
the info on the add a leaf, keep sharing man.....
we all have more important things to worry about, like how I am going to swing the new washer/dryer for the woman and the group buy for kevin's roof rack

 

[bgcntry72]

Group buy?
Kevin's roof rack?
Please fill me in.

 

[my95yj]

Over on the NAGCA board for the ZJ......wife's jeep needs one ya know....:thumbup:
they need to add the brows smiley over on this page from the JU page, i love that smiley.....