Old Iron 2.0

[handloader90]

Was looking around on pirate and saw that some guys drill the center bolt hole in the leaf springs out to 7/16". I guess a lot of guys have had the 5/16" and 3/8" center pins shear under extreme conditions.

I was thinking about doing the same to mine, those guys throw a Grade 8 7/16" bolt into an electric drill, let it spin and hit it with a grinder to round the bolt head off evenly.

I read something about making sure the smooth part of the shank goes through all of the leaves (no threaded portion). I've seen a lot of center pins that were threaded the entire length of the shank. Seems like a good thing to point out, the smooth shank should be stronger.

 

[Bent77]

That's how I've done them, just always 3/8

 

[handloader90]

Operation " Bastard Packs" has begun.

Gonna have a pair of 52's with 7 or 8 leaves without overload for the front.

The 64's that are currently on the truck will get a few leaves added to them, 3 or 4 also. Currently have 4 + overload. I'm not sure if I should take the overload out when I make the 64" bastard pack.

Spring perches on the 14FF will be removed and replaced with the Ruffstuff ones that I've had sitting around forever. Gonna get the driveshaft shortened, set pinion angle then burn them in.

I will most likely take both sets of springs to the local spring shop and have them install keepers since I don't have the stuff to do it.

Also gonna do 7/16" center pins for both sets of springs. I found some 7/16" pins online but they are threaded the entire length of the shank. May just make my own with Grade 8 bolts that I should be able to get for free.

 

[Bent77]

Those are my favorite springs

 

[handloader90]

Got my Express shaft back in the mail today. Big thanks to @Heavyleft for selling it back to me.

For those who were asking about the shaft it is 18.5" compressed and 25.75" fully extended.

It has the correct size and spline count (also has the flat portion in there too) for an O-Ring 2WD box and the correct D ring opening for our steering columns on the opposite end. It also has a U-joint at each end.

No plastic inside of the shaft that needs to be melted down like an XJ shaft either.

The steering column end does need a small notch made in it for the set screw on the shaft.

 

[handloader90]

Marked the springs for the 52" pack.

These leaves came out of the 56" pack that I pulled from an '89 burb about a month or so ago.

The leaves are the same thickness as the 52" leaves at just a hair over 1/4".

I will cut them down the I'll radius all of the leaves including the ones from the 52" packs.

I read an article about how leaf soring companies add the friction pads at the end of each leaf because it is faster and cheaper than radiusing them by hand. The article said it is better not to have those plastic pads in there because dirt and grit and stuff gets lodged between them and cause more friction.

 

[handloader90]

Here's the in for from that article regarding the spring pads.

 

[handloader90]

Only progress to date.

Got 5 of the leaves center pin holes opened up to 7/16" before my nice HSS bit burnt up, messed up the belt on my drill press too... one of the pulleys in my drill press is plastic (I have no clue why) and I thought the belt had ate into the plastic pulley so I moved the belt up to the next speed, belt was just wobbling around on there so I'll be looking for a few parts to get that up and going again.

I think the plan from here is to radius the edges of all of the leaves, flapper them down nice and smooth then take them to the local spring shop and have them open them up to 7/16" then install the spring keepers on them.

 

[handloader90]

Small change of plans.

I was cruising Craigslist and found a pair of 4" lift 52" springs. Guy said he ordered 52's and needed 56's. Been sitting around for a few years but are new and never installed.

I got them for $140. Come to find out from the stickers that they are Tuff Country EZ Rides. Think I made out pretty well on that.

Gonna pop the overload out and reuse the center pin since none of the local 4x4 shops are open today.

I'm assuming the truck is gonna have a pretty bad "squat". An EZ-inch will go in the rear but I'm thinking I'm gonna need more than that to even things out...

I'm still gonna finish my 52" bastard packs and have them on standby.

Ordered replacement parts for my cheapo Ryobi drill press. x2 new pulleys and x2 new belts. This thing has been drilling holes since 2015 so I figure with the replacement parts I can get 4-6 more years out of it, probably more if I don't try and drill hardened steel...

Got a line on a Milwaukee chop saw in Denver for pretty cheap. Guy hasn't got back to me yet today but Im planning on picking that up for the price irs a great deal.

 

[handloader90]

Also, I ordered some jam nuts from Ruffstuff about 2 weeks ago (I needed a LH thread jam nut) and they ended up sending me x2 RH 7/8-18 and x2 LH 7/8-18 TRE/DLE tube adapters. I called and told them what happened and they didn't want the tube adapters back and sent out some jam nuts. Thanks @Gravel Maker!

So I'm going to make my own tie-rod and drag link.

Bought some PVC pipe with roughly a 1" I.D. same as the O.D. of the portion of the tube adapters that goes into the tube. Gonna mock them up and then order some DOM from RuffStuff and burn some stuff together.

Hoping the guy gets back to me on the chop saw today.

 

[handloader90]

Also I'm supposed to be trading the 6.0 for a few items but I won't say what it is until it's in my hands. Definitely an interesting trade though.

 

[handloader90]

$60 plus the drive

 

[brans87]

Those are Tuff Country not Rough country like you typed!. I have them on my K5 Ride nice not taken off road yet gotta pic tires up and do gears swap.

 

[handloader90]

Those are Tuff Country not Rough country like you typed!. I have them on my K5 Ride nice not taken off road yet gotta pic tires up and do gears swap.

Thanks, I meant Tuff County... was typing it up in a hurry with a glare on my phone earlier.

I installed ORD's complete 4" lift kit on my first truck so I'm familiar with the springs. I don't remember having any complaints about them on that truck.

 

[handloader90]

Haven't really did any work on the truck lately.

Made a mock up tie rod and drag link with some PVC. Drag link is roughly 2" away from the bottom of the engine x-member...

Gotta pick some tube up and make them.

Planning on putting the Tuff Country 52" springs on up front this upcoming weekend then seeing what I need to do to the rear to level it all out.




Traded in my '09 4 door Rubicon for a '14 2 door with a 6 speed about a week and a half ago.

Both axles are trussed, front axle also has inner C gussets top and bottom, rear D44 has some kind of traction device in it.

Added a little bumper and threw my 10k on that's been sitting around forever.

 

[obijuank5]

JEEP BRAH

 

[handloader90]

Traded the LQ4 for an 8.1L and NV4500.

8.1 came out of a rolled Schwans truck with 30k and was supposedly only ran on LPG. Super clean.

NV4500 is from an early 90's Chevy with the super low 1st gear.

 

[ZooMad75]

Holy crap this just got real! Who trades a LQ4 for an 8.1 and NV4500? That's an insane trade. Well done sir.

 

[Bent77]

This just got interesting

 

[handloader90]

I got a 20k Braden winch out of the deal too... I don't even know where to begin with this thing.