leaf springs backwards

[ncman]

Well guys, I just finished getting rid of the bronco lean by re-doing the c bushing and leveling the radius arms with lots of help here.

Now after looking at the rear leaf springs I've come to the conclusion that the same hack who screwed up my front end installed the leaf springs backwards.

From what I've gathered, the single rolled end goes in the rear and the double rolled end goes towards the front. Mine are the reverse of that. Sad thing is the leaf springs were marked "R" on the rear end...

I was going to get an alignment after re-doing the frt end but now I guess the leaf springs need to be corrected. Enough venting....here's the question.

What would it hurt to leave them as is? Looks like from reading that the double roll is a safety measure in case 1 frt end spring breaks which would keep axle from jumping around via 2nd roll. Is that the only difference?

Thanks,
Poor Dan

 

[Apogee]

I say flip 'em. I know that running my CAGE 3.5" lift springs backwards would limit my articulation at the shackle due to the added thickness of the double wrap. Should be easy to do since someone was just in there and you shouldn't have any corrosion issues.

 

[SHX669]

I helped a guy work on his where the PO put the rear leafs on backward - you could see marks on the leaf where the shackle was contacting it - swap em around

 

[Bronco Junkie]

You are not the first to discover that. At FFF last year after one guy noted that he just paid someone to put his springs in and he discovered that they were on backwards. After that me and my buddy went and looked at the next 10 Broncos and 3 of them had the leafs on backwards.

 

[SoCal68Bronco]

Great..Now I need to go check mine.

 

[Whoaa]

After looking at the pic's again, I now see the R plainly written in yellow on the end of the spring. LOL.... now this is funny!

I've done some pretty silly/dumb stuff before, is all I can say...glad its not me this time!

In all serious, you actually have a good question. Although I don't know enough about the engineering of the springs to answer the question. DirtDonk Paul probably knows...he's very astute on these technical issues.

That said, I'll take a stab at it.

1) The leafs are stacked in manor slightly off set front-to-back to reduce axle wrap during acceleration.

In other words, some spring packs are NOT equal length springs, obviously the short ones start on the bottom of the pack and then longer and longer ones stacked up higher in the pack, but in some packs the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th spring have the [center pin] hole drilled slightly off to allow the spring more resistance and less axle wrap. You can do a visual inspection, and tape measure, to see if the individual springs in your pack all protrude the same distance forward & backward.

2) I would measure the center point of the spring arch, and the "middle" of the arch from eye-to-eye. There is a pin that goes through the "middle" of stack that sits down in a hole in the leaf spring perch on the rear housing. If this pin is not actually in the center, it will effectively move the rear end housing forward or backward, however far the pin is off center.

I wish I had better pic's to look at. Looking at the pic's in your garage, looking at where the back tires center in the rear fender, it appears that the housing is sitting further rearward than stock.

And I keep looking at the perfect rear pinion angle and this puzzles me because I don't see shims on the perch and they appear to be stock perch's.
Your rear housing is tipped *up* providing this great angle to the driveshaft...I'm wondering if this was a byproduct of the springs being installed backwards?

Moving the rear housing back an inch or so is not a bad thing and actually allows a little more articulation and stability. However it is more common to achieve this from drilling a new hole in the perch and/or welding on longer perchs' with an off-set hole for the leaf spring pin.


Here is a stock leaf spring perch

Leaf spring perch cut off of the housing

Longer leaf spring perch welded on the housing. Also notice another hole drilled in the perch. Also these perch's were welded on at a 7 degree angle for better pinion angle to the driveshaft

Off set spring perch being assembled

Completed off set spring perch. Now the rear housing is move [back] about an inch & half. This better centers the tire in the fender well

Rear leaf pack with a single wrapped end at the shackle

 

[SHX669]

The " center pin" hole on my leafs arent equal distance from the ends of the leaf -- the hole isn't in the center length wise.

 

[Whoaa]

The " center pin" hole on my leafs arent equal distance from the ends of the leaf -- the hole isn't in the center length wise.

^...which adds to my theory of the OP's Bronco, appearing in the pic's that I see, to have the rear tires centered more rearward in the fender than stock.

Ncman...please post a square pic of the Bronco so we can see where the rear tires are centered in the rear fenders.

EDIT; I looked closer at pic #11 and #12 in your garage. I could be wrong, but it appears to me the rear tires are centered further back in the fender than stock. And based on how far the tires stick out -which in large part is wheel back spacing, you may have issues after you swap these springs around.

 

[Whoaa]

Here is a pic that shows the gross difference between old wore-out stock springs and new lift springs. These are WH 5 1/2".

It appears the "front" of the spring is shorter than the rear of the spring. However someone would have to verify by measuring. Plus notice there are 3 square closures around the front of the spring, and only 2 closures on the rear part of the spring

 

[ncman]

Thanks for the quick and educated responses.

When I first bought this lift kit I did a bunch of research regarding what tires and rims would fit the uncut fenders with my 2.5" kit. From what I learned 31x10.50 x15's would fit. I had to make sure that the offset and all were correct. Everything has fit perfectly as far as wheels and tires but now I wonder what will happen in the am when I have the leaf springs flipped?

I'm worried now...correction,I mean more worried now

 

[Whoaa]

Thanks for the quick and educated responses.

When I first bought this lift kit I did a bunch of research regarding what tires and rims would fit the uncut fenders with my 2.5" kit. From what I learned 31x10.50 x15's would fit. I had to make sure that the offset and all were correct. Everything has fit perfectly as far as wheels and tires but now I wonder what will happen in the am when I have the leaf springs flipped?

I'm worried now...correction,I mean more worried now

I still think the tries will fit, but will be very close and may rub during certain angles. The body needs to come a little.....and it won't take much to make everything fit nicely and work together in harmony.

And in reality, the old original [rubber] body bushing just wear out, compress, and often crack with age. I would expect the WH 1" body to lift to actually produce a net result of about 1 1/4" to 1 1/2" higher body.

If I remember correctly this Bronco still has the old original, probably compressed, rubber body bushings. The WH 1" [polyuranthane] body lift is amazing for the overall appearence and stability and does't make a noticeable gap typical of body lift blocks. This may be the best answer versus buying new wheels again.

 

[ncman]

Hopefully I can still drive it home tomorrow after flipping the springs. Like you, I think it will be ok but the WH body lift seems like a no brainer. I remember adding a body lift to a wrangler I used to own and it actually drove better with a softer ride.

I'll update after the swap on the springs tomorrow.
Thanks again

 

[knack]

Great..Now I need to go check mine.

I'm joining the list that ran out to the garage to look. Mine are installed correctly. Good thing - I couldn't have blamed someone else.

 

[bronconut73]

Hopefully I can still drive it home tomorrow after flipping the springs. Like you, I think it will be ok but the WH body lift seems like a no brainer. I remember adding a body lift to a wrangler I used to own and it actually drove better with a softer ride.

I'll update after the swap on the springs tomorrow.
Thanks again

Best of all is the WH 1" body lift is only like a hundred bucks.

I did it and I despise body lifts. It actually looks "more correct" with these fat poly body bushings in place.

 

[ncman]

I got the springs removed and flipped the other direction today. Sad thing is now I've realized my motor is in backwards

Anyhow it definitely moved the axle forward a bit. It still does not rub but I will install the WH body lift just for peace of mind. I'd rather do that than roll the fenders.

As far as the pinion angle it definitely changed it. I will probably ad some angled shims soon to create a more optimal angle. In the end springs installed backwards will give you a better pinion angle with a small lift. It will also move your axle back an inch or so which actually looks better IMO. The only drawback of backwards springs I can see with the little newfound knowledge I have is the frt would be single wrapped and the rear being doubled does hit the shackle as mine had some marks.
It would be pretty cool if someone produced a set that would do everything mine did installed backwards at the same time making the rear single wrapped and the front double wrapped. See what I mean?
Thanks for the help....again and pics tomorrow.

 

[Apogee]

Custom leaf springs are available through several manufacturers including Deaver and Alcan among others. You can spec whatever you like that way, however it would be a lot cheaper to just run a relocation perch as shown above by Whoaa above.

 

[ncman]

Custom leaf springs are available through several manufacturers including Deaver and Alcan among others. You can spec whatever you like that way, however it would be a lot cheaper to just run a relocation perch as shown above by Whoaa above.

Good point and thanks for the info.