Help! Sonny Boy has broken Leaf Spring and Oil Leak on '94

Hi all,

Well, first the good news...Jake...aka Sonny Boy (15 yr old first time Jeep owner) is having a lot of fun learning to be a good? driver in his '94 Cherokee.

Now the concerns: Leaf springs and an oil leak.

A few weeks ago I mentioned on here that the back end was dropping after coming to a full stop. Had a couple of suggestions from this site and checked them out to no avail.

A couple of nights ago I had the neighborhood gearhead jump in and Sonny Boy took us for a drive...although noticable, it didn't seem as severe while he was in the truck. (Possibly because my 270# fat butt was in the back seat)

Sonny boy did me proud though when he went through an intersection that was just put in about 10 MPH too fast and bottomed the jeep out...I could almost feel the shock hitting me in the back.

Long story short: Gearhead crawled under the jeep and noticed a cracked leaf spring. I crawled under the jeep and noticed one side had 4 leafs and the other had a total of three with one of those cracked in half.

Where can a 15 year old on a budget get a set of GOOD leaf springs...not a gimpy pair like I see on many Cherokees? We will also change the shocks at the same time.

Second concern:

This is very MAJOR because it involves Mama...oil leak coming from somewhere on oil filter side of engine but at least as high if not higher on the engine than the oil filter (I do not think it is the oil filter). Is there something up there that traditionally leaks on this engine?

It is important to find this leak as Mama has banned Sonny Boy from parking his new best friend on the driveway or in the garage until we do.

Now I know what you are thinking...and yes, I do wear the pants in this family...it's just that she tells me which pair!!

Oh yeah....Have a Happy and Safe Easter!!

Mike

Unless you're planning to lift it, you can likely find some decent ones, cheap, at any salvage yard. If no yard is nearby, you can order them online from a number of places. Here's one:

http://www.jcwhitney.com/autoparts/Product/tf-VehicleBrowse/s-10101/Pr-p_Product.CATENTRY_ID:2005969/showCustom-0/p-2005969/N-200728794+111+1994+600003421/c-10101

The oil filter screws into an adapter. There are several o-rings that seal the adapter to the engine block. I'd check these as well as the seal on the filter itself. The adapter has a large hex head retaining bolt (it's hollow). There are o-rings on each flange of the adapter and one on the bolt.

Just out of curiosity whens the last time you did an oil change versus when the leak started.

What saudade did not mention is that those decent leaf springs will only cost you about $50 a peice. versus new wich will be at least 3 times as much. I got new leaf spring on my jeep from the salvage yard and it wound up lifting it 3 inches anyway, as if i put a lift on it.

and this is before i inverted them, if i count from when they were inverted then it was about 6-7 inches higher. i did not relize how old and worn these leaf springs were untill i replased them.

IMPORTANT:

Also a warning. my bad leaf spring caused my jeep to bottem out when ever i hit a dip or small bump going too fast. turns out it wasn't bottoming out it was the drive shaft hitting something. if i were you i would make sure the u joints and drive shaft are still good. I hit a good bump off road one day with my bad leaf spring and i bent the actuall drive shaft. coast me $75 at the salvage yard to replace.

The link I posted shows the springs at $85.

Hi All,

Thanks for the advice...

re: Leaf springs. I think we will go with new as I have seen a lot of comments about the old factory springs sagging and if I get them from salvage I am worried that they will have this problem.

About JC Whitney...I haven't ordered from them in 20 + years...they are still around...how is their quality? It used to be pretty entry level and low end stuff...is it better now? Has anyone bought those springs?

I will check the drive shaft and make sure that it didn't hit...I was in the back seat and felt the backend bottom out and it was definitely behind me...but I will make sure anyway.

Oil Leak: Paperboy1996...they changed the oil when we bought it about 600 miles ago so I did not change it yet. I did loosen, oil the ring and tighten the filter. However, the truck has so much oil and dirt caked on this side of the frame, pan, wiring harness, etc. that it has been a problem for many thousands of miles.

I will pull the filter and check the o-rings and adapter...that makes sense as that is the area I think it is leaking from.

Thanks for the advice!! Mike

I bought some leafsprings from JCW about 6 years ago and they are still holding up. The ride height seems about right and I haven't noticed any sagging. It took a 6' prybar to get it in place though. The adapter for the oil filter takes a large allen wrench, but most of the time the head of the allen wrench is too long for it to fit into the adapter socket and clear the inside fender. Luckily the one at the garage I went to was already cut off to meet the clearance issue. You may have to buy one (don't remember the size) and cut it off to fit. O-rings are available at the dealer in a kit.

The oil leak is probably the o-rings however while you are checking them I would make sure there isnt a second seal from an old oil filter stuck on there I have had them stick and get hard as a rock made me think it was part of the motor till I tore it apart and could see it well enough to know that wasnt supose to be there.
Good Luck !!!

Thanks Brainyass and Paperboy...

We are going to be out of town this weekend and hopefully next week we will try to address the oil leak.

We need to get on that oil leak as I am not only worried about Mama's wrath but now I am concerned the EPA may start snooping around...

I believe I will order the springs today...any bushings or anything like that that I need to get with them? On a side note, I believe the last thing I ordered from JC Whitney was carpet for a 64 Corvair turbo Spyder back in the late 70's...I still miss that car.

Mike

If you do order the ones from JCW, the description says it does NOT include the shackle end bushing. You'll need to get these separately. They do have them at JCW but many other places carry them as well, even your local autparts dealer should have these.

Thanks Saudade

They are $52 at JCW. Will check locally and then get them ordered if needed.

Mike

sorry suadede
i did not mean any diss respect i just ment you left out the junk yard price and when i looked, the only decent ones i found new were about $100 each.. and i should also add that if you go to the yard you can probably get all the extra little thing that go with the parts for free right off the truck. not that it matters.

but you were right the orriganal ones sag. thats how i broke them they sagged after 18 years then after they bottemed out breaking the drive shaft.
but the way i see it i dubt if my jeep will last long enough for it to happen again. being as the jeep i took them from was a 2001. that was totaled simply because the lady ( i know this because of the lipstick on the air bag. ) driving just coincidentally hit a tree going 60 MPH. still had bark under the hood. RIP but the back end was good as new. kind of a shame. such a waste. :(

but to the point if you plan on keeping the car for a long time i would go with new after market parts too. i would also make sure to grease up all the moving parts like u joints and other things while you are replacing the leaf springs.

now concerning the oil leak. i feel that the very slow leak comming from my car is not worth the time and or money it would cost to fix it. all it takes is about one quart in between oil changes and it is fine it leaks so slow i can't even tell on the driveway there are no stains. but if your leak is faster then that do what my friend does eith his 1991 toyota celica ( BOOO FORIEN CAR THAT IS NOT A JEEP ) get A big peice of cardboard and put it on the ground where he parks preferably under the engine area. you would be surprized on how well this works even in the garage. or even a large peice of poster board will work too. mabe duck tape and pizza baxes can make a nice car diper

Jeep-king...you're too funny...I like the jeep diaper thing...you might be able to patent that idea...yeah it leaks real slow but the way the wind blows here in Nebraska the box on the pavement idea won't work. So we will have to track it down and fix it.

We are going the way of new on the springs and will let you know what we think after we get them on...going to change shocks as well. And yeah...we will definitely grease everything up...change the rear end oil as I will bet it is the original or close to it.

Just got home from visiting family for Easter so I think we will get started on...let's see...Monday is soccer and baseball, Tuesday is Soccer and softball, not 'till Wednesday at the earliest and then fertilizing the yard comes first...crap...we're going to have oil all over the driveway and a bent drive shaft before all is said and done are'nt we?!*!*&!?

Mike

Well I Am Sure a rock will hold it down.


Or you could just tape it to the driveway.

Duct tape works for everything

Oh Man...don't tell me there is another Red Green fan on this site. Maybe I can use the white duct tape as it will match the paint on the house!! Heck...that might even seal the leak!!

Just got a call from the auto salesman who sold me the Jeep. He is going to try and get me his cost on the leafs so here is what will happen: I'll end up with two sets of springs and 10 years from now I will sell the second set at a garage sale for $10 and I'll throw in a bag of popcorn....that is if the garage salers don't trip and fall over the 10 year duct tape in the driveway. :)

Later Mike

Okay,

I just ordered the springs from JC Whitney.. about $170 with free shipping due to a promo coupon I found on their site.

Will let you know how the length of time is for receiving them and then how they fit and ride.

Thanks for all of your help...Mike

Hi All,

Sonny Boy and I finally got the leaf springs replaced on his 94 Cherokee.

Here is the end result: Rear of truck sits a full 3 " (not a typo) higher. The clunk and wierd surge when stopping is gone.

These are a 4 spring leaf and on the old ones 2 springs were broke on one side and 1 on the other.

12 years of rust accumulation was a bear getting bolts/nuts loose using shade tree tools.

Broke a 1/2" extension (Craftsman); slightly bent a 1/2 inch Craftsman breaker bar...but no busted knucles. (I weigh 268 pounds and I was standing on that bar with a 2 foot cheater...that is one tough breaker bar!!)

Quick rundown for you if you are thinking about changing your Leaf springs:

Ordered the springs through JC Whitney...thanks to Saudade who posted the link in this thread. They arrived within a week direct from the spring factory...painted black.

The springs came with the bushings...so do not order those separate.

Removing the front leaf bolt is the tough one because it hard to get to the threads inside the frame to jism 'em up. Some bolts are metric but this big one is 3/4"...had to use both the breaker bar and an S-K boxend with a cheater pipe as the 1/2' drive electric impact didn't touch it.

Axle bolts were fairly easy once broke loose with a breaker bar.

Rear frame bolt is actually on a flexible shackle...I had to loosen each of these and cut off with a sawzall due to the fact that someone had mounted a trailer hitch in the way of removing the bolts.

Check and see on yours if you will need the new bolts and nuts for that before tearing apart...and then make sure you have access to new ones if needed...I didn't and it slowed us down.

Other issues: We had to loosen the lower end of the shock to get the axle low enough to get the new spring in. The spring will appear to be too short.

Installation:

Mount the front bolt first...then flex/shove/jerk the axle so the spring and center axle plate will fall into the correct position...remount the 4 nuts on the u-shaped axle bolts and make sure they are close to where they were before(should be straight up and down)...I know you won't forget to remount the sway bar bracket as it is in the way...flex it to get one nut on and then have your assistant push down on it to get the second one on.

Reattach the shock and tighten bolt if you loosened or removed.

The rear mount is the toughest but that is why there is a flexible shackle bracket. Get it as close as you can and then use a small pry bar (24" crow bar to get it close) We also used a 2nd 18" crow bar to hold the shackle forward and the 24" to flex the spring downward.

Installation was actually fairly easy. First spring took neighbor, myself and Sonny Boy 3 hours to get apart...2nd spring removal and installing both springs took Sonny Boy and myself about 3 hours total.

Words of caution: Use good jack stands. We did one side at a time and left the tire on the other side. When you lower the axle with nothing attached to it...watch out for the brake line so that you do not put too much pressure on it. Ours had enough flex in it but not by much.

If there ever is a next time, it will be a piece of cake. Thanks to Saudade for where to find them and this forum for all it has saved us...which in this case is about $250.

2 Leaf Springs: $169.98 Total including shipping

2 Rear Bolts/Nuts: $9.50

Replace broken extension: 1 hour time

2 evenings spent getting greasy working on truck with 15 year Old son: PRICELESS!

Sonny Boy is happy with the new look/feel of the ride and that makes me happy. Mike

<sniff> I love a happy ending!

Thanks McCann for the info .
My friend is trying to change his , but the front bolt just spins as if it has a nut inside the frame . You mentioned it was hard to get to the threads on the front bolt , is there a nut welded to/in the frame that the bolt goes into ? I think the weld has broken on his , guess he has to cut it somehow as there is no way to try to secure that end it would appear :/