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

[McCann]

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

[McCann]

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

[Saudade]

<sniff> I love a happy ending!

[wb22rules]

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 :/